Category Archives: Made for TV Movie

House of Witchcraft (1989)

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La casa del sortilegio (The House of the Spell) finds our old friend Umberto Lenzi making a TV movie that fits right into his Ghosthouse style and I, for one, could not be happier.

This is one of four films in the Doomed Houses series of films that also includes his The House of Lost Souls and Fulci’s The Sweet House Of Horrors and The House of Clocks. And he decides that what this movie needs is lots of the hero having visions of losing his head and having it thrown into cauldrons and giant vats of soup. And you know what they say, there ain’t no fake severed head like an Italian fake severed head.

Also: our hero Luke has a tarot-obsessed wife named Martha and if I know my Italian exploitation conventions — and you know I do — anyone named Martha is evil.

Also also: Italian directors hate cats and Lenzi says, “I guess I’ll continue that tradition,” and has a scene where someone throws at TV at a black cat and it exposes on impact.

You better believe that the words La Casa were really big on the posters for this. I mean, by posters it played on TV. Ah, you know what I mean.

Lenzi makes a film that may not be a narrative wonder, but if you made a supercut of all its weirdest scenes, you’d find a priest being beaten to death with a crowbar by a witch, a boyfriend chopped into pieces and dumped down a well and a basement where it snows and the daughter becomes a ghost. And maggots!

“You have to have maggots in this sauce,” screaming Lenzi, mad with cooking energy in the kitchen.

This movie is also called Ghosthouse 4 and for that I love it sixteen times as much.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 25: Dark Mansions (1986)

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25. SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE*: Sleep deprived and still alive… for now. (*Does not have to be set in Seattle)

Hey all — just got back from Seattle, then a week quarantine from Becca who got COVID-19, which is pretty much like me being normal because all I did was sit in my basement and write about movies and here I am, still writing about movies.

Produced by Aaron Spelling and Douglas S. Cramer, Dark Mansions had the elevator speech of “kind of like Dynasty if it were Dark Shadows,” which is to say, it’s Dark Shadows. It was also not picked up for a series and back in the wonderful days of 1986, if that didn’t happen, we got the burn off TV movie and would say, “Man, I wish that was a series.” But even if it was, it would have lasted ten episodes and a bunch would have only played in Europe and I’d still be writing this article, just slightly different.

That said — Joan Fontaine as reclusive matriarch Margaret Drake! Linda Purl from Visiting Hours! Melissa Sue Anderson fromLittle House on the Prarie (and the voice of Snowbird from Alpha Flight on the X-Men cartoon and yes, that kind of information is inside my brain)! Lois Chiles, who is both Holly Goodhead and the thanks for the ride lady from Creepshow 2!  Nicollette Sheridan! Dan O’Herilhy! Grant Aleksander (Phillip from Guiding Light)! Raymond St. Jacques (the street preacher from They Live)! Paul Shenar (Dream Lover, Scarface)! And a ghost haunting all of them!

Director Jerry London also did Killdozer, so there’s that. The show was written by Anthony Lawrence (who speaking of shows that died before their time also created The Phoenix), his wife Nancy and Robert McCullough, who wrote for Falcon Crest and that helped with this I guess.

A lot gets set up. Nothing gets resolved. And that’s how it goes for a pilot. Just think, in another reality, I’m posting the YouTube link for each episode and not just this one and done.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 22: Circle of Fear “Dark Vengeance” (1973)

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22. BEASTS OF BURDEN: One where a horse/donkey/mule/ox etc is doing some serious work.

This was supposed to be Devil Story but I got so excited after I watched it that I jumped the gun and posted it, thinking that surely I’d find another movie to fit the bill.

I spent almost this entire month trying to find another one.

This is an episode of the show Ghost Story, which changed its name to Circle of Fear midway through its one season. Executive produced by William Castle, the original idea for the show was to have Sebastian Cabot play Winston Essex, the owner of a mysterious hotel called Mansfield House, which was really San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado where Wicked Wicked was filmed.

By episode 14 of 22, the show was retitled and Cabot was out and the show still suffered poor ratings, despite featuring writers like Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, D.C. Fontana and Jimmy Sangster.

Episode 15 was Dark Vengeance, which was written by Peter Dixon (whose career was all over the place in TV, working on everything from the Superman 1950s TV series to the Masters of the Universe cartoon) and directed by Herschel Daugherty (The Victim).

While working at a construction site, Frank (an incredibly, near imposible young Martin Sheen) finds a box that can;t be opened. He becomes obsessed with it and finally is able to break into it, revealing only a broken mirror and a toy horse that upsets his wife Cindy (KIm Darby, queen of the TV movie supernatural heroines) to increasing mania.

Of course Cindy would have a past with the horse. But how do you get it back in the box or even destroy it when it can even survive being set ablaze?

