The Top 50 1970's Made for TV Horror/Thriller Movies
by campslasher66 | created - 21 Mar 2011 | updated - 21 Mar 2011 | PublicThe best Made for TV Horror/Thriller films released from 1970-1979.
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1. Reflections of Murder (1974 TV Movie)
100 min | Horror, Thriller, Mystery
The wife and mistress of the abusive headmaster of a boy's school plot and carry out his murder. They dump his body in the murky swimming pool at the school and await for it to surface. ... See full summary »
Director: John Badham | Stars: Tuesday Weld, Joan Hackett, Sam Waterston, Lucille Benson
Votes: 239
2. Bad Ronald (1974 TV Movie)
Unrated | 74 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A perverted teenage boy who lives in the walls of a house finds the house sold to a family after his mother dies, and he falls for one of the new residents.
Director: Buzz Kulik | Stars: Scott Jacoby, Pippa Scott, John Larch, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 1,732
3. The Screaming Woman (1972 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 73 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A wealthy former mental patient goes home to her estate to rest and recuperate. While walking the grounds one day she hears the screams of a woman coming from underneath the ground who has ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Ed Nelson, Laraine Stephens, Joseph Cotten
Votes: 432
4. Home for the Holidays (1972 TV Movie)
73 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
An ailing man summons his four daughters home for Christmas and asks them to kill his new wife, who he suspects is poisoning him.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Jessica Walter, Sally Field, Eleanor Parker, Julie Harris
Votes: 712
5. When Michael Calls (1972 TV Movie)
73 min | Horror, Thriller
A woman begins receiving ominous phone calls from a relative who died 15 years prior. With each phone call, a family member dies. Will she be the next in line?
Director: Philip Leacock | Stars: Ben Gazzara, Elizabeth Ashley, Michael Douglas, Al Waxman
Votes: 623
6. Revenge! (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 75 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
A deranged mother avenges herself against the man she thinks seduced her daughter by imprisoning him in a cage in her basement.
Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: Shelley Winters, Stuart Whitman, Bradford Dillman, Carol Eve Rossen
Votes: 122
7. Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A sculptor hires young college girls to take care of his elderly mother and his supposedly insane sister, both of whom live in the old family mansion with him.
Director: Gordon Hessler | Stars: Ted Bessell, Bette Davis, Sian Barbara Allen, Charles Drake
Votes: 675
8. A Taste of Evil (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 73 min | Horror, Thriller
On her way home from a stay at a mental institution after a traumatic rape, a woman realizes that someone is deliberately trying to drive her insane.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Barbara Parkins, Roddy McDowall, William Windom
Votes: 445
9. She Waits (1972 TV Movie)
74 min | Horror
A murdered woman seeks revenge, possesses her husband's new wife.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Patty Duke, David McCallum, Dorothy McGuire, Lew Ayres
Votes: 229
10. Night Slaves (1970 TV Movie)
72 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man and his wife find themselves stranded in a small western town. He discovers that a strange force has turned the residents into zombies, and runs into a beautiful woman who he believes is the key to the mystery.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: James Franciscus, Lee Grant, Scott Marlowe, Andrew Prine
Votes: 253
11. Crowhaven Farm (1970 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple inherits a farm. Hoping that the rural location might help to patch up their strained marriage, they move into it, only to be confronted by the supernatural forces that inhabit it.
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Hope Lange, Paul Burke, Lloyd Bochner, John Carradine
Votes: 664
12. Dead of Night (1977 TV Movie)
76 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
This anthology tells three stories: one of time travel, one of vampires, and one of a mother wishing her drowned son back to life.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Ed Begley Jr., E.J. André, Ann Doran, Christina Hart
Votes: 773
13. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973 TV Movie)
Unrated | 74 min | Horror
A young couple inherits an old mansion inhabited by small demon-like creatures who are determined to make the wife one of their own.
Director: John Newland | Stars: Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, Barbara Anderson, William Demarest
Votes: 2,983
14. Satan's School for Girls (1973 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 78 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A young woman investigating her sister's suicide at a private girls' school finds herself battling a Satanic cult.
Director: David Lowell Rich | Stars: Pamela Franklin, Kate Jackson, Lloyd Bochner, Jamie Smith-Jackson
Votes: 1,005
15. The Darker Side of Terror (1979 TV Movie)
96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
When a scientist at a research lab is passed over for a promotion, he creates a clone of himself to attempt to seduce the wife of the man who got the job.
Director: Gus Trikonis | Stars: Robert Forster, Adrienne Barbeau, Ray Milland, David Sheiner
Votes: 113
16. The Victim (1972 TV Movie)
73 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A wealthy woman is trapped during a storm in a house with no electricity or phone. A killer has murdered her sister, stuffed the body in the basement, and is now after her.
