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The 8 scariest TV movies of the 1970s
Did they give you nightmares?
Image: ABC
The 1970s was truly a decade of bad and bizarre television movies. Thanks to ABC Movie of the Week, audiences were treated to 90 minutes of original films delivered right to their living room every week.
The television movies that decade were campy, but they weren't totally outrageous. Emmy-winning classics like Brian's Song or The Boy in the Plastic Bubble garnered huge ratings as well as critical acclaim.
But the horror films are the ones that truly stick with us, and not in a good way. Perhaps we innocently stumbled upon these programs one night, or even sat down with our families to watch. Whatever the case, we had nightmares about these scary TV movies for years after they aired.
We blamed these eight TV horror films for keeping us up at night in the 1970s. Do you remember any of them?
1. The Night Stalker (1972)
Thankfully, this scary TV movie doesn't use the five most-dreaded words in a horror film: "based on a true story." Instead, The Night Stalker was based on the then-unpublished novel The Kolchak Papers and inspired the TV series of the same name. After some research, an investigative reporter comes to believe a serial killer in Las Vegas is actually a vampire.
Image: ABC
2. Home for the Holidays (1972)
Sounds like a wholesome holiday staple, right? Nope, this horror film is about a wealthy farmer who asks his four daughters to murder their stepmom. But they come to find out the woman might be a killer in her own right.
Image: ABC
3. When Michael Calls (1972)
1972 was full of frights for the alphabet network. In its third thriller that year, a woman receives mysterious calls from her son. The only problem is he's been dead for fifteen years. A young Michael Douglas stars in When Michael Calls, although he is not the titular character.
Image: ABC
4. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
This dark fantasy deals with a tried and true trope for horror films. When a woman and her husband are told not to remove the bricks from a sealed up fireplace in their new home, what do they do? Remove the bricks. It's no surprise the house becomes haunted shortly after.
Image: ABC
5. Satan's School for Girls (1973)
The title of this TV movie hides nothing. Satan's School for Girls is full of dark magic and deception. The film deals with a woman investigating the mysterious hanging death of her sister. When she enrolls in her sister's former college, the classmates become suspicious. Produced by Aaron Spelling, the film stands as one of the most memorable TV movies of the 1970s.
Image: ABC
6. Bad Ronald (1974)
What makes Ronald so bad? He pushes the little neighborhood girl, unintentionally killing her when she lands on a cinder block. Instead of facing the consequences, the mom freaks out and seals him inside the bathroom under the stairs to protect him. Sounds excessive, right? Oh, but it gets worse. The mom ends up dying and the house is sold, meaning Ronald will spend eternity in the makeshift purgatory.
Image: ABC
7. Trilogy of Terror (1975)
We've already written about this horror flick multiple times, but the third installment of the trilogy is what everyone remembers to this day. A single woman living alone in a high-rise apartment orders a Zuni warrior, and chaos ensues. If you make it to the ending, it's totally worth it.
Image: ABC
8. Salem's Lot (1979)
The decade closed out with a bang with Salem's Lot. Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, the film deals with a writer who returns to his hometown to find out its citizens are turning into vampires. We'll never be able to get the images from this film out of our heads.
Image: CBS
Let's revisit the movie everyone's been talking about
Our recap of Trilogy of Terror went viral earlier this month. How well do you remember it? READ MORE.
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Or "The Legend of Lizzie Borden"?