There’s no way a goofy wooden horse should be so damned frightening, but everyone is beyond committed to making this happen. Man, after seeing this episode, now I have an entire series to devour. This show suffered comparisons to Night Gallery, but after all, shouldn’t every anthology show made ever after Serling’s masterwork suffer that fate?

You can watch this on YouTube.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 14: Graveyard Disturbance (1987)

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14. SPOILED ALERT!: Watch something with grotesque eating in it. Or at least some expired food. Yuck.

I have a complicated relationship with Lamberto Bava. And by that, I mean that for every Demons, there’s a Devilfish. But then I realize that I kind of like Blastfighter, love Macabre and even kind of dig Delirium. I always give him another chance and I feel like someday, I won’t feel like Lamberto is going to let me down every time I see his signature on a film.

In July of 1986, Lamberto was hired to create five TV movies under the title Brivido Giallo (Yellow Thrill). Of course, none of these were giallo and only four got made: Until Death, The Ogre, Dinner with a Vampire and this film.

Originally titled Dentro il cimitero (Inside the Cemetery), this spoof of Italian horror is about five twnetysomething teenagers who make a bet with an entire town — which is literally referred to as the kind of place from An American Werewolf In London — to see if they can survive one evening inside a series of catacombs. Not only are there zombies and vampires in there, there’s also death itself.

It all starts off with plenty of promise, as our gang of young punks has the most 80s van ever, complete with an image from Heavy Metal, U2 and Madonna. After the crew shoplifts, they go on the run and straight into supernatural trouble.

The person they’re stealing from? Lamberto. Which is only fair, as he uses this movie to rip off everything from — sorry, spoof or pay homage to — Carnival of Souls and Phenomena to his father’s Black Sunday and any number of zombie movies.

So where does the eating come in? Well, there’s one great scene in here where an entire family of multiple eyed creatures all dine on rotten food. This moment had to have inspired Pan’s Labyrinth, if only for Guillermo del Toro to try to make something good out of, well, another movie where Lamberto lets me down.

The Ultraman (1979)

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Originally airing on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 4, 1979 to March 26, 1980,  the fifty episodes of The Ultraman are the eighth story of Ultraman and take place four years after Ultraman Leo’s adventures.

The first animated version of Tsuburaya’s iconic superhero, The Ultraman was one of the earliest cartoons from Sunrise, which is better known for the other cartoon they released the same year as this, Mobile Suit Gundam.

At some point in the 21st century, the Earth Defense Forces form the Science Guard Agency led by Captain Akiyama. Their goal is to solve the strange glowing objects in the form of letters from an unknown language that are appearing in the sky. Earth Defense Forces member Choichiro Hikari is making his way back to Earth to join the team when he encounters and bonds with Ultraman Joneus.

Beyond the monsters, the bad guys are the Heller Empire, a renegade faction of Ultra People who have learned how to use the Ultra Mind for evil.

If you’ve seen this before in America, it may be because it was condensed into two movies, 1981’s The Adventures of Ultraman and 1983’s Ultraman II: The Further Adventures of Ultraman. The fourteenth episode also aired on New York superstation WOR as part of their Japan Tonight! seven-hour event which was hosted by noted Japanese actor Telly Savalas. I kid, I kid.

Sponsored by Bandai, the episode was introduced by Japanese actress/author/talk show host Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, who told American audiences that Ultraman was “very, very popular in Japan. He’s like your Superman.” Plenty of geeks like me knew all about Ultraman, as the show aired in syndication here from 1966 until the mid 80s.

Now you can get the entire series — all in one gorgeous package — from Mill Creek. I love that they’ve been putting so much love into these releases. They also look incredible all sitting on one shelf.

You can buy this set from:

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 13: Alison’s Birthday (1981)

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13. THE RUBY ANNIVERSARY: Watch something that came out in 1981. The redder the better, right Ben?

How many movies have I seen from 1981? I mean, has there ever been a better year for movies? Possession, Scanners, Evil Dead, Escape from New York, Heavy Metal, Dead and Buried, Just Before Dawn, The House by the Cemetery, Eyes of a Stranger, An American Werewolf In London, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker, Hell Night, Mystics In Bali, even Carnival Magic. Ahh — also Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Piranha 2, Absurd, Demonoid, Madhouse, My Bloody Valentine, The Monster Club, Shock Treatment, Night School, The Beyond, The Other Hell, Happy Birthday to Me, The Prowler, The Funhouse, Burial Ground, One from the Heart, Don’t Go Into the Woods, Evilspeak, Fear No Evil, The Howling, The Beyond, Knightriders, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Halloween II,  Friday the 13th Part 2, Porky’s, The Road Warrior, Excalibur, Body Heat, Cannonball Run, Stripes, The Burning, Blow Out, Thief, Ms. 45, Mommie Dearest, Cannibal Ferox, Galaxy of Terror, Nighthawks, Inseminoid, Ghost Story, The Pit,  Christiane F., Roar, Pennies from Heaven, Sharky’s Machine, Bloody Moon, Enter the Ninja, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Fan, The Nesting, The Black Cat, Night of the Werewolf, Firecracker, Mad Foxes, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, Centrespread, Years of the Beast, Home Sweet Home, Dead Kids and man, so many more.

1981 was a great, great time to be alive and excited about horror movies.

On the other side of the world, Australian folk horror was taking root, at least with this film, which starts with 16-year-old Alison playing with a spirit board and we all know just how well that works out in film. It doesn’t work out in minutes, not hours or days, as Alison’s dead father begins to warns her that ‘s she in trouble and that she shouldn’t go home for her birthday through possessing one of her friends, who is then killed dead when a bookcase falls on her.

Years later, Alison and her boyfriend visit her family, who instantly keep them apart and Alison begins having vivid nightmares. The plan is to keep slowly drugging and gaslighting them both, ending with the spirit of a demon named Mirna being moved from Alison’s grandmother into her body, as has been the tradition for two hundred years.

Director and writer Ian Coughlan also made Stones of Death and Cubbyhouse, another movie about devil worship that supposedly has a connection to this movie. I’ve heard that it’s near unwatchable and has Joshua Leonard from The Blair Witch, so I leave it up to some other brave soul to watch it. Who am I kidding — I’ll probably update this post sooner or later with my findings.

As part of the All the Haunts Be Ours box set from Severin, this modern folk horror will finally be seen by a larger audience. It may not be the fastest moving story, it may not have all the gore of the slasher yeat of 1981, but it has a definite dark mood that makes it unlike anything you’ve seen before, even if you know exactly where it leads. You can also watch it on Tubi.

Ultraman 80 (1980)

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Mill Creek has been putting out some truly astounding Ultraman collections as of late and man, they look incredible on the shelf. Their latest set is Ultraman 80, the ninth show in the series and the last Ultraman show for 16 years.

After the 1979-80 animated series The Ultraman, Ultraman 80 returns to the Showa continuity, taking place after 5 years after Ultraman Leo. Takeshi Yamato, the new science teacher, is living a double life as a member of the elite UGM (Utility Government Members), an earth defense organization. He’s also the 50 meter tall Ultraman 80.

Well, at least for the first 13 episodes, when he joins the UGM full-time. Over the fifty episodes, the team fights kaiju including Crescent, Gikogilar, Zandrias, Alien Bam, Devilon, Robo-Fo, Delusion Ultraseven and so many more.

While not as well-known as other Ultraman shows, there are some interesting ideas here, such as the previously mentioned Delusion Ultraseven, which is created when a young child is attacked by a biker gang and uses his Ultraseven toy and plenty of rage to create an evil form of the hero that Ultraman 80 must fight.

There’s even a great ending when the UGM forces our hero and the alien princess who joins the team to stay out of the final battle, just to prove that humanity can defend its own planet. And while the gimmick of a kid creating or finding a new monster every show may get a little repetitive, you’re really coming here to see Ultraman 80 beat up all manner of kaiju, right?

Mil Creek has really put together a great looking set, complete with an episode guide that helps you learn who each monster is. I’m always amazed that I can now own full series of Ultraman, as I was so hungry for new episodes as a kid. The world really is an amazing place and this set is pretty great, too.

You can buy this set from:

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 6: The Fishmen and Their Queen (1995)

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6. IT CAME FROM THE SEA: Some kind of threat from below the brine.

Sergio Martino can do no wrong. Seriously, even when he’s combining footage from Island of the Fishmen AKA Screamers and 2019: After the Fall of New York into one TV movie, I can’t be anything but entertained.

Two teenagers are stuck in the hell that is the end of all things, with radioactive waste everywhere and barely a chance to survive against the horse-riding, masked and completely berserk (and great) Exterminator Warriors. When an old man named Socrates and his magic dog Lampo take them to the island of the fish people — who are ruled by a stunning queen (Ramona Badescu, who also sang the movie’s theme song) — everything seems like it’s about to get better,

Man, I love the scene where one of the kids waves to one of the mer-men and they wave back in an action that was meant in anger in the original film.

Well, it turns out that the queen has enslaved the fishmen and is trying to destroy a masked dwarf that the kids save along with Selva the jungle girl, whose sister — and rightful queen of the island — has been turned into a wooden statue. That means that our heroes must set free the fishmen and save the transformed ruler.

This movie makes less sense than any other late-period Martino movie and I’m counting Uppercut Man and American Tiger in that. This is as dumb as it gets, ending with a spaceship leaving Earth for no reason other than there was no crane that lowered a god in either of the two movies strip-mined to make this one.

Speaking of American Tiger AKA American Rickshaw, the first time I went to Scarecrow, I wanted to see just how deep their library was. Even before Cauldron Films released the film on blu ray, Scarecrow had it on VHS. That made me believe in them.

KINO LORBER BLU RAY RELEASE: Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This movie originally ran on our site on March 8, 2018. We’re sharing it again as Kino Lorber has released it on Blu-ray, and we’re beyond happy that more made-for-TV movies are coming out on home video and want people to buy and support the companies that are putting them out. This new release has a revised 2K master, commentary by Troy Howarth, a TV commercial and new art by Vince Evans.

The ABC Movie of the Week for November 24, 1973, Scream, Pretty Peggy was directed by Gordon Hessler, who was behind films as diverse as The Oblong Box, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park and Sho Kosugi’s introduction to the U.S., Pray For Death. It was written by Jimmy Sangster (who directed Hammer’s Lust for a Vampire and wrote The Curse of Frankenstein, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? and many more), so this film has a much better pedigree than you’d expect.

The central character of the film is Peggy, a college student who aspires to become an artist. She applies for a job at the home of noted sculptor Jeffrey Elliott (played by Ted Bessell, TV’s That Girl) and his mother, the iconic Bette Davis. Peggy’s annoyingly chipper character adds a unique dimension to the story.

Let me give you some advice, in case you are a young girl looking for a housekeeping job and find yourself in a 1970s TV movie. If the house you’re working in has an Old Hollywood actress in it, run (refer back to my past rules of always avoiding Old Hollywood actors and actresses). And if you find out that there’s a room that you aren’t allowed to go into, don’t try to go into that room. Just get away as fast as you can.

However, Peggy’s curiosity gets the better of her. She stumbles upon Jeffrey’s collection of eerie demon sculptures, each more terrifying than the last. She also encounters George Thornton, whose daughter used to work in the house. This leads to a confrontation with the formidable Mrs. Bette Davis, a situation one should never find themselves in.

It turns out that Jessica, Jeffrey’s sister, is living in the room above the garage that Peggy isn’t allowed into. Again, get out. Now.

No, Peggy decides she wants to make a new friend. And what if that friend is really Jeffrey, who killed his sister and has split his personality with her inside his head?  Oh, Peggy. You brought this on yourself.

Scream, Pretty Peggy is a fine slice of 70s TV movie thrills. Any time you have Ms. Davis deigning to be in a TV movie, you will get something good. But seriously, I wish these girls would wise up. There are better things to do in this world than live in a house of maniacs!

KINO LORBER BLU RAY RELEASE: The Victim (1972)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We originally watched this made-for-TV movie on April 3, 2018. We’re bringing it back because Kino Lorber has released it on blu ray — making us go wild because we’ve dreamed of a day when TV movies were commercially available — and we want you to get a copy for your collection.  Their release has a commentary track by the awesome Amanda Reyes, art by Vince Evans and a new 2K master.

If you ever wonder why I love my wife so much, I watched this movie, and she walked into the room, sat on the couch and excitedly remarked, “That’s Eileen Heckart!” Yes, Becca loves The Bad Seed, a classic psychological thriller where Heckart’s performance as the mother of a sociopathic child is unforgettable. And she isn’t shy about it.

Director Herschel Daugherty’s directorial efforts run the gamut of TV classics, from Star Trek to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller and The Six Million Dollar Man. He was even the dialogue director for Mildred Pierce!

Kate Wainwright (Elizabeth Montogomery, who you may know from Bewitched, but around here we celebrate her for her role in The Legend of Lizzie Borden) is coming to visit her sister, but unbeknownst to her, her sister is already dead. She has to deal with the increasingly crazy attention of her sister’s maid, Mrs. Hawkes (Heckart), power outages, and an increasingly frightening storm. We soon learn that her sister already fired the maid and plans to divorce her husband, Ben.

While the film opens with the murder of the sister, the identity of the killer remains a mystery. As we witness Kate’s growing fear, Montgomery’s performance is nothing short of superb, keeping us on the edge of our seats.

The McKnight Malmar story this was based on was first filmed for a 1962 episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller, ‘The Storm,’ also directed by Herschel Daugherty. The Victim was rewritten by Merwin Gerard and doesn’t stick as close to the original story, but it retains the core elements of the original, including the intense psychological suspense and the theme of a woman in peril.

The ending of this movie is bound to stir up some strong emotions. It might leave you feeling frustrated, or you might find it enjoyable, as it maintains a consistent level of suspense and creepiness throughout.