Home for the Holidays (1972) was released on VHS with one of those giant rectangular boxes. I’ll never forget its awful cover art. A mysterious figure in a yellow raincoat held a pitchfork. That was fine (and the killer’s “costume” in the actual movie is fine, as well); however, Sally Field’s head was placed right…

Beloved as it may be, part of me wishes I had left Gargoyles (1972) to live in my memory. Yes, the leader of the beasts, with Emmy award-winning makeup by Stan Winston, still looks amazing. However, I had forgotten (or didn’t notice when I last watched this as a “kid”) that he’s outnumbered three-to-one by…

Poor Artie Sawyer. Played by Andy Griffith, you know he’s a decent man. However, after losing his job and being forced to make ends meet by working as an apartment building superintendent, then having his spirit constantly crushed by his henpecking wife, Iris (Ida Lupino), he makes a big mistake when she goes out of…

The Victim (1972) is a slow burn that never even sparks. There’s absolutely no suspense in what should be an easy thriller. Kate Wainwright (Elizabeth Montgomery, in her first role following her eight-year run on Bewitched) finds her sister missing when she goes to visit her on a stormy night. There are two prime suspects…

For a small-screen survival drama, Family Flight (1972) really surprised me. I think that’s because it holds back on the melodrama and presents its content in as realistic a way as possible. Its familiar formula of introducing its dysfunctional characters, placing them together under strained circumstances, revealing secrets along the way, then providing a well-earned…

Perhaps testing an idea for its future big screen spectacle, Earthquake (1974), Universal made a small screen precursor called, Short Walk to Daylight (1972.) It’s built on a compelling concept: late-night passengers on a subway train are trapped underground when an earthquake hits New York City. Not only must they survive continuing aftershocks, but there’s…

In how many movies with a murder mystery do we complain that nobody really investigates? In Moon of the Wolf, that’s about all anyone does. As Sheriff Aaron Whitaker, David Janssen spends most of the movie looking for clues and interviewing suspects in the death of Ellie Burrifors. However, that’s not what you want to…

With it’s terrifying opening, The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972) unfortunately has nowhere to go but down. Flickering candles surround a coffin on which lies a black wreath. Charles Sand (Peter Haskell) approaches and opens it. The old man inside opens his eyes, which are all white, then suddenly sits up and points at Charles/us.…

In Haunts of the Very Rich (1972), the clues to what’s happening are disbursed slowly at first, then the remainder all at once. Interestingly,the movie toys with us as much as it does its characters and we’re still not sure until the very end where a mysterious airplane has taken them. Heck, I’m not even…