The 10 Scariest Made For TV Horror Movies

The 10 Scariest Made For TV Horror Movies

No surprise to see the first one on the list...

I'm fortunate in having seen all of those, whether when initially aired, in rerun, or on youtube.  Another one I would've added is Something Evil, starring Sandy Dennis, Darren McGavin, Ralph Bellamy and Johnny Whitaker.  It was directed by a virtually unknown guy who was cutting his teeth on TV films, including Duel, a segment of the Night Gallery pilot, and this one:  Stephen Spielberg.

Gerard

I remember really liking Something Evil as well. But I totally forgot it was directed by Spielberg...

Actually, there were quite a few made-for-TV films that I really liked during that period. Two more would be She Waits with Patty Duke (seeking revenge, a murdered woman possesses her husband's new wife - and it even has a connection to DS because it was written by Art Wallace) and Crowhaven Farm with Hope Lange (a couple inherits a farm where supernatural forces, including witchcraft and reincarnation, soon engulf them - loads of fun).

Holy cow, MB, I remember both of those, too, now that you've brought up their titles!  The music for She Waits was particularly "eerie" and had a DS-tone to it. 

Another one, which is more of a thriller than a horror, although it's frightening, from that era, is Bad Ronald.  It's about a young teenage boy, fat and ugly, horribly bullied, who accidentally kills a girl who was tormenting him.  His widowed mother hides him in their home by closing off a first-floor bathroom and it initially works.  However, his mother dies and he's left alone in that house until another family moves in, not knowing about the secret room and "bad" Ronald living in it who can come and go through a passage.  There were scenes that truly turned one's blood cold.

It truly was a golden age, throughout the seventies and into the early eighties (with some notable exceptions extending into the nineties), of well-done, creepy, classy, elegant made-for-TV horror movies.

Gerard

I loved "Bad Ronald."  I think I saw it several times.  And I think I commented about that once before, so you probably mentioned it previously!!

Out of curiosity I looked up past mentions of "Bad Ronald," and I did make a comment about it, but it was someone else who brought it up.

This was one I missed back then--it echoes some of the same themes as CROWHAVEN FARM. THE LAST BRIDE OF SALEM (1974).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Yi51Sib9E

I first heard about it maybe 8 or 9 years ago.

G.

Of course, the penultimate - and, naturally, us DS fans are tooting our own horn - was '72's The Night Stalker made by you-know-who, that crafty devil.  It broke the records, at that time, as the highest rated made-for-TV film, airing on ABC's Movie of the Week.  ABC did it again, about a dozen years later, with the apocalyptic horror/sci-fi film The Day After.  I had a friend who was one of the thousands extras and she said they all panicked during the attack sequence. 

Gerard