TV Terror Blogathon: The House that Wouldn't Die (1970)

Just in time for Halloween, this post was part of the Terror TV Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association. There are tons of creepy reads ahead, so check out what's scary to others in the association by clicking here. Oh, and enjoy! Let's roll...

Network: ABC
Original Airdate: October 27th, 1970

Although it has been many years since I read Barbara Michael’s excellent Ammie, Come Home, which The House that Would Not Die (aka The House that Wouldn't Die) is based on, I remember it as a chilling and fascinating novel. Michaels, whose real name was Barbara Mertz, earned a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago before becoming a best selling author, writing under the names of Michaels, and Elizabeth Peters. As Michaels, she often dove into Gothic ghost stories, brilliantly weaving her knowledge of the research process she had developed while acquiring her doctorate, incorporating the fascinating “brick and mortar” historical interrogation methods into the mystery solving her characters engaged in. The ABC Movie of the Week adaptation, written by Henry Farrell (a fellow novelist who also penned the screenplay for the excellent TVM The Eyes of Charles Sand) somehow manages to maintain some of the authenticity of that process while also indulging in the many supernatural thrills that made the novel so compelling.

A look at a similar(ish) color scheme used in the TVM's foreign artwork and a later release of the novel:

Barbara Stanwyck makes her telefilm debut as Ruth Bennett, an elegant and independent woman who inherits a beautiful but remote house from a distant relative. Taking her lovely niece, Sara (Kitty Winn) along for the ride, the duo decides to set up house for a bit, but soon find out something is already living there. 

That’s the basic premise of this simple but suspenseful ghost tale that also interweaves some charming romance elements (along with a few rapey ones, but we’ll get to that) for Ruth, and a professor named Pat (Richard Egan, also making his TV movie debut), as well as for Sara with a cutie pie named Stan (Michael Anderson Jr., and his moustache). Following the original storyline beats of Ammie, House kicks of quickly with a nifty séance, before embarking on a slow burn film about possession, lost love, and grief, leading to a surprisingly moving ending.

The hauntings, which are classic even by the standards of 1970, begin early on, as a male voice cries “Ammie, come home,” in the wee hours of the night. Soon after, Sara takes a peculiar turn, becoming terrified of Pat, who is also acting curiously, and sometimes violently when inside the house. Based on my memory, the novel and film depart mostly in terms of the location. Ammie takes place in the busy and stately D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown, where the neighbors are literally yards away from the chaos. House is out in the middle of no man’s land, where help isn’t simply a scream away, feeding into a real sense of seclusion. While the more urban setting of Ammie works wonderfully in the novel, I really like the isolated locale in House.

 
Like most telefilms, House is not overtly violent, but manages to bring on the creep factor in several scenes. One of the most jaw dropping ones occurs relatively early when Pat forces himself on Ruth. It is an uncomfortable moment meant to express that Pat is no longer himself, but it does tap into some very real fears of that pushy date you dread but have probably encountered. Ruth somehow manages to forgive Pat, and that he is being taken over by a spirit helps the audience also come back to loving him, but that scene still stands out as a realistically terrifying moment.

And, House has atmosphere to spare. Going back to the location, the howling winds that rattle around the house give the film a sense of unease. The séance is, like all séances are in my opinion, awesome, and Winn is excellent as the possessed victim. There are a few supporting characters, but House relies heavily on the four leads to carry the film. Stanwyck and Egan are the standouts as the couple fighting off ghosts while sometimes fighting off their feelings for each other, but with pros like that, can anyone else expect to upstage those two? Well, Stanwyck’s gorgeous oh-so-seventies wardrobe almost does. It’s the height of middle aged glamour and she looks beautiful showing off one majestic frock after another.

Majestic frocks: 

Spelling and Stawyck actually had a long and fruitful history together, beginning in 1968 with the Zane Grey Theater episode Trail to Nowhere, which Stanwyck appeared in and which Spelling produced. Afterwards, the two worked on The Dick Powell Theatre episode Special Assignment (1962), before Stanwyck made her telefilm debut in House. Afterwards she got a bit more sinister in the 1971 TVM A Taste of Evil, and then in 1973 starred in The Letters. She also played Toni in the gender bending Charlie’s Angels episode Toni’s Boys and then took a gig as Constance Colby on both Dynasty and in The Colbys. Stanwyck had already put in years of spellbinding professional work, but her more fanciful gigs with Spelling are memorable and wonderful. TV looked so good on her, and Spelling loved working with classic Hollywood, and did right by them (if I do say so myself).

But let's not forget the other man behind the camera, John Llewellyn Moxey, who also directed Stanwyck in A Taste of Evil. The journeyman director knew how to make more out of less, and he maintains an economical but genuinely claustrophobic ambiance, especially in the possession scenes. There is something so charming about House, but in all honestly, it isn't just nostalgia that makes this film a true ABC Movie of the Week classic, it's just really simple and solid, almost perfecting that dark and stormy night watching that made so many of the MOWs so damn entertaining. In short, the goods are for real.

