Saw it on tv as a young lad back in the mid-to-late seventies, so I’m not sure if it was ever theatrically released, or if it was strictly made-for-tv.
Basically it consisted of three stories, with each successive story being more creepy than the preceding.
Story #1: All I can remember is that it involved someone driving a classic 20’s era car down a forested highway at night. The road is pretty much empty until at a certain point, he starts passing other cars of the same vintage as the one he is driving. He reaches a small town only to discover that he has traveled back in time to the era from which his vehicle originally dates. There is more backstory to the plot obviously, but these are the only details I can remember.
Story #2: Unfortunately I don’t remember much about this one at all, other than the fact that I remember it as being distinctly scarier than the prior one.
Story#3: This is the one that used to keep me up at night! It involved a married couple who live in a large house, which IIRC, was situated on a bluff overlooking an ocean view with waves crashing on the rocks below, etc. We are introduced to the couple while they are grieving over the loss of a young son who was killed somehow in an accident in the not-too-distant past. (Perhaps he fell from the bluff? I can’t quite remember, although I think that it was explained in the story.)
Anyhow, after her sons death, the mother is shown as becoming interested in all kinds of witchcraft/occult practices, with the hope of somehow contacting her son in the afterlife. I remember the husband being upset by this, and lecturing his wife about her foolishness just before he leaves the house for the evening. At this point the mother gets out one of her “occult” books, and starts drawing a huge pentagram on the floor, lighting candles, incanting spells, etc., etc. (Oh yeah… This all takes place during a huge thunderstorm of course.)
Shortly thereafter, the son appears, seemingly brought back to life, although under exactly what circumstances I can’t quite recall. The mother is overjoyed at first, but quite soon she realizes that her son isn’t exactly the way she remembers him. He appears sullen an non-talkative at first, and his sullenness gradually turns into outright hostility, as he throws a sandwich his mother has made for him to the floor. Shortly thereafter the mother realizes that she has made a huge mistake, as her son now begins acting maniacally and chasing her through the house. The very last scene is of the mother terrified & hiding (under some stairs perhaps?). The son is toying with her. It’s obvious he knows where she’s been hiding. At this point, the “son” explains to his mother just why he has changed so much…
(as he approches her hiding place) “you see… Billy didn’t want to come back. So they sent ME instead!”
As this last line is delivered, we see little Billy’s (I can’t remember his actual name) face mutate from that of a 8 or 9 year old boy, to the gruesome visage of a demonic hell-child.
I know these sound like your average Twilight Zone/Night Gallery type of yarns, but having watched those as a lad as well, I remember this being a tad bit “stronger” than your average Rod Serling fare. Anyone recollect anything like this?