Director: Herschel Daugherty | Stars: Elizabeth Montgomery, Eileen Heckart, Sue Ane Langdon, George Maharis
Votes: 392
17. How Awful About Allan (1970 TV Movie)
PG | 73 min | Thriller
After an eight-month stay in a mental hospital, a tormented man comes home to live with his sister; but a mysterious boarder may be trying to kill him.
Director: Curtis Harrington | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris, Joan Hackett, Kent Smith
Votes: 653
18. A Howling in the Woods (1971 TV Movie)
100 min | Thriller
A disillusioned housewife on a vacation in the woods is disturbed by her husband continually trying to get her to come home and, more ominously, a mysterious howling at night.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, John Rubinstein, Vera Miles
Votes: 308
19. Black Noon (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Horror, Western
A traveling minister and his wife are quietly menaced by a devil cult in the Old West. By the time the Good Reverend figures out what's going on it may be too late to stop the evil.
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski | Stars: Roy Thinnes, Yvette Mimieux, Ray Milland, Gloria Grahame
Votes: 196
20. Duel (1971 TV Movie)
PG | 90 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell
Votes: 56,560
21. Paper Man (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A prank that starts with a group of college students creating a fictitious person so they can get a credit card develops into a plot that takes a murderous turn.
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Dean Stockwell, Stefanie Powers, James Stacy, Tina Chen
Votes: 310
22. Escape (1971 TV Movie)
73 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A scientist's experiment could lead to the first man-made, functioning, living organism. An elite escape artist-private investigator is working to stop him.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Christopher George, William Windom, Marlyn Mason, Avery Schreiber
Votes: 59
23. The Spell (1977 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 86 min | Horror
A teenaged girl, taunted by her schoolmates because she's overweight, uses her supernatural powers to take revenge.
Director: Lee Philips | Stars: Lee Grant, Susan Myers, Lelia Goldoni, Helen Hunt
Votes: 564
24. The Initiation of Sarah (1978 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A withdrawn young girl joins an unpopular sorority in college. It turns out she has psychic and telekinetic powers, and she uses them against a rival sorority.
Director: Robert Day | Stars: Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tony Bill, Kathryn Grant
Votes: 638
25. Salem's Lot (1979 TV Movie)
PG | 200 min | Horror
A novelist and a young horror fan attempt to save a small New England town which has been invaded by vampires.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia
Votes: 18,281
26. The Possessed (1977 TV Movie)
Unrated | 76 min | Horror
A former priest, now an exorcist, battles the Satanic forces that are threatening the students at a girls school.
Director: Jerry Thorpe | Stars: James Farentino, Harrison Ford, Claudette Nevins, Eugene Roche
Votes: 408
27. The Turn of the Screw (1974 TV Movie)
120 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
An English governess is hired to take care of two adorable orphans, who turn out to be not exactly what they seem to be.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Lynn Redgrave, Megs Jenkins, John Barron, Anthony Langdon
Votes: 185
28. Someone's Watching Me! (1978 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A woman is being watched in her apartment by a stranger, who also calls and torments her. A cat-and-mouse game begins.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Lauren Hutton, David Birney, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers
Votes: 3,002
29. The Norliss Tapes (1973 TV Movie)
72 min | Horror
An investigative reporter stumbles onto an artist that has made a pact to come back after his death to sculpt a statue of a demon using human blood and clay. Once the demon is awakened he will be granted immortality.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Roy Thinnes, Don Porter, Angie Dickinson, Claude Akins
Votes: 1,004
30. Savages (1974 TV Movie)
74 min | Thriller
Ben Campbell, a twenty-two-year-old gas station attendant in a small desert town, is looking to make some extra money. He is surprised when Madec, a wealthy lawyer, asks him to be his guide... See full summary »
Director: Lee H. Katzin | Stars: Andy Griffith, Sam Bottoms, Noah Beery Jr., James Best
Votes: 191
31. Night Drive (1977 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 73 min | Thriller
A housewife is stalked by a psycho after she sees him murder a highway patrol officer.
Director: E.W. Swackhamer | Stars: Valerie Harper, Richard Romanus, Nicholas Pryor, John Quade
Votes: 372
32. Dying Room Only (1973 TV Movie)
74 min | Mystery, Thriller, Horror
A married couple are traveling on a deserted desert road at night. They stop at a diner and the husband goes to the men's room. He never returns and the wife begins to suspect serious foul ... See full summary »
Director: Philip Leacock | Stars: Cloris Leachman, Ross Martin, Ned Beatty, Dana Elcar
Votes: 410
33. The Stranger Within (1974 TV Movie)
74 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An expectant mother begins acting strangely and doesn't know why. Gradually she starts to realize that her bizarre behavior is being controlled by her unborn baby.
Director: Lee Philips | Stars: Barbara Eden, George Grizzard, Joyce Van Patten, David Doyle
Votes: 298
34. Crawlspace (1972 TV Movie)
74 min | Horror, Thriller
A childless middle-age couple adopt a troubled youth they find living in their crawlspace and attempt to get him to rejoin society with tragic results.
