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…

If The Woman Hunter (1972) succeeds in anything, it’s in reminding us that Barbara Eden is a beautiful woman. What better way to demonstrate the fact than by placing her on an Acapulco beach! However, coming from the mind of Brian Clemens (prolific writer from The Avengers television series and creator of Captain Kronos: Vampire…

If there’s one TV horror film I remember from the 1970s, it’s When Michael Calls (1972.) For some reason, it remains vivid in my mind. That reason may very well be the commercials I saw for it around the time it originally aired. (I find myself frequently remembering advertisements for movies and TV shows more…

Arriving immediately after Duel (1971), you have to be at least a little disappointed in Steven Spielberg’s next-to-last TV movie, Something Evil (1972.) However, a comparison of the two provides a good example of how a minimalist approach can work perfectly for one movie and not so perfectly for another. As you’ll read, I don’t…

When The Screaming Woman (1972) began, I immediately liked the music and therefore closely watched the credits to see the name of the composer. Either I missed it, or it was not in the opening credits. In any case, I have now learned it was none other than John Williams! This was apparently one of…

The headline here is that She Waits (1972) was written by Art Wallace, the man who created the bible for Dark Shadows and wrote its first 40 episodes, plus many more after that, including those introducing the reluctant vampire, Barnabas Collins. Here, he focuses strictly on ghosts. The story isn’t quite as soapy as Dark…

Yes, that’s Ida Lupino, award-winning actress from the golden age of Hollywood, playing prison guard Claire Tyson and punching women in the stomach. This was, in fact, her 1970s television movie debut. During the following two years, she appeared in five more. She was no stranger to television, though, having appeared in many series throughout…

The cat in Black Noon (1971) is yellow, not black, matching the blonde witch in the film, Deliverance, played by the lovely Yvette Mimieux. This isn’t a spoiler; we see her in a pre-opening credits scene in which she strokes the cat as she watches a church burn. Granted, we don’t exactly know her role…