TV TERROR: Recent Episodes
Anthony Rotolo
TV TERROR explores television's darker corridors: classic shows like The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, and the Movie-of-the-Week golden age that gave us telefilms like Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Salem's Lot, and The Night Stalker. We've got a penchant for those nearly-forgotten treasures of the tube, and this is where we share our discoveries. So, grab your remote and a wooden stake and join us, won't you?
I'm joined by Mark Dawidziak, author of The Night Stalker Companion to discuss Kolchak The Night Stalker. Mark has a new book about Edgar Allen Poe as well as The Shawshank Redemption. We discuss these as prelude to our main topic: Kolchak. Mark is the world's leading authority on the subject and it's our privilege to have him with us for today's episode.
Aliens! Dr. Who! And more!...
We visit with actor/writer/filmmaker Anthony DP Mann to discuss how a love affair with classic television led to his current project, Bug-Eyed Monsters Invade The Earth! Listen in....
I'm joined by special guest Patricia D to discuss THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN (1975), starring Elizabeth Montgomery. We discuss the Borden true crime case in light of the 1975 film and beyond. The 1975 production proves a fine foundation for anyone who is new to the subject. We hope you'll join us for this conversation.
One of the first things to spin-off of the NBC Mystery Movie "Wheel" format was McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver (Duel, The Twilight Zone). It galloped across television sets from 1970-1977 and rode off into the sunset with its final episode, McCloud Meets Dracula, co-starring John Carradine (Stagecoach, The Ten Commandments). We talk McCloud and a whole lot more as I'm joined by a special guest, my brother, Vincent, to reminisce about television memories, days that found us in one of television's great eras. Listen in!
It's the 60th anniversary of The Twilight Zone's THE HOWLING MAN episode. Penned by the brilliant Charles Beaumont, it furnishes a stellar example of what the series offered. I'm joined by my friend, Patricia, as we survey the appearance of The Devil throughout The Twilight Zone. I'm also joined by returning guest, Jason V Brock, for a deeper dive into Beaumont and The Howling Man. This episode was a long time coming. Warmest wishes for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and a bright New Year!
We remember Diana Rigg, the British actress who defined the high point of the classic British television series THE AVENGERS as Emma Peel. LISTEN IN....
Carrie Fisher headlines the 1984 British production of FRANKENSTEIN, co-starring UK greats Robert Powell, David Warner and John Gielgud. I'm joined by Canadian filmmakers and collaborators Anthony DP Mann and Seb Godin, the duo behind the forthcoming film, The Abominations of Frankenstein. LISTEN IN...
EPISODE 110: Starsky & Hutch was one of the top cop shows of the 1970s. A police drama grounded in the real world, our favorite buddy team nevertheless had occasion to go up against the supernatural. In this case, a vampire, played by John Saxon.
LISTEN IN!
EPISODE 109: THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE (1970): The legendary Barbara Stanwyck (The Big Valley) has got restless spirits on her hands after moving into an inherited family manse with her niece (Kitty Winn, The Exorcist). With the help of a medium and the professor next door (Richard Egan), she must uncover the secret that imprisons these ghosts of the past. A haunting ABC Movie of the Week.
Robert Culp (I SPY, Columbo, Greatest American Hero) is a man driven to take matters into his own hands after he is harassed by out-of-control teens. A telefilm released in the era of Walking Tall and Death Wish, it is based on true events, a tale of do-it-yourself justice. Malcolm Johnson of The Horror Show contributes a segment.
One of the most lavish productions of Mary Shelley's immortal classic was told on the small screen as FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY (1973), starring Michael Sarrazin, Jane Seymour, and James Mason. I'm joined by my friend, Canadian filmmaker, actor, audio dramatist Anthony DP Mann to tackle this literate NBC mini-series. LISTEN IN...
Peter Graves (Mission Impossible, Scream of the Wolf) and a young Kathleen Quinlan (Event Horizon) co-star in WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974), about a father, son, and daughter who find themselves coping in a post-apocalyptic world. This time, the world-wrecker is a sudden, massive solar flare, poisoning exposed human beings with radiation and reducing them to piles of dust.