I was surprised to read that Ammie is actually a part of a trilogy of novels Michaels wrote, which is known as the Georgetown trilogy. According to this great article by Natalie Luhrs on Pretty Terrible, in the follow up, titled Shattered Silk, Michaels brings back Pat and Ruth, although the novel now follows another one of Ruth’s nieces named Karen who finds herself solving an old murder mystery. The third novel, Stitches in Time doesn’t keep it in the family, instead making the protagonist a friend of Karen's named Rachel, and involves a cursed quilt. Honestly, you can't go wrong with the novel or its small screen adaptation. It's creepy good times for the Halloween season! 

Newspaper promo for The House that Wouldn't Die

Savages (1974)

Network: ABC
Original Air Date: September 11, 1974

As I’ve written before, Andy Griffith was a badass. He was, without a doubt, one of the most powerful presences of the golden age of the telefilm (and beyond, check out Gramps if you need further proof). Like so many television actors from this era, he used the TV movie format to shed his good guy image and brought in several dark performances along the way. And while I have some personal favorite picks (Winter Kill just might be at the top of my list), it would be hard to deny the pure menace he exudes in Savages, a small and suspenseful desert lensed thriller that positions Griffith as a sociopathic lawyer turned hopeful game hunter, who decides that man just might be the most interesting trophy, indeed.

Based on the award winning 1972 young adult novel (!) Deathwatch by Robb White, Savages is about a man named Horton Madec (Griffith), a seemingly amiable attorney looking for a weekend in the wild with nothing but a guide and his guns to keep him company. After his original escort cancels, Madec hires Ben Campbell (Sam Bottoms), a young and handsome geology-student-and-man-of-the-desert and the two head towards parts unknown. Too eager to hit his prey, Madec accidentally kills the local loony miner and asks Ben to help him cover up the crime. But this is Ben’s friend… plus Ben has this thing called a conscience, so Madec has to take matters into his own hands and decides that two murders are just as good as one.

Forcing Ben to remove his shirt, shoes and socks, Madec abandons the student in the middle of nowhere and then follows him at a safe distance to make sure the sun and lack of water gets to Ben before he can get to the main highway. But Ben is a survivor and knows the desert, so it’s only a matter of time before the tables are turned. However, that spinning table turns yet again, and proof of Ben’s innocence may rest solely on a missing slingshot. Only in the movies, my friends.

Shot in the Mojave Desert in 120-degree heat (105 in the shade!), Savages was a bit of a struggle to film. In an article that appeared in a few different papers, there is mention of how the Red Rock Canyon, which is a state park, forbid the building of roadways into the mountains, so the trek to get the equipment and talent to the right locations proved to be an arduous task. It was well worth the effort though, because the long shots of sandy nothing generates a tense atmosphere as we watch poor Ben journey through No Man’s Land.

Griffith is at the top of his game here, sporting an evil mustache and a wicked smile. All of that Mayberry goodness is consumed by one of the most narcissistic characters the actor has ever played. And that’s saying something, if you’ve seen his “I’m a hippie with money” performance in Pray for the Wildcats. Bottoms is also quite good, if a bit restrained, and mostly holds his own against the formidable talent around him.

Although there are a few other supporting characters, Savages concentrates on the cat and mouse games, which takes up most of the film. There are a few truly nail-biting moments, so despite the somewhat absurd (and lucky for Ben) ending, it’s still worth a journey into the desert of Savages to catch this entertaining battle of the wills.

Best TV Guide ad. Ever.

Must See Streaming TV Movie of the Week: The Classic Edition!

Holie Molie! Two incredible early seventies Movie of the Weeks are currently streaming over at Shout Factory TV! You can check out Gargoyles and Born Innocent for free! Of course, I don't have to go into why you should see or revisit these incredible movies, so I'll just throw out a couple of links along with a few words:

Gargoyles (1972): This ABC Movie of the Week is a spooky monster classic, featuring Bernie Casey as a terrifyingly suave gargoyle who thinks mankind places second in the chain of command! Click on title for my review, and click here to watch Gargoyles!

Born Innocent (1974): This brutal classic made its debut under the NBC World Premiere Movie moniker, and was the most popular made for television movie to air in 1974. However, it was followed by controversy and subsequently became the subject of a court case involving the rape of a nine year old girl. Yet, despite the negative attention, Born Innocent remains part of the canon of the small screen thanks to its relatively unflinching look at innocence lost and a corrupt juvenile rehabilitation system. Click here to watch Born Innocent.

