A look at 12 incredible made-for-TV horror films from the ’70s and ’80s

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A look at 12 incredible made-for-TV horror films from the ’70s and ’80s

This is in part a tribute to DC's '70s Made-for-TV films.

[Gerard]

I was fortunate to have seen most of those gems when they first aired.  They were so incredibly good.

Gerard

[Patti Feinberg]

Obviously, this was written by 'one of us' DS fans.

Gargoyles had Grayson. They mentioned Jennifer Salt, who directed the first 3 (I believe) seasons of American Horror Story.

I prefer the 1999 Salem's Lot, and own it.

I've seen most of them too.

Patti

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I prefer the 1999 Salem's Lot, and own it.

Even though there are actors in it that I liked, I wasn't the biggest fan of the 1979 version. I've never seen the 2004 version, but I hear it's better...

[Uncle Roger]

I think that James Mason does an excellent job and some of the supporting players do very good work but I was rather disappointed with it. The head vampire in the book was a very interesting, intelligent and powerful villain but this adaptation reduces him to a Nosferatu clone who just does a lot of hissing. Yet another case where the book is a lot better.

[Gothick]

I've never seen either version of Salem's Lot and am not particularly interested.  But the actor who played the Nosferatu character in the 1970s movie (I don't really know anything about the story, but the makeup made him look like Max Schreck in NOSFERATU), Reggie Nalder, was a fascinating character in real life.  He appeared in Boris Karloff's Thriller, the famous Star Trek episode "Journey to Babylon," and many other noted genre pieces.  Great interview with Nalder here:

http://www.kinoeye.org/03/02/delvalle02.php

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The head vampire in the book was a very interesting, intelligent and powerful villain but this adaptation reduces him to a Nosferatu clone who just does a lot of hissing.

That was my main problem!

[Gerard]

I also wasn't thrilled with the '79 miniseries changing the vampire from an articulate Dracula/Barnabas Collins character to a Nosferatu hissing monstrosity.  I could even picture James Mason playing him rather than his henchman.  But that version had some authentically creepy scenes, such as the vampire child scratching at the window of his friend, and the sheet-covered rising female vampire in the morgue.  Believe it or not, one of the major things that impressed me was how they used make-up to age James-at-15 to several years beyond his real age in the epilogue.

Gerard

[Patti Feinberg]

I did prefer the '79 ending better than '04.

Patti