Technically, the title’s not bait-and-switch; however, if you’re expecting a typical mummy movie, The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb (1980) is not it. That’s not to say it’s an atypical mummy movie. It’s just not really a mummy movie at all. Instead, it’s all about the politics of discovering the tomb of King Tutankhamen and…

Two years before V hit the big time as an NBC miniseries, the network tested the waters with a similar concept: The Aliens Are Coming (1980.) I was originally going to write that I was surprised V got made considering the tepid result of The Aliens Are Coming. However, now I’m more inclined to believe…

With She’s Dressed to Kill (1979), we’ve technically reached the end of this series about “1970s TV Movies.” However, as we’ve discussed, there isn’t an impenetrable line between decades that cleanly separates their content. However, this is the last film in the book that has been my bible since the series began almost three years…

Warning: this review contains spoilers. The highlight of Salem’s Lot part one (the vampire boys floating outside and rap-tap tapping on windows) overshadows a scene in part two that I had forgotten was just as terrifying. Mike Ryerson (Geoffrey Lewis) is throwing dirt on the grave of Danny Glick when the wind swirls around him…

Warning: this review contains spoilers. In Salem’s Lot (1979) Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin) reminds me of myself as a monster kid. His room is full of all sorts of cool posters, models, and masks. After showing his friends, Danny and Ralphie Glick (Brad Savage and Ronnie Scribner) his ghoul mask (and explaining the horrific nature…

With last week’s movie, The Death of Ocean View Park, and now Disaster on the Coastliner, it seems like the television networks were trying to cram as many disaster movies as they could into the decade before it ended. That’s funny because the subgenre had about run its course earlier in 1979 with The Concorde……

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…