TV Horror Movies from 60s & 70s
by michaelgosullivan | created - 20 Mar 2018 | updated - 30 Mar 2018 | PublicBeginning in the 1960s through its heyday in the 1970s made-for-TV horror movies were a genre unto themselves. Made specifically for the small screen what these humble movies lacked in budget, they made up for in other ways. They served as a lucrative genre for Stars of yesterday as well young as up and coming Stars, Producers and Directors. Many of these treasures are still highly watchable, memorable, and have even enjoyed big budget remakes. There's something about made for TV movies of the 70s and 80s that I just love. They bring back fond memories of evenings or rainy Saturday afternoons being immersed in a tale of terror. Here is a list of some of my favourites in no particular order
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1. Daughter of the Mind (1969 TV Movie)
90 min | Horror, Thriller
A professor of cybernetics comes to believe that his dead daughter is communicating with him from the netherworld.
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Don Murray, Ray Milland, Gene Tierney, Barbara Dana
Votes: 439
2. Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969 TV Movie)
74 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
While vacationing with her husband in Italy, a middle-aged woman wakes up one morning to find that the man in bed with her is an impostor. He, however, claims that he is her husband, and she cannot get anyone to believe her.
Director: John Peyser | Stars: Janet Leigh, Rossano Brazzi, Cesare Danova, Eric Braeden
Votes: 127
3. 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: 977
4. The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1970 TV Movie)
73 min | Thriller
Emile Pulska is visiting his old friend Abe Stillman. During the visit they are attacked and Emile is struck senseless. When he wakes up he is told that Abe is dead, dead by natural causes,... See full summary »
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Martin Balsam, Diane Baker, Ruth Roman
Votes: 285
5. Weekend of Terror (1970 TV Movie)
74 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Three nuns on a weekend trip are held hostage by escaped convicts.
Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: Robert Conrad, Carol Lynley, Lee Majors, Lois Nettleton
Votes: 285
6. How Awful About Allan (1970 TV Movie)
PG | 73 min | Horror, 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: 1,007
7. 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: 1,018
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: 744
9. Five Desperate Women (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 73 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Five young women vacation together at a resort on an isolated island. They are the resort's only customers and, aside from the boat Captain who brought them there and the resort's handyman,... See full summary »
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Robert Conrad, Anjanette Comer, Bradford Dillman, Joan Hackett
Votes: 235
10. A Howling in the Woods (1971 TV Movie)
PG | 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: 532
11. The Failing of Raymond (1971 TV Movie)
73 min | Drama, Thriller
On the day before she retires, a teacher discovers that a student she had flunked ten years previously is out to kill her.
Director: Boris Sagal | Stars: Jane Wyman, Dean Stockwell, Dana Andrews, Paul Henreid
Votes: 104
12. Sweet, Sweet Rachel (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 71 min | Horror, Thriller
An ESP expert uses his powers to try to track down a psychic who uses telepathy to commit murder.
Director: Sutton Roley | Stars: Alex Dreier, Pat Hingle, Louise Latham, Steve Ihnat
Votes: 236
13. Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1971 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Mystery
Four elderly ladies with a lot of time on their hands get the idea to create a fictional "girl" for a computer dating service. However, things take a turn for the worse when their description of the "girl" attracts a psychopath.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Helen Hayes, Vince Edwards, Myrna Loy, Mildred Natwick
Votes: 306
14. When Michael Calls (1972 TV Movie)
73 min | Horror, Thriller
A woman begins to receive ominous phone calls from her nephew, who died 15 years earlier. 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: 1,003
15. The Night Stalker (1972 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Horror, Mystery
An abrasive Las Vegas newspaper reporter investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey | Stars: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker
Votes: 7,380
16. 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: 922
17. Moon of the Wolf (1972 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 75 min | Horror, Thriller
After several locals are viciously murdered, a Louisiana sheriff starts to suspect he may be dealing with a werewolf.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: David Janssen, Barbara Rush, Bradford Dillman, John Beradino
Votes: 1,935
18. 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: 462
19. She Waits (1972 TV Movie)
74 min | Horror
A murdered woman possesses her husband's new wife to seek revenge.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Patty Duke, David McCallum, Dorothy McGuire, Lew Ayres
Votes: 383
20. 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: Sally Field, Jill Haworth, Julie Harris, Eleanor Parker
Votes: 1,336
21. Haunts of the Very Rich (1972 TV Movie)
75 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A group of wealthy but secretly very troubled people travel to an island resort but find themselves wondering about their existences after a while.
Director: Paul Wendkos | Stars: Lloyd Bridges, Cloris Leachman, Edward Asner, Anne Francis
Votes: 476
22. Night of Terror (1972 TV Movie)
Unrated | 73 min | Thriller
A hired killer hunts down a schoolteacher to get something she has. She doesn't know what it is, but he's already killed twice to get it.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Martin Balsam, Catherine Burns, Chuck Connors, Donna Mills
Votes: 310
23. 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: 640
24. The Night Strangler (1973 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A reporter hunts down a 144-year old alchemist who is killing women for their blood.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Darren McGavin, Jo Ann Pflug, Simon Oakland, Scott Brady
Votes: 4,136
25. 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: 1,186
26. The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 73 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An invisible demon in the cargo hold of a jet airliner terrorizes the passengers.
Director: David Lowell Rich | Stars: Chuck Connors, Buddy Ebsen, Tammy Grimes, Lynn Loring
Votes: 1,263
27. 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: 1,548
28. 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: 1,634
29. Death Cruise (1974 TV Movie)
75 min | Mystery
Several couples are notified that they have won an ocean cruise, but they actually have been lured onto a ship so that they can be murdered.
Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: Richard Long, Polly Bergen, Edward Albert, Kate Jackson
Votes: 345
30. 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: 426
31. All the Kind Strangers (1974 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 73 min | Horror, Thriller
A man traveling through a backwoods area is held hostage by a group of orphans who want him to become their father. 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: 923
32. The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 96 min | Drama, History, Mystery
In 1893 Massachusetts, Lizzie Andrew Borden is put on trial for murdering her father and stepmother with an axe.
Director: Paul Wendkos | Stars: Elizabeth Montgomery, Fionnula Flanagan, Ed Flanders, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 1,954
33. 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 four tormented women.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm
Votes: 8,704
34. Satan's Triangle (1975 TV Movie)
74 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A US coast guard finds only a woman still alive aboard a shipwreck. She tells her rescuer what happened and soon, they 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: 1,429
35. 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: 418
36. 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: 1,109
37. Dead of Night (1977 TV Movie)
76 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Three horror stories about a vintage car that transports its driver back to 1926, the mistress of an old Victorian mansion who is scared of a vampire and a mother tormented by her dead son who she has brought back to life.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Ed Begley Jr., E.J. André, Ann Doran, Christina Hart
Votes: 1,625
38. The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978)
300 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A young couple moves to a quiet New England village, only to soon find themselves mixed up in mysterious rituals.
Stars: Bette Davis, David Ackroyd, Rosanna Arquette, Rene Auberjonois
Votes: 1,382
39. 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: 1,147
40. Summer of Fear (1978 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 98 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: 3,009
41. 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: 352
42. 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: 1,406
43. Salem's Lot (1979)
PG | 100 min | Horror
A novelist and a young horror fan attempt to save a small New England town which has been invaded by vampires.
Stars: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia
Votes: 27,477
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