And thanks to Kindertrauma for mentioning Shout Factory's streaming site yesterday. They also have some great non-TVM choices, but seriously, who wants that?!? Regardless of what you end up watching, please support legitimate streaming websites and enjoy!

The Missing are Deadly (1975)

Network: ABC
Original Air Date: January 8, 1975

I guess when you watch (and re-watch) as many TV movies as I do, it’s inevitable that titles and stories will blur together. Just the other day I made a total fool of myself during a conversation about Terror on the 40th Floor because I thought the movie they were referring to was the USA original Nightmare on the 13th Floor.

Boy, did I feel stoopid.

And, yet again, I recently thought I knew all about The Missing are Deadly because I had a copy of The Dead Don’t Die. Ummm, OK. So, the second I pushed the play button on Deadly I realized I had once more mistaken one title for another… and frankly, I’m not cool with it. I need my TVM street cred the way others need water. But life is a learning experience… Then I saw the names Ed Nelson and Leonard Nimoy, and the world was OK again. At least for the next 74 minutes. I’m not really sure I knew much about this movie, aside from the title (which I obviously was only half familiar with), and was surprised that this Nimoy flick had not been on my radar. It’s quite fun, if insubstantial.

Ed Nelson is Dr. Margolin, a Nobel Prize winning scientist who has traded in his microscope to deal with the bureaucracy behind medicine, and is now essentially a PR guy for a state of the art laboratory. This lab is run by the cutting edge Dr. Durov (Leonard Nimoy rocking the hazmat suit), who is obsessed with finding a cure for “Mambosa Fever.” Although he’s been asked to postpone his research, he is secretly infecting rats with the disease and then injecting another virus into them in an effort to kill the Fever.

Meanwhile (or "later that same day" depending on your choice of comics), at Margolin’s home everything is a wreck. Even though he lives with his kids, Margolin is an absentee father who spends all day and night at his lab. His oldest son, David (George O’Hanlon Jr.) is essentially raising his little brother, a teenager named Jeff (Gary Morgan) who thinks he’s an alien and eats rabbit food! Everyone calls him “special,” but I think they meant annoying. Certainly, Dad thinks so, and wants to send Jeff off to a school that can handle delusional-alien-wanna-be rabbit-pellet-dieters.

So, for their last weekend together, David whisks his girlfriend Michelle (Kathleen Quinlan) and Jeff off to the forest for a weekend of bonding. But first he stops off at Dad’s lab where Jeff steals an infected rat. Before you know it, Mambosa Fever is spreading throughout the city!

That’s some kind of set-up! Honestly, my synopsis probably takes longer to read than it does to watch. At 74 minutes, it’s all fairly brisk and the bulk of the film involves Durov and Margolin racing to find a cure, and desperate to locate Margolin’s kids before it’s too late. The wrap up is absolutely predictable, and the film just sort of ends as quickly as it starts.

Yet, while Deadly is admittedly a mostly forgettable entry in the ABC Movie of the Week lineup, it has some things going for it. For one, there are no bad guys. The villain in this TVM is the Fever. Even Mr. Warren (Jose Ferrer), the corporate suit paying for the lab, is all about taking responsibility, notifying the public and offering services to the infected. And he doesn’t have to be coerced into it either! Like the movie Heatwave, which I reviewed recently, Deadly wants to see the best in people. Kind of makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. So either that’s a good sign, or I just contracted Mambosa Fever!

And of course, the cast is great. Both Nelson and Nimoy are given little meat to chew on, but they play off each other beautifully. Ferrer has a fairly thankless role, but he’s always a treat, and Quinlan finds herself trapped in the mountains yet again, after Where Have All the People Gone in 1974. Oh, and you might not see her through the hazmat suit, but keep an ear out for Marla Gibbs as a nurse! I can only give Deadly a light recommendation, but fans of the ABC Movie of the Week certainly know what they are signing up for, and those who know the drill will enjoy it.

Heatwave (1974)

Network: ABC
Original Air Date: January 26th, 1974

Summer is just around the corner, so why not dive right in with… Heatwave? Yeah, probably not the best movie to watch before the onslaught of the scorching season. But it was raining the other night and it just seemed like the right movie at the right time. And wouldntyaknowit? Heatwave is pretty good.

Ben Murphy is Frank Taylor. He’s working in the financial sector, but is in one of those I-have-to-wear-a-tie-but-get-paid-crap type of positions. It makes him cranky. He has an adorable wife named Laura (Bonnie Bedelia). What she lacks in cranky she makes up for in pregnancy. She is about to P.O.P. Life is tough for everyone in L.A., but this down and out couple are splitting at the seams because of the heat, and decide to take a break and head for the hills. Unfortunately, their car is stolen and the heat is just as intense on the picturesque mountains as it is in the city. The baby arrives, and then the real problems start.

Disaster movies on the small screen were not an unusual occurrence in the 1970s. In fact, the Master of Disaster, Irwin Allen shrunk the scope and made a few decent timewasters, including Fire, Flood and The Night the Bridge Fell Down. He didn’t have a hand in Heatwave, and maybe that’s a good thing because the filmmakers took Irwin’s more grandiose flourishes down a notch, shrinking the cast and chaos, bringing a more intimate story to the forefront.

The movie starts in Los Angeles, and, certainly, if done right, watching the residents go insane in the heat might have been really incredible. But instead screenwriters Peter Allan Fields and Mark Weingart (based on a story by Herbert F. Solow, who also produced) focus on the hapless Taylors, who frankly see no end to their woes. I was surprised by how human the film was, and how it rejected only showing people at their worst, opting to place a nice little rainbow across the blazing sun (as the eternal optimist, I related).

The cast is full of familiar, likable faces, including the gorgeous Murphy who unsurprisingly rocks a pair of glasses, and who manages to stay a good guy even when his disposition is vinegarish. Bedelia is easy to root for, and while I think I prefer her more enigmatic turns in Sandcastles and Then Came Bronson, she makes the most of the beleaguered mom-to-be role. But the big draw here is catching the great character actors David Huddleson, Lew Ayres, John Anderson and Dana Elcar. The telefilm seldom had the luxury of big budgets, total artistic freedom or long shoots, but they almost always had extraordinary performers, who brought oodles of charisma to the plate. Huddleson is the standout as the maybe-heartless opportunist trying to cash in on the misery of others, but everyone is great to see, and their presence definitely brings the film up a notch.

Director Jerry Jameson brought four small screen disaster flicks to television in 1974 (along with Heatwave, he also helmed Terror on the 40th Floor, Hurricane and The Elevator)! Obviously no stranger to claustrophobic catastrophes, Jameson was a pro at generating an oppressive atmosphere within the brisk 74 minute running time. Certainly, Heatwave is not going to bring about world peace, but it is fairly engrossing, and a nice way to spend an afternoon. Just bring a cool glass of water with you!

Must See Streaming TV Movie of the Week: Betrayal (1974)

Network: ABC 
Original Airdate: December 3, 1974 

A Griftin’ n’ a driftin’. 

That’s the game Jay (Sam Groom) and Adele (Tisha Sterling) are into. And, while I wouldn’t recommend that lifestyle for everyone, it seems to be paying off for the dangerous couple.

The Scam: Adele (or Gretchen as she is known elsewhere) finds lonely old ladies who need some help around the house, and worms, er, warms her way into their good graces, and then Jay steps in and holds the woman hostage until they pay for their freedom. While this scares the bejeezus out of most of their victims (and leaves them broke), it turns deadly when Eunice (the great Lucille Benson still being accidentally funny in a serious role) realizes that the couple are in cahoots. After they off the old lady, the stakes are raised, and the next payoff is looking rather good when Adele hooks up with Helen Mercer (Amanda Blake), a self-made woman who needs someone to help her handle her business affairs. However, things take yet another turn when Adele comes to look up to, and like, Helen, and now she wants out of the game for good.

Based on the novel Only Couples Need Apply by Doris Miles Disney (she also wrote the novel that the excellent TVM Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate was based on), Betrayal was just one of four small screen features that Gordon Hessler directed in 1974! It’s not my favorite of this batch, but I thought Betrayal was quite good, with a few truly suspenseful moments and strong acting from both Sterling and Blake. Like a lot of Hessler’s television films, Betrayal is small in almost every sense of the word. Small cast, limited locations, and light on subplots, this telefilm is brisk, if a bit insubstantial, and is a decent way to spend 74 minutes.

However, what I tend to enjoy most about a Hessler joint is the atmosphere, and that’s largely missing from Betrayal. It certainly would have benefited from a little more mood and perhaps a bit more tension. But, it does its best to keep things ticking, and the story is helped along through the formidable Blake in her TV movie debut.

Yessir, after nineteen years as Miss Kitty on the forever-running Gunsmoke, Blake decided it was time to hang up her bar wench gear, but was far from retiring. It took her only three short weeks after leaving the series to sign up for Betrayal. The actress maintains an air of strength and integrity and it’s easy to see why troubled Adele starts to look outside of a life of crime. Helen, who… in an interesting twist… has also killed before, is at a different but somewhat similar crossroads as Adele. So, while she is unaware of their deeper connection, Adele is not and it’s understandable why the two click so quickly.

The rest of the cast is great, with Groom putting in an especially sleazy performance as the suave but violent Jay, who, despite his own grave circumstances, has the last, morbid laugh.
  
Not to be confused with the same titled 1978 TVM starring Sterling lookalike Lesley Ann Warren, Betrayal is currently streaming on Amazon Instant Video and is available on DVD.