Badmovies.org Forum

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Made for TV movies started in the early 60's,but I believe the hey-day was in the 70's and early 80's.
Most were low budget and silly (ie-WEREWOLF OF WOODSTOCK,SATANS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS),others pretty dam cool (GARGOYLES,DRACULA).

Here are some I recall....
.DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK-Little trolls chase a family around in the dark. Lotsa fun.
.WEREWOLF OF WOODSTOCK-Man gets struck by lightning-chases hippies.
.BAD RONALD-Family moves into old house-weird teenager lives in the walls.
.SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS-dumb occult nonsense.
.IT HAPPENDED AT LAKEWOOD MANOR-Ants attack a garden party.
.SALEM'S LOT-you all know it.
.GARGOYLES-Weird monsters live out in the desert.
. the NIGHT STRANGLER-sequel to the NIGHT STALKER.
.DUEL-the Speilberg classic.
.UFO INCIDENT-Betty and Barney Hill meet aliens. True story,supposedly....
.DAUGHTER OF THE MIND-Ray Milland in spooky ghost story.
.DRACULA-Jack Palance
.FRANKENSTEIN:the TRUE STORY-verry long .Not true to the story either. But gory for tv!
.KISS Meet the PHANTOM OF THE PARK-HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
.BORN INNOCENT-Linda Blair meets a mop handle.
One of my favorites...KILLDOZER...
a metor crashes to earth and brings a bulldozer to homicidal life...!!!  :buggedout: :cheers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBSGXj7HrM&feature=related

I know there are more....

surprised to see DUEL was a made-for-tv movie.

is that to say it didn't ever get a cinema release?

TRIOLOGY OF TERROR was another good one, especially that little voodoo doll!

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It premeried on US TV in 1971.

It was released theatrically in France,Sweden and Finland in 1973.
It did have a theatrical release in the US in 1983...12 years later!

Snowbeast is an old favorite.  I guess this is the whole movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1WiycHcXj8&feature=player_detailpage

I grew up watching some of those, namely:

Bad Ronald
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Dracula
Frankenstein: The True Story
and
Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park

That last one was shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which I've been to many times growing up.

I really enjoyed Crawlspace.

Trilogy of Terror is one of the best. That's for sure.

One I remember seeing a couple of times was Wes Craven's Invitation to Hell, with Robert Urich. Membership in an exclusive country club brings all kinds of benefits, but there's something not quite right about people after they visit the club's natural hot spring. I thought it was pretty cool when the hero took a walk through the gates of Hell in an experimental spacesuit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4PiNW6SVg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwENxiQ_ADA

Not technically a horror movie, I guess, but THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN (1975) starring Elizabeth Montgomery was terrific!

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Dead of Night (1977)

Forgettable (At least I'd forgotten most of it) but for that last line:

"Bobby didn't wanna come back, so he sent me instead!"

Wow, Trilogy of Terror!  My mother told me about that one, and especially that doll with teeth!

I had no idea that Killdozer was a made for TV movie, nor did I know that about Duel.  I think that Killdozer was for hire at our local video store many years ago.

Edited to add: I just looked up Trilogy of Terror on the internet, and found that the first story, 'Julie' sounded very familiar.  I then realized that I have the original story 'The Likeness of Julie', written in 1962.  There are a number of differences, probably due to the TV nature of the show.

In the story, Julie is a plain-looking student who somehow attracts the attention of another kid at college.  He invites her out, and finds himself obsessed with her, stalking her and spying on her where she lives.  He takes her to a drive in where he drugs her and takes photos of her naked, and at the height of his obsession, attacks and brutalizes her in his car.  Later, from the viewpoint of Julie, she clairvoyantly sees him burning the photos he took before hanging himself.  She had mentally controlled him all along, inserting ideas into his mind to become obsessed with her and even assault her, but the weakness of his mind that allowed her to control him was what also caused him to self destruct, as her victims always did.  The story ends with another student taking a shine to Julie.

According to wikipedia, the TV episode places Julie as a teacher at the school rather than a student, and the power behind her manipulations is never stated, and only vaguely hinted as being out of the ordinary.  Julie the teacher poisons the student, and sets fire to his photographs.  Although I haven't seen the TV version, I prefer the ideas of the original story, in which an ugly but psychically gifted girl targets boys with her demented games.

I picked up "Snowbeast" on DVD @ the dollar store a couple of years ago. Pretty fun, funky 70s made-for-TV cheez. It was on the same DVD as a werewolf flick called "Moon of the Wolf" w/David ("The Fugitive") Janssen, which wasn't bad either.