One of film's great franchises crash landed on the small screen in 1974, giving us THE PLANET of the APES, The Television Series. Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, and James Naughton are our trio of heroes, fugitives in a future world where apes rule men. We explore the Pilot as well as episode #12, The Cure, a story about contagion. At this time of worldwide concern over the virus COVID-19, this episode goes out with warm wishes for health and safety.
CORONAVIRUS EDITION: In light of Coronavirus worries, it's opportune to discuss BBC's classic post-apocalyptic series, SURVIVORS (1975), in which Chinese scientists unleash an engineered virus, triggering a pandemic, and wiping out all but a remnant who remain to rebuild.
We usher in 2020 with talk of the Dan Curtis (1973) and BBC (2007) productions of FRANKENSTEIN. These adaptations are a study in contrast: we're given a gothic treatment by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis, while BBC updates the core story for the biological engineering age of stem cell research. Happy New Year, everyone!
TV TERROR is on location in New York to meet with our friend, Kevin Shinick, author of the new book, STAR WARS: FORCE COLLECTOR, which coincides with the broad release of Episode IX. We discuss the novel, his work in film and television, and what he's watching for Christmas. Join us!
EPISODE 100: In this landmark episode, we celebrate the yuletide with the help of our special friend -- actor, filmmaker, and audio dramatist, Anthony DP Mann, who joins me in a our main discussion about 1984's CBS Presentation of A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott. This version is renowned for its fidelity and excellence, an annual tradition for many who cherish Dickens' most famous ghost story. And Rockford Jay weighs in to discuss some related artifacts. Won't you make merry with us?
EPISODE 99: Robert Forster and Melvyn Douglas star in the ABC Movie of the Week, THE DEATH SQUAD (1974), a story about cops who take the law into their own hands and the one standout who goes up against them. We take a moment to give thanks and to remember Forster, whom we lost this season. Thanks to all who listen to this show. LISTEN IN....
Note:
Special thanks to Vic Sage and the use of his article, available in full here: https://popcultureretrorama.com/2019/10/12/rest-in-peace-robert-forster-1941-2019/
It's a Halloween party! I'm joined by some podcaster friends and special guests, THE TATERS to discuss TV Terror programming, classic horror hosts, and more! This one is being released just after midnight on Halloween to celebrate the spooky season.
LISTEN IN!...
Paul Lynde was among the most hilarious comedic talents working during the 1960s and 1970s. Famous for Hollywood Squares and his many film and television appearances, his legacy includes a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL like none other. I'm joined by Rockford Jay (Saturday Frights) to discuss Lynde and this one-of-a-kind show.
I'm joined by my friend and colleague, actor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, podcaster, Anthony D.P. Mann. We discuss his exciting new audio drama release, RETURN TO FRIGHTENSTEIN. We also shoot the breeze about what we've been watching and what excites us most among current genre offerings. It's a fun and freewheeling talk. Join us and LISTEN IN....
EPISODE 94: Can you see them, Sally, lurking in the shadows? They're alive, Sally. They want you to be one of them when the lights go out... We discuss one of the most famous telefilms of the movie-of-the-week era - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
It's our big, big, BOOK CLUB episode, put together by you! Join us as the TV TERROR community comes together with audio clips and essays about their favorite TV-related reads. And if that weren't enough, we're joined by DAN STOUT, author of the acclaimed new novel, TITAN SHADE. We discuss his book, his process, and his television influences.
In this direct sequel to the first Kolchak telefilm, a victim of the Las Vegas vampire journeys to Los Angeles and begins a new cycle of feeding -- only Kolchak will recognize the pattern of vampirism.
Just several years after Young Frankenstein, CBS gave us another comedic take on the Frankenstein monster, starring Jack Elam and Jeffrey Kramer. It's STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, the short-lived sitcom from 1979.
When two smugglers (Tom Atkins, Howard Hesseman) fly to California with an illicit load of Ecuadorian coffee, little do they suspect that there are deadly stowaways in the cargo hold, the eight-legged kind, with a venom that kills like the plague. A CBS Wednesday Movie from 1977 with an all-star cast.
EPISODE 89: THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977): There's a prehistoric paradise in the polar ice cap, a lost world teeming with creatures thought long-extinct, and Masten Thrust, Jr. (Richard Boone) will take us there.
As mentioned in the show, here's that vintage making-of featurette: https://youtu.be/G9wcpETW9pY
While investigating a quasar-like formation, the shuttle Galileo commanded by Mr. Spock crash lands on a planet inhabited by ape-like creatures who aim to destroy the marooned crew before they can orchestrate an escape. Part monster-of-the-week episode, this Star Trek siege story is worthy of our study as a TV TERROR specimen. Rockford Jay of The Retroist Clubhouse contributes a segment. LISTEN IN...
It's all aboard for danger with an all-star cast: Lloyd Bridges, Yvette Mimieux, E.G. Marshall, and William Shatner. Two packed commuter trains hurtling toward each other on the same track! Hundreds of lives in peril! One man fights against impossible odds to save them!...in an ABC Sunday Night Movie from 1979. LISTEN IN...
Based on the novel by Stephen King, NBC adapts CARRIE as a television event in 2002, starring Angela Bettis, Patricia Clarkson and David Keith. Carrie White is an object of scorn and ridicule until the night of the senior prom when she unleashes her fury.
EARTHQUAKE!... Jackie Cooper, Stella Stevens, and Cleavon Little star in THE DAY THE EARTH MOVED (1974). Jennifer Garner and Tom Skerritt star in AFTERSHOCK: EARTHQUAKE in NEW YORK (1999). If this episode doesn't shake you, nothing will.
Don't miss GIALLOctober: https://player.vimeo.com/video/293434147
Happy New Year! It's twin twisters for the New Year as John Schneider and Bruce Campbell face down tornadoes in the Twister-inspired films from 1996, NIGHT OF THE TWISTERS and TORNADO!
This ABC Movie of the Week from 1975 rides the Exorcist wave as Doug McClure and Kim Novak find themselves trapped aboard a ship in a diabolical stretch of ocean known as The Devil's Triangle.
A businessman suffering from nervous exhaustion jets away to Hawaii to unwind, but his troubles only intensify when he receives his inheritance, a bloodline curse that transforms him into a werewolf.
Jason Henderson of Castle of Horror/ Castle Talk Podcast invites Anthony Rotolo of TV TERROR podcast to discuss the Movie-of-the-Week golden age, podcasting, and more. We range and rove the hidden valley of programming past, a fertile land once inhabited by giants. They're gone, but their stories live on. You'll hear tell of scary hippies, zuni fetish dolls, and things that lurk in dark shadows and collective memory, and how oral tradition continues through the art and craft of podcasting. LISTEN IN...Special thanks to Jason for allowing me to feature this recording as an installment of TV TERROR.
Happy Thanksgiving! Nothing evokes the day like an E.T. home invasion, so that's our topic this time out. It's the obscure UPN film, ALIEN ABDUCTION: INCIDENT IN LAKE COUNTY, a found footage film released one year before Blair Witch popularized the sub-genre, all about a hapless family who finds themselves besieged by otherworldly invaders. We also chat about The Munsters, so grab a drumstick and join us, won't you?
It's a Shirley Jackson themed episode as TV TERROR explores the new Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and an older adaptation of her famous short story, The Lottery (1969).
On October 30th, 1938, Orson Welles terrified a nation through the young medium of radio when he presented H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds as a Halloween offering. The panic that ensued is legendary and is captured in the ABC Friday Movie of the Week from 1975.
Immediately after the success of DUEL, Steven Spielberg set to work on a possession story titled, SOMETHING EVIL (1972), featuring Sandy Dennis, Darren McGavin, Ralph Bellamy, and Johnny Whitaker. Unknown to many and underrated by some, this CBS telefilm merits discussion. I'm joined by genre expert and author John Kenneth Muir to explore this gem from the Movie of the Week golden age.
Richard Masur, John Astin and Kristy Swanson star in Disney's modern spooky classic, MR. BOOGEDY, the tale of a family who moves to their dream home only to find it haunted by a tyrannical ghost. MR. BOOGEDY first aired on Disney's Sunday Movie in 1986. I'm joined by Kyle Chamberlain of The Movie City Maniacs podcast.
Music by: WaveToys
Rod Serling is as grand a subject as The Twilight Zone for which he is known. But did you know that he had established himself as the preeminent writer for television before he ever breached The Fifth Dimension? We trace his early career with author Nick Parisi, whose book, Rod Serling: His Life, Work and Imagination has just been released.
