The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964)

Written, produced and directed by Joseph Stefano, author of the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Eye of the Cat, Home for the Holidays, Snowbeast and The Kindred, this was originally a pilot for an anthology series for CBS called The Haunted. Sadly, it was never picked up*.

Nelson Orion (Martin Landau) is an architect who has an affinity for the occult. His fiancee, Vivia Mandore (Diane Baker), is haunted by the mother of her first husband. If they want a future, the past must be dealt with.

This is way better and cooler than it had any right to be and man, I wish we could have seen more of Orion — housebuilder by day, ghostbuster by night — in more adventures.

*One theory is that the network received complaints that the movie was too scary and disturbing, so the project was canceled. Another — and potentially more likely situation — was that CBS president James T. Aubrey had originally greenlit the show and when he stepped down, they had no one in power who was interested in the series.

You can watch this on YouTube. It’s also available on DVD and blu ray from Kino Lorber.