I also remember seeing promo's for a made-for-TV flick when I was a kid called "DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL" that scared the ever lovin' crap out of me. Never seen the movie but I believe it starred Richard Crenna.

Trilogy of Terror 2 borrows the "Bobby" story from Dead of Night, but loses most of the effect, especially with the "Guy in the Bugsuit" ending.

A favorite of mine has always been "The Intruder Within".
I was lucky enough to find it on VHS at a bulk close out sale.

Another one has always been "Shivers", AKA "They Came From Within"
Many others since have tried & failed at making a watchable parasite slug movie.

Bam!  That's going in my signature! (If you don't mind!)  :teddyr:

I didn't watch many Made for TV movies but I did love Mini-series'

my favorites being The Beast (based on the Peter Benchley novel in which a giant squid terrorizes a small town) and the 10th Kingdom (a ridiculously long mini-series about 10 hours long where a father and daughter are sucked into a fairy tale world and must go through all the various FairyTale lands)

One of the best made for TV horror movies:

Don't Go to Sleep (1982)

Honorable mention:

Midnight Offerings (1981)

My two faves have always been:

Crowhaven Farm  :buggedout: with Hope Lange and Lloyd Bochner.

Baffled! with my man Leonard Nimoy and Susan Hampshire ~ in this one, Mr Nimoy plays a racing driver, who, after a near fatal crash, finds himself endowed with a form of ESP which enables him to stop the evil goings-on at a seaside mansion in England. Vera Miles and Rachel Roberts also starred here: this one scared the sh*t out of me as a kid and I have it on a near mint condition VHS.  :thumbup: but also  :buggedout: :buggedout:

wow very intresting, I've always thought the first 2 stories on Trilogy of Terror were boring...

I dont believe SHIVERS is a made for tv movie...that was a Cronenberg film.
Oh...NIGHT OF THE CREEPS was pretty cool...as was the insane SLUGS (1988)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvS3ZXZRSsk

I liked that one too - cheesy Jaws-style fun with a pre-CSI William Petersen. I revisited The Beast on video a few years later, after reading Ken Begg's review at jabootu.com, and enjoyed it even more. Ken used it as a perfect example of the "designated hero" in a movie. Petersen's character is not only a self-righteous prick, he actually puts other characters in danger through his actions without any accountability at all. Meanwhile, the local businessman who is portrayed as a villain of sorts really isn't doing anything all that villainous. Taken at face value, The Beast was fun the first time around. Viewed again in that different context, it took on another layer of fun for me, and actually became kind of a favourite.

And I just loved the way the marine biologist, with his accent, said "Architeuthis." For some reason, that stuck with me, and I have once or twice found a rare opportunity to use it. :teddyr:

     Does anyone recall DR. JECKYL and MR. HYDE, with Kirk Douglas?
THE CLONING OF CLIFFORD SWIMMER?
THE NORMING OF JACK 243?
SONG OF THE SUCCUBUS?

Two of may favorites are: The Girl Most Likely to... which starred Stockard CHanning and was co-written by Joan Rivers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52rOhwOnKq8

And I think someone else mentioned Midnight Offerings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfQVFMOzSOY

...and that it was a MUSICAL?!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydlOYVGoXdk&feature=related

The happy lunatics song that starts around 7:30 is definitely a highlight!

     An early fave....THE LOVE WAR, from 1970.

Shivers, I understand, was made for Canadian TV, where they have different standards.
Must confess, I haven't seen Slugs.
Night of The Creeps, IMHO, is a comedy. It has it's moments, but doesn't quite measure up.

 I was unaware of the Canadian TV link! I knew it was filmed there.
Yeah...NIGHT OF THE CREEPS was funny...and SLUGS is a low B movie....SHIVERS,on the other hand,is a classic!

Though not a made for tv movie, but a tv mini series, SALEM'S LOT 1979 had me glued to my tv set!

I always liked Deadly Lessons. Jon from Chips was a killer with mommie issues.

"You'll enjoy the Master...and he'll enjoy you!"

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I was talking about Shivers!

I liked Cheesey car movies (Surprised? :wink:), As in Killdozer, Duel, The Car, etc. But one of the more confusing and bad ass was Wheels of Terror. Why? A female school bus driver goes berserk and chases down the bad guys to get her daughter back. pure bad ass and cheesey at the same time! :cheers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrJBmfmlYto

I remember watching this one with my grandmother when I was all but 4 years old.  :smile:

     As did many MFTV movies, it was released theatrically in Europe.

I liked "Duel". :thumbup: