- 1 year ago
Set your VCRs! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 best, yet perhaps lesser known Made For T.V. Movies.
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00:00She has everything to live for, but someone wants her dead.
00:03Someone's watching me, right after Dick Clark Wednesday on NBC.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:07Today, we're counting down our picks for the top 10 best, yet perhaps lesser known, made-for-TV movies.
00:12So I invite you to despair and go back to your home.
00:18Number 10, Doctor Strange.
00:19This time, I will not fail.
00:22Then I will send you into the world you have been exiled from.
00:27Come, find your enemy under the ancient symbol of light.
00:32This 1978 movie was a full-length backdoor pilot for a proposed series,
00:37chronicling the adventures of Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme on a weekly basis.
00:40Lift your hands, Steven. Bring down the lightning of the gods.
00:47The film has seen its share of criticism over the years,
00:49but Stan Lee has chalked the low ratings of Doctor Strange up to it being aired against Roots.
00:54You looked in on her dream, in a sense.
00:56There would appear to be a psychic bond between you.
01:00Honestly, the film is a lot of fun,
01:02and Peter Hooten is suitably charismatic in his role as Strange.
01:05While future Arrested Development star Jessica Walter is also great as Morgan Le Fay.
01:09In the name of royal, scourge of demons, I command you, release me!
01:15Give this one a shot, you might enjoy it.
01:17Stranger Things have happened.
01:19Number 9, Gargoyles.
01:20Sure, some special effects work from the 1970s hasn't aged too well,
01:24but that's not true here.
01:25Let me go.
01:28No.
01:29Why?
01:30You can speak. Tell me why.
01:32Industry icon Stan Winston and his crew won a Primetime Emmy for their outstanding work.
01:37The makeup on Gargoyles simply cannot be understated,
01:39and it captured the imaginations of an entire generation when it first aired back in 1972.
01:44We've only been alive for a few weeks.
01:48We must not let you kill us out.
01:50Bernie Casey is particularly excellent as the lead gargoyle in a role which was physically demanding,
01:55given the wealth of prosthetics.
01:57Gargoyles is a well-paced film which never loses steam,
02:00and presents plenty of action sequences and stunts along the way.
02:03How clever you are.
02:05Your choices allowed you and your daughter to survive.
02:08It also allows me and my kind to survive.
02:11Perhaps at the price of your supremacy on Earth one day.
02:14Number 8, Something Evil.
02:15Well, you know better what you have to do.
02:17It's for sale, like the sign says.
02:21Still, it's, um, it's a strange place.
02:25Steven Spielberg is well-known for his early TV work prior to breaking out with his blockbuster hit, Jaws.
02:30Many fans will immediately point to 1971's Duel as Spielberg's television success story.
02:35Just drop me off at the nearest station. I'll pay you for it.
02:39Yeah!
02:40But the director actually followed that one up a year later with another excellent telefilm, Something Evil.
02:49The film was written by Enter the Dragon director Robert Klaus,
02:52and features the sort of haunted house and demonic possession tropes popular during the day.
03:05It's Spielberg's steady direction, apparent even at this early stage in his career,
03:09which keeps something evil moving.
03:11However, ratcheting the creepy tensions up to the max.
03:13Stevie, I love you. I'm your mother. I won't let them have you.
03:17Number 7, The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
03:19I haven't seen your stepmother, Lizzie.
03:22Nor have I. Is Abby out?
03:24Elizabeth Montgomery may have been best known for Bewitched,
03:27but this 1975 television film went a long way in breaking the typecasting.
03:31The worst?
03:32The worst?
03:32Death by hanging.
03:46Montgomery provides a chilling performance as the titular Lizzie Borden,
03:49the young Fall River woman accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892.
03:54Dr. Draper, if you will please try to fit that hatchet into the wound.
03:58The legend of Lizzie Borden works as a procedural for the most part, yet it's never boring,
04:03thanks largely to Montgomery's magnetic performance,
04:06as well as the did-she-or-didn't-she recreation at the film's climax.
04:10Abby?
04:13Abby?
04:14This scene was even more graphic in the film's European cut,
04:17which had an extra four minutes of 19th century true crime happenings.
04:21Number 6, Somebody's Watching Me.
04:22John Carpenter wrote and directed this thriller for television in 1978
04:26after helming his first two low-budget features,
04:29Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13.
04:31I'll find you.
04:33I don't give up.
04:35Somebody's Watching Me aired on the small screen
04:37only a month after his breakout hit Halloween hit theaters,
04:40however, making it something of an early blind spot for Carpenter fans.