The end of summer signals new beginnings: We inaugurate season four. We usher in the autumn. We mark the days till Halloween. Like the capricious falling of leaves, this is a freewheeling episode. I hope you'll join me and a few surprise friends as they drop by to share their thoughts on the spooky season.
As we close out Season 3 of TV TERROR PODCAST, we speak with Jason V. Brock, author, artist, and director of the definitive documentary about Charles Beaumont. Beaumont is a towering but tragic figure, who aided Rod Serling in pioneering a new and ascendant medium called television.
TV TERROR PODCAST takes you higher. An unspeakable evil has boarded an international flight and it's up to the crew and its passengers to mollify angry spirits if they're ever to touch down safely. William Shatner and Roy Thinnes star.
We visit the classic British terror show by Brian Clemens. Murder, the macabre, and malevolent entities all found their home in THRILLER, the brainchild of one of the UK's foremost writer/producers.
It's like a Jambalaya Jaws when a mutated shark makes its way into the waters of the Louisiana bayou. Kristy Swanson, Robert Davi, and D.B. Sweeney headline in Syfy's SWAMP SHARK (2011), a shark thriller with bite.
This episode of TV TERROR is timed to celebrate 30 years of Discovery's Shark Week.
For five travelers, a luxury vacation turns into a nightmare struggle for survival against the untamed jungle and their own savage passions! Michael Brandon, Barbara Feldon, Maureen McCormick, and Priscilla Barnes co-star in this ABC Monday Night Movie from 1979.
Summertime. It's a great time to get away. We take a virtual vacation by going hunting in the Scottish highlands with Netflix's CALIBRE (2018). It's a tale of a holiday gone wrong and we give you a spoiler-free overview in this edition of TV TERROR.
Shark Week is coming! To set the mood, we visit the little-known JAWS-era telefilm, SHARK KILL (1976), a fun dive into aquatic terror.
This week I shoot from the hip to tell you about what I've been watching and listening to. It's a loose and informal installment of TV TERROR that covers my exploits in television programming and beyond.
When a boy goes missing in the rural town of Hawkins, his friends, family and the local sheriff begin to scratch at the truth. They discover that something insidious has been released into their world from a shadowy region that has something to do with a secret laboratory in Hawkins. Set in the 1980s, STRANGER THINGS is an excursion into science fiction, horror, and paranoid thriller that hits every note on the synthesizer. Join us. Music credits: RickLan: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5135355 Ross Budgen: ttps://twitter.com/RossBugden (@rossbugden)
H.P. Lovecraft's appeal extends across time and nations. We visit the Japanese town of Innsmouth near Arkham and Dunwich, where fish-men walk the shadows of this seaside village. We follow a reporter who journeys from the city to investigate the truth of the place. Do you dare to come along?
Frank Taylor lost it all... his job, his marriage, even his life. But he came back, and brought the dead with him in the UPN series, HAUNTED (2002), starring Matthew Fox of LOST fame.
Carol Kane and Charles Durning reprise their roles from the classic babysitter-in-peril movie, When A Stranger Calls (1979) as a former victim and P.I. who will protect a young woman from a demented stalker in the sequel telefilm, When A Stranger Calls Back (1993).
From the producers who gave us Tales from the Darkside came an equally ghoulish television show called MONSTERS, a half-hour monster-of-the-week creature feature that is sure to awaken the beastie in you. Join us.
A family in Enfield, England are terrorized by a Poltergeist, provoking one of the most famous paranormal investigations in history. Timothy Spall and Eleanor Worthington-Cox star in this frightening miniseries from 2015.
A family rides a downward spiral when their teenage son destroys himself with drugs. Robby Benson stars in The Death of Richie, a disturbing cautionary tale about substance abuse.
A ringing phone haunts Elizabeth Ashley in When Michael Calls (1972). Is it her dead nephew Michael on the line? Ben Gazzara and Michael Douglas co-star in an ABC Movie of the Week adapted from the John Farris novel and directed by Philip Leacock.