Directors: John Newland, Buzz Kulik | Stars: Arthur Kennedy, Teresa Wright, Tom Happer, Eugene Roche
Votes: 306
35. Something Evil (1972 TV Movie)
Unrated | 73 min | Horror
A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants to take possession of the wife.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Darren McGavin, Sandy Dennis, Ralph Bellamy, Jeff Corey
Votes: 1,274
36. The Devil's Daughter (1973 TV Movie)
Unrated | 74 min | Horror
A young girl whose mother had sold her soul to Satan when she was born is told by Satan that she must marry a fellow demon.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Shelley Winters, Belinda Montgomery, Robert Foxworth, Jonathan Frid
Votes: 487
37. All the Kind Strangers (1974 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 73 min | Horror, Thriller
A couple traveling through a backwoods area are held by a a group of orphans who want them to become their parents. Unfortunately, the kids have a habit of killing adults who refuse that particular honor.
Director: Burt Kennedy | Stars: Stacy Keach, Samantha Eggar, John Savage, Robby Benson
Votes: 497
38. The House That Would Not Die (1970 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Horror
A woman and her niece move into an ancestral house in the Amish countryside haunted by two ghosts from the Revolutionary War.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Egan, Michael Anderson Jr., Kitty Winn
Votes: 562
39. The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 78 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A family moves into a new home in an isolated area, and soon realizes that someone--or something--doesn't want them there.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Robert Stack, Vera Miles, L.Q. Jones, Herb Edelman
Votes: 252
40. Are You in the House Alone? (1978 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A teenage girl is harassed by a stalker who torments her with threatening notes and phone calls.
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Kathleen Beller, Blythe Danner, Tony Bill, Robin Mattson
Votes: 742
41. A Cold Night's Death (1973 TV Movie)
74 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Two scientists suspect that there is someone other than their research primates inhabiting their polar station.
Director: Jerrold Freedman | Stars: Robert Culp, Eli Wallach, Michael C. Gwynne, Vic Perrin
Votes: 675
42. Trilogy of Terror (1975 TV Movie)
Unrated | 72 min | Horror, Thriller
Three bizarre horror stories all of which star Karen Black in four different roles playing tormented women.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes
Votes: 5,113
43. Satan's Triangle (1975 TV Movie)
74 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The female survivor of a shipwreck and two Coast Guard helicopter pilots sent to rescue her find themselves trapped in a mysterious part of the ocean known as Satan's Triangle.
Director: Sutton Roley | Stars: Kim Novak, Doug McClure, Alejandro Rey, Ed Lauter
Votes: 694
44. Ritual of Evil (1970 TV Movie)
100 min | Drama, Horror
A psychiatrist investigates the death of one of his patients, a young heiress.
Director: Robert Day | Stars: Louis Jourdan, Anne Baxter, Diana Hyland, John McMartin
Votes: 110
45. Death at Love House (1976 TV Movie)
Unrated | 74 min | Horror, Mystery
Donna and Joel Gregory are researching a book about long dead Hollywood goddess Lorna Love. They are staying at Lorna's estate while interviewing old "friends" of Lorna. Joel, whose father ... See full summary »
Director: E.W. Swackhamer | Stars: Robert Wagner, Kate Jackson, Sylvia Sidney, Marianna Hill
Votes: 259
46. Curse of the Black Widow (1977 TV Movie)
Unrated | 100 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A private detective named Mark Higbie on the trail of a murderer whose mutilated and predominantly male victims are found encased in silken cocoons. He eventually tracks the killer's path ... See full summary »
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Anthony Franciosa, Donna Mills, Patty Duke, June Lockhart
Votes: 370
47. Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby (1976 TV Movie)
Unrated | 100 min | Horror
Having been adopted by the madam of a southwestern brothel, a now adult Adrian must cope with the fact that he's Satan's kid, and not living up to his expectations.
Director: Sam O'Steen | Stars: Stephen McHattie, Patty Duke, Broderick Crawford, Ruth Gordon
Votes: 635
48. Summer of Fear (1978 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 100 min | Horror, Thriller
A teenage girl's life is turned upside down after her cousin moves into her house, and as time goes by, she begins to suspect that she may be a practitioner of witchcraft.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Linda Blair, Lee Purcell, Jeremy Slate, Jeff McCracken
Votes: 1,755
49. Cruise Into Terror (1978 TV Movie)
100 min | Thriller, Horror
An Egyptian sarcophagus that is cargo on a pleasure cruise ship has a secret - it contains the son of Satan, and its effects start to make the ship's passengers behave strangely.
Director: Bruce Kessler | Stars: Dirk Benedict, John Forsythe, Frank Converse, Christopher George
Votes: 203
50. Isn't It Shocking? (1973 TV Movie)
73 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller