70s TV Horror Movies part 2

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Buzz Drainpipe’s Unhinged TV Movie Reviews – Volume 2

Mirrors (1978)

Mirrors is a low-budget voodoo nightmare that will make newlyweds scream into their champagne. Originally shot in 1974 under the title Marianne, it inexplicably sat on the shelf for six years before finally haunting screens in 1978. It stars Kitty Winn – yes, that Kitty Winn, the Cannes Best Actress (‘71) who even pops up in The Exorcist franchise – playing a honeymooning bride cursed by dark New Orleans magic. The movie leans into its campy tagline, **“There are some fools still living who don’t believe in voodoo… but not for long!”** (note to Buzz: that’s everybody). Prepare for cracked mirrors and ominous hoodoo dolls everywhere – Mirrors revels in every midnight vision and creepy reflection, even if the plot stumbles.

Nightmare on the 13th Floor (1990)

Imagine The Shining meets a 1990s cable movie marathon, and you’ve got Nightmare on the 13th Floor – and Buzz eats this stuff for breakfast. This one premiered on USA Network on Halloween night 1990, and it’s jam-packed with familiar horror faces. Michele Greene (the perky reporter from L.A. Law) investigates a creepy L.A. hotel, with James Brolin (two Golden Globes, an Emmy!) brooding as Dr. Lanier and Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched herself) running the show. The lore of the Wessex Hotel is deliciously gothic: built in 1898, it sealed off its 13th floor after a fire-axe massacre in 1901. Ninety years later the ghosts are back. Buzz practically yelps as he pokes around the gaslit halls – and yes, the entire Victorian 13th-floor set was so elaborate that it was actually torn down after filming. It’s a lush one-set thriller with secret elevators and culty axe-murderer vibes, and Buzz is here for every creak and shadow.

Scream of the Wolf (1974)

By the claws of Cthulhu, this TV movie is pure B-movie bliss. Scream of the Wolf (1974) was an ABC Movie of the Week brainchild from Dark Shadows kingpin Dan Curtis, with a teleplay by horror legend Richard Matheson. It aired on January 16, 1974 and stars Peter Graves and Clint Walker as big-game hunters turned wolf-trackers. The film was actually based on a David F. Case story (so credit where it’s due), but Matheson’s script turned it into a twisting what-the-fuck: the “killer wolf” is suspiciously human. (Buzz swears he detects cheeky subtext in Matheson’s script – a bit of 1970s homoeroticism that network censors probably erased.) It’s a sparse, eerie flick – no glitzy effects, just the glow of moonlight on muddy boots and a slow, snarling reveal. The result? A perfect midnight howl-fest that only a true horror freak could love.

Sources: Deep-dives into each film’s production details and release history were pulled from movie databases and archives. These trivia (original titles, air dates, cast awards, and cult backstories) come straight from those records.

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