Adapted from the Herbert Lieberman novel, Crawlspace (1971), this 1972 CBS telefilm tells the cautionary tale of a childless retired couple, named Albert and Alice Graves who adopt a stray young man whom they discover living in the crawlspace in their basement.
When an awkward teen kills a young girl, his mother evades the authorities by hiding him in a secret room in the house. Now, Mom is dead, but Ronald remains, watching, watching from behind the walls as a new family moves into the home. This ABC Movie of the Week has achieved cult status for its creepy premise, becoming one of the most famous made-for-television films of its era.
Stacy Keach finds himself a prisoner on an isolated country farm at the hands of a clan of orphans. All The Kind Strangers (1974) is a down-home thriller produced for ABC Movie of the Week. The film co-stars John Savage, Robby Benson, and Samantha Eggar.
Darren McGavin fights to the death on a remote island in a war reduced to two men. This ABC Movie of the Week aired in 1970 and shares DNA with such films as The Most Dangerous Game. Get ready for a rumble in the jungle.
We remember Leonard Nimoy's work in the classic series, IN SEARCH OF (1977-1982). From Bigfoot to Loch Ness, from Amelia Earhart to UFO cover-ups, the In Search Of cameras travel the world, seeking out these great mysteries.
It's an amazing thing when our favorite TV characters walk off the small screen and onto the pages of a good book. Sometimes a novel forms the basis of a television production. Other times, a show is so popular that it expands its territory to the printed domain. Either way, it's a win-win TV TERROR tie-in. Join the club and join our community for an epic discussion about YOUR favorite TV TERROR reads.
When a young woman's body is found in Louisiana bayou country, Marsh Island is abuzz with theories. Was she mauled by dogs? Was it the work of a murderer? It's up to the Sheriff to find out. David Jannsen, Barbara Rush, Geoffrey Lewis, and Bradford Dillman co-star in a southern fried werewolf mystery based on the book by Les Whitten.
Our paws are all over the top dog of Saturday morning, SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! (1969-72). Kevin Shinick, writer of the 2015 animated movie, Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery, joins us to explore Scooby's enduring appeal.
James Farentino stars as a derelict priest who gets a second chance at life by fighting evil. This NBC telefilm also stars Harrison Ford in a supporting role mere days before his breakout role as Han Solo. Timing is everything. This telefilm is largely forgotten compared to Star Wars, but it's a supernatural chiller that's worthy of our attention.
The earth has slipped out of its elliptical orbit and is drifting closer to the sun in a Twilight Zone nightmare penned by Rod Serling. We pause to reflect on a New Year, another trip around the sun, and what better way to ready ourselves for another journey than with a classic Twilight Zone episode that muses upon our relationship with our neighbor star? Besides, it's TZ marathon time, so here's one to get us started.
We chat with Emmy Award-winning writer/actor/producer, Kevin Shinick about his mentor, Tony Randall, in a special bonus installment of TV TERROR that follows up our Odd Couple Christmas Carol episode. Join us!
In the 1970 episode, "Scrooge Gets An Oscar," from The Odd Couple's first season, we get a hilarious take on the world's most famous ghost story. I'm joined by special friends, Anthony D. P. Mann and Barry Yuen for some fun banter about everyone's favorite mispaired friends. Look for Anthony D.P. Mann's own A CHRISTMAS CAROL audio production, now available from Bleak December and Brilliance Audio!
Sally Field was transitioning from her Gidget/Flying Nun period to new kinds of roles when this opportunity presented itself. Some see it as a proto-slasher, a film ahead of its time, down to the iconic look of the killer. One thing's for sure, you'll want to add this TV movie by John Llewellyn Moxey and Joseph Stefano to your Christmas rotation of films. Why go to the theater when you can be Home for the Holidays?
It was a modern means of keeping alive the old tradition of telling scary stories during the Christmas season. Although the series has been revived in recent years, the run spanning 1971- 1978 represents BBC's original strand of supernatural tales, starring classic actors such as Denholm Elliott and the directing talents of Lawrence Gordon Clark and bringing to life the works (chiefly) of M.R. James and Charles Dickens. It's BBC's Ghost Stories for Christmas, just in time for the holidays. On this episode, we explore the 1977 offering, STIGMA, starring Kate Binchy.
Wishing a very Happy Thanksgiving to all. We pick up the theme of pilgrims and witchery with Crowhaven Farm (1970), an Aaron Spelling Production, starring Hope Lange and Paul Burke as a childless couple who look for a fresh start in an ancestral farm house. Look for the venerable Cyril Delevanti (The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Night Gallery) as the elder town historian who tells us Crowhaven's dark past, a legacy that calls to its new inhabitants.
We take the occasion of Charles Manson's death to visit the docudrama, Helter Skelter, starring Steve Railsback. The murders that shocked a nation have reverberated for decades and so it is worth noting the death of the man who directed those senseless killings. This excellent telefilm was produced close in time to the actual events and tells the story without any sense of exploitation.
We take a look at the ill-fated Tales of the Unexpected from powerhouse producer, Quinn Martin. The feature-length Force of Evil (1977) stars Lloyd Bridges as a man who must protect his family from the vengeful ex-convict who is stalking them.
When David Banner gets an overdose of gamma radiation, it awakens an inner-monster who is triggered by rage, transforming the doctor into The Incredible Hulk. We take a look a the 1978 pilot telefilm by Kenneth Johnson, starring Bill Bixby and Susan Sullivan.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW ranks as a high watermark for the horror genre, not just in television, but in any medium. Directed by Frank DeFelitta (Audrey Rose, The Entity) from the script by J.D. Feigelson and starring Larry Drake and Charles Durning, it's a terrifying exercise in otherworldly justice.
Squeezing in a bonus show for October: HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL (1957-1963) was grounded in the real world of the Old West, but in the episode, EVERYMAN, Paladin draws the Tarot Death Card and experiences a brush with the supernatural. Richard Boone stars.
They're the most glamorous amateur sleuths going. We gather with the Harts in an old, dark house in search of hidden treasure....and murder. Hart to Hart was an extremely entertaining murder mystery show that ran for five seasons, beginning in 1979, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers.
Hitch your wagon to episode 34 for a journey back to this nightmare on the prairie. This is one hardcore episode of Little House you won't want to miss this Halloween.
TV TERROR takes a lighter look at the spy genre with television's favorite screw-up secret agent. Max and 99 go to London to investigate Jack the Ripper and a fiendish wax museum in this two-part episode, House of Max (1970).
Things gets downright spooky in this episode from season 4 of The Andy Griffith Show. When Opie's baseball lands in the old Rimshaw place, it stirs up the heebie jeebies in Mayberry because this house is rumored to be haunted.
They're the spawn of Satan, dormant for centuries, but awakened once more to rival mankind. They are the GARGOYLES (1972). We take a look at this CBS Tuesday Night movie from the movie-of-the-week golden age, and fold our wings and bow are horns in honor of the recently departed Bernie Casey. Come fly with us.
TV TERROR shows up in the craziest places. This episode, it's marooned on a desert island with some spooked castaways. Join us for Ghost-A-Go-Go, from Gilligan's Island's second season.
Frank De Felitta gave us some great stuff: Audrey Rose, The Entity, and Dark Night of the Scarecrow. But did you know that he gave us James Brolin in a department store, hounded by killer dogs? It's TRAPPED from 1973, an ABC Movie of the Week.
Kolchak hunts down The Night Strangler (1973) in his second telefilm. Darren McGavin and Richard Anderson co-star in this Richard Matheson-penned installment, directed by legendary TV horror maestro, Dan Curtis.
We've lost Tobe Hooper. He made his mark on cinema, but also had a career on the small screen. We remember his lesser-known TV-film, I'M DANGEROUS TONIGHT (1990), starring Mädchen Amick and Anthony Perkins, all about an ancient cloak that corrupts anyone who touches it.
It was like CREEPSHOW for TV. It was George A. Romero's dark anthology series, TALES from the DARKSIDE, one of the best shows of its kind and a gift to eighties television.
As we anticipate the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's IT, I thought I'd float a show about the 1990 mini-series (we all float down here). This one does many things well and scores high on the creep factor scale. Of course, we're all dying to see how the new Pennywise stacks up against Tim Curry's clown.
It's the TV TERROR Season One grand finale... Episode 24: Dan Curtis' DRACULA (1973)! Jack Palance wears the cape and Dan Curtis directs from a script by Richard Matheson. Visiting with me in the great green living room are special guests, Anthony D. P. Mann and Barry Yuen, both highly qualified to plumb the depths of one of the finest productions of its kind. Grab a wooden stake and join us, why don't you....
