# Cheesy SF/Supernatural Made For TV Movies of the 1970s You Love **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904 "2006-02-17T02:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/1 "2006-02-17T02:38:21Z")
Just spent a few bucks buying some copies of some of the wonderful (in a good way and in a “so bad it’s good” way) SF/Supernatural/Horror made for television films of the 70s – the Golden Age of the Movie Of the Week, I believe. Now some from those days are legendary – **The Night Stalker** and sequel; anything written by Richard Matheson, but most were just made to give ex-stars of 1960s series a job, or to give Gene Roddenberry another chance to get a series on the air. As a kid and a young teen I loved them all, and a couple even scared the bejeezus out of me. Most of these quickies were sure to star those stalwarts of the format – William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Richard Basehart, Peter Graves, Barbara Eden, Lindsay Wagner, and any cast member of “The Big Valley” who was not Lee Majors. Remember Nimoy as a cool guy race car driver who is **Baffled!** by his visions of future happening in an old English manor? Rember the ghosts of a doomed WWII B-17 who came back to haunt the **Sole Survivor** whom they believe was a traitor? George Hamilton’s tan says it all – **The Dead Don’t Die**. Two aliens battle in disguise as humans (well, Lloyd Bridges and Angie Dickinson) in **The Love War**. You’ll just never guess what these two enemies do when they inhabit the lusty healthy bodies of two actors desperate for work. And what was that one where Lindsay Wagner finds an old picture of someone who looks just like her, then time travels or some nonsense? Big cars, big bell-bottoms, turtlenecks and plaid jackets, sideburns, hair parted deep to the side, or straight down the middle, usually written by someone named Guerdon Trueblood, and directed by one the thousand McEveety brothers, Bernard Kowalski or or someone named Cy, Sy, or Alf. Remember those? Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/2 "2006-02-17T02:40:48Z")
I would _love_ to watch again “The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything.” It’s a story of a guy who inherits a watch that can stop time. Perhaps it’s better if I don’t watch it - I saw it as a kid and was amazed. If I saw it again I’d probably laugh in all the wrong places. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/3 "2006-02-17T02:46:58Z")
Oh! And then there’s the one where this guy had some kind of psychokinesis. Whenever he used it they’d do a close up on his eye and the pupil would contract. In one scene he caused a vat of molten gold to tip, the gold pour out onto the floor, which then solidified quickly trapping the bad guys feet. The fact that no one suffered from 3[sup]rd[/sup] degree burns didn’t factor into my young fascination of a guy moving things with his mind. Does anyone remember the name of this? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/4 "2006-02-17T03:18:59Z")
Don’t let’s forget 1972’s TV movie [Gargoyles](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068622/usercomments) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/5 "2006-02-17T03:22:58Z")
It’s from '81 but [This House Posessed](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083192/) freaked me out with the exploding mirror bit. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/6 "2006-02-17T03:31:33Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > It’s from '81 but [This House Posessed](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083192/) freaked me out with the exploding mirror bit. The part of that movie that seriously stuck with me was the poor nurse being boiled in the pool. Squicked me out about swimming pools for years… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/7 "2006-02-17T03:32:19Z")
_The Initiation of Sarah_: > **[The Initiation of Sarah (TV Movie 1978) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077735/)** > > The Initiation of Sarah: Directed by Robert Day. With Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tony Bill, Kathryn Grant. A withdrawn young girl joins an unpopular sorority in college. It turns out she has psychic and telekinetic powers, and she uses them against a... ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/8 "2006-02-17T03:35:21Z")
How about [The Spell](http://imdb.com/title/tt0076747/)? This one was a classic _Carrie_ ripoff. The part I remember most was the neighbor she burned up…or something. All I remember is the woman coming down the stairs and suddenly her skin turns orange, her tongue turns purple and smoke comes out of her mouth! Scared poor little 6-year-old me, let me tell you… ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/9 "2006-02-17T03:53:37Z")
My favorite was A Fire in the Sky, about a comet that hits Phoenix, AZ. IIRC, Richard Crenna was in it? Loved that movie as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/10 "2006-02-17T05:34:41Z")
Karen Black on an all-scenery diet in [_Trilogy of Terror_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073820/). Accept no substitute. It’s all good, but the Zuni fetish doll bit is the most awesome horror television ever made. That _sound!__pees self_ And Spielberg’s _Duel_ will always have a place in my heart – although I’m not entirely sure how it would stand up to a screening today. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/11 "2006-02-17T09:54:12Z")
Another Richard Crenna outing: Devil Dog: Hound of Hell. The family German Shepherd is a tool of Satan who possesses his family. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/12 "2006-02-17T13:37:04Z")
**Larry Mudd** , a couple years back I bought the special edition DVD of Matheson’s/Spielberg’s **Duel**. It gripped me as much then as the first several times I saw it. Weaver’s performance, the cinematography, everything is as awesome now as it was in 71. A classic of the form. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheesy-sf-supernatural-made-for-tv-movies-of-the-1970s-you-love/344904/13 "2006-02-17T13:52:18Z")
Two words- Crowhaven Farm This REALLY NEEDS to be put on DVD. Another one never given the attention it deserves- the Dan Curtis 1973 production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, with Bo Svenson portraying the Monster authentically. Low budget but more accurate than any other version up to that time (the main twist is that a very pretty girl was the blind person), tho aforementioned budget forbid ending it in the Arctic.