Which came first: an 80-year-old amusement park scheduled to be purposely demolished or a Hollywood studio making a TV movie about an amusement park that’s (spoiler alert) accidentally going to be destroyed? Let’s just call it kismet. Playboy Productions supposedly purchased the Ocean View Amusement Park in Norfolk, Virginia, just so they could make The…

In 1981, Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll created the classic television series, Hill Street Blues. Throughout the 1980s, Bochco was an Emmy-winning golden child, creating Doogie Howser, M.D. and L.A. Law. Would fate have treated him differently if the 1979 pilot, Vampire, had been sold instead of ending without a resolution to the story? In…

It’s been a while since we’ve had a 70s TV movie with so many familiar faces, although they’re mostly underutilized. Leading the cast is Charlie’s newest angel, Shelley Hack, as aspiring television reporter, Jan. She’s supported by her boss, Frank Gorshin, and her colleague, Barbara Rush. She interviews victims Dinah Shore and Morgan Brittany. She…

With the old bait and switch, CBS emphasized the salacious aspects in its advertising for The Darker Side of Terror (1979). Yes, what we see in TV Guide happens, but as only one interesting plot point in a film that offers an even more compelling science fiction story overall. Much about it is familiar, but…

If you search for Express to Terror (1979) on the internet, you’re likely to find Horror Express (1972) first. Take my advice: watch the far superior Horror Express instead. Not only is the title misleading, but further investigation shows that it’s the pilot for the infamous television series debacle, Supertrain. I almost eliminated it from…

Back in June, I called The Savage Bees (1976) “the best killer bee movie I’ve seen.” Back in the day, others must have liked it, too, because two years later it got a sequel, Terror Out of the Sky. This one is not as good as the original; however, it’s still entertaining on an even…

In 1976, Warner Bros. hired a mostly unknown director named John Carpenter to write a screenplay for a feature film based on the terrifying true-life experience of a woman in Chicago. During the eight months following completion, Warner Bros. decided they wanted it to be a TV movie and asked Carpenter to direct it. It…

The following are excepts from my feature about A Fire in the Sky (1978) in the We Belong Dead publication, Spotlight on Science Fiction. It’s structured like the typical disaster movie in which you could basically substitute one catastrophe for another, but it executes it so well throughout its three stages: preparation for the disaster,…

Linda Blair and her hair star in Summer of Fear (1978), but, contrary to the appearance of the latter, they’re not the ones possessed. While it’s Blair’s return to horror after playing Regan MacNeil (twice), she made more of an impact in other TV movie fare like Born Innocent (1974) and Sarah T. – Portrait…

In the vein of not judging a book by its cover, Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) isn’t nearly as ridiculous as it sounds. If demons can possess living beings, why not dogs? What better way to spread evil into the world than through a litter of pups that can each find a nice,…