The Smurl family was purportedly terrorized in their own home by malevolent entities, leading to an Ed and Lorraine Warren investigation. It's 1991's Fox television feature, The Haunted.
When waves of wounded arrive at the 4077, the sleep-deprived crew find no rest in their slumbers. They're plagued with nightmares as the horrors of war seep into their dreams.
It was the television event of the decade, traumatizing viewers the world over and influencing the most powerful leaders on earth. It was THE DAY AFTER (1983).
David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) is a law student on the trail of a woman who stalks the night in search of blood in DESIRE, THE VAMPIRE (1982). Brad Dourif (Child's Play, Lord of the Rings) co-stars.
The Ouija board becomes a channel of malevolence for a murder witness played by Kathleen Beller in DEADLY MESSAGES (1985).
Forget Mary Ingalls, Melissa Sue Anderson is a witch on wheels in Midnight Offerings (1981).
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Pamela Sue Martin and Tim Matheson are a yuppie couple who chuck city life for a slower pace on bucolic Devlin Island, but all is not as it seems in the town they now call home. It's the NBC telefilm, BAY COVEN (1987).
You can find TV TERROR in the unlikeliest places, like this episode of The Brady Bunch, when the family jets to Hawaii, only to fall under the curse of an ancient idol. Vincent Price guest stars!
Dennis Weaver crosses lanes with a truck-wielding maniac in Steven Spielberg's first feature, the ABC Movie-of-the-Week, DUEL (1971).
Lloyd Bridges is hounded by a recurring dream that makes his life a nightmare in The Deadly Dream (1971).
Saturdays are a lost art. If you ever padded down in your footie pajamas to the family television to settle in for a full morning of kid’s programming, then this episode is for you. We talk about the Groovie Goolies, the classic Filmation animated show, featuring friendly versions of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, and a coterie of other creepers. So, pass the pop-tarts, it’s time for the Goolies get together…
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Andy Griffith is a sadistic hunter of humans in SAVAGES (1974), the TV movie based on the book, Deathwatch, and recently adapted as the Michael Douglas film, Beyond The Reach (2015).
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We visit with Mark Dawidziak to discuss his best-selling book, EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE. It's an absorbing look at life principles from the Fifth Dimension, stirring reminders found in Rod Serling’s timeless fantasy series.
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Before The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist, Frank Darabont directed a little film called Buried Alive (1990), starring Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton, and Hoyt Axton, the story of a man who thought he had everything....until he woke up in a coffin.
The President's Plane Is Missing (1973), starring Buddy Ebsen and Rip Torn is a standout in a decade littered with the wreckage of lesser airplane dramas. Based on a novel by Robert J. Serling (brother of Rod Serling).
It's a film Rod Serling regretted writing: the criminally unknown TV Movie from 1966, The Doomsday Flight, starring Jack Lord and Edmond O'Brien.
The chase is afoot with 1973's SHE CRIED MURDER, starring Lynda Day George, fresh off of Mission Impossible, and Telly Savalas, right before KOJAK hit. Who loves ya, baby? TV TERROR loves ya.
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We pause to remember Mary Tyler Moore, who passed away this week, and celebrate her work in the superb crime/horror series Boris Karloff's THRILLER.
Ahoy! It's a telefilm about shipwreck and survival, 1975's THE LAST SURVIVORS.
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TV TERROR takes on the 1977 Bigfoot classic, SNOWBEAST, starring Yvette Mimieux.
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We look at the 1975 made-for-television classic of true crime horror, The Legend of Lizzie Borden, starring the bewitching Elizabeth Montgomery.
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We introduce TV TERROR and talk Night Gallery's THE DIARY segment.
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It's just what you wanted...a TV TERROR Christmas. Given the date, I thought we'd skip the obligatory intro show (which can come later) and jump right into this special offering, The Six Million Dollar Man episode, A Bionic Christmas Carol, aired 12 December 1976, in which our high-tech hero goes up against the Scrooges of the world. Hope you enjoy it. If you do, please tell an elf or two and review it on iTunes. : )
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