04:43Today, Somebody's Watching Me can properly be studied on both DVD and Blu-ray
04:59by fans seeking out the early origins of Carpenter's voyeuristic camerawork,
05:03tense storytelling, and unique visual style,
05:05all of which are on display here as star Lauren Hutton
05:08fends off an increasingly brazen telephone stalker.
05:10I'm gonna go to the police.
05:11Oh, I did that.
05:14Well, this time it's my turn.
05:16Number 5, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.
05:18An apartment in a high-rise would have been nice, but this'll be fine.
05:22Younger viewers might be more familiar with the Guillermo del Toro 2011 remake,
05:26but the original definitely merits rediscovery.
05:29What's this?
05:32It's for cleaning out the ashes.
05:34It's been bolted shut.
05:36By me.
05:38And that's the way it should stay.
05:39The key to the success of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
05:42is the relentless atmosphere and terrifying sound design of the creatures,
05:45who whisper to each other in demonic, otherworldly voices.
05:49In the bedroom.
05:50But I want to.
05:51What?
05:51I want to get her.
05:52No.
05:53Wait until tomorrow.
05:54Tomorrow we'll get her.
05:56These unholy minions also speak to lead actress Kim Darby,
05:59seeking to make them one of their brood
06:00after she frees them from a fireplace deep inside her new home.
06:03Who are you?
06:05What do you want?
06:06I want you, Sally.
06:08It was a mistake.
06:09It's your spirit we need.
06:11The less said about this one, the better.
06:13Just go see it.
06:14Number 4, The Spell.
06:15Who'd want to take out that tubbo?
06:18You gonna throw it like that tubbo?
06:20I'm warning you, Jackie.
06:21You better stop calling me that.
06:22Stephen King's Carrie has seen its share of adaptations over the years,
06:25and while The Spell isn't specifically an adaptation of Carrie,
06:28the 1977 TV film possesses similar tropes,
06:31including a girl who gets mistreated in gym class
06:34and retaliates with telekinetic powers.
06:36Brian Taggart's screenplay differs, however,
06:38in that lead character Rita, well, actually isn't all that nice.
06:41Some girls will be different.
06:43Most of the people who've left a meaningful legacy in this world have been.
06:47Rita's anger issues and troubled home life are touched upon from the start,
06:50with the character's violent outbursts occurring right away
06:52as opposed to being saved for one fiery end sequence.
06:55As a result, The Spell is actually quite underrated
06:58and deserving of investigation.
07:04Number 3, Dark Knight of the Scarecrow.
07:06Here's one for you, Bubba.
07:07Atmosphere.
07:08This is the word best used to describe Dark Knight of the Scarecrow.
07:11Now I have to give you a kick.
07:16Come on, Bubba.
07:18The titular Scarecrow is actually Bubba,
07:20a man with developmental disabilities
07:22who has an innocent relationship with a young girl
07:24that's later questioned when she's mauled by a dog and assumed dead.
07:28It is Billy, Bubba.
07:29I told her not to.
07:31Bubba told her not to.
07:32Not to? Not to what?
07:34Bubba is chased down and killed by a group of locals
07:36while hiding out inside of a scarecrow,
07:38only to supernaturally return for vengeance,
07:40picking them each off one by one.
07:42Ah!
07:44Dark Knight of the Scarecrow may be simple in story and execution,
07:47but it holds up remarkably well for repeated viewings,
07:50especially around the Halloween season.
07:52Number 2, Bad Ronald.
07:54This cult television classic follows a troubled young man
07:57with disturbing dissociative tendencies.
07:59When Ronald accidentally kills a girl,
08:01his overprotective mother hides him from the police
08:03within the walls of their house.
08:04You'll be able to live in decency and cleanliness.
08:07You'll have plenty of room and no one will know.
08:11Unfortunately, she dies on the operating table during surgery,
08:14leaving Ronald as a creeping voyeur to a new family
08:16who have moved into the house.
08:18Blame this on me too.
08:19If you find that disturbing, then you're not alone,
08:21as Bad Ronald remains one of the most unique
08:23and well-made television movies from this era.
08:26Scott Jacoby is both sympathetic and troubling as Ronald,
08:29bringing to the film a performance
08:30which still resonates well today.
08:32Before we name our number one pick,
08:34here are a few honorable mentions.
08:36Born Innocent.
08:36Linda Blair provides a harrowing performance
08:38as a young runaway.
08:39Can I please have the shampoo, Lasko?
08:42Give it to her!
08:44Give it to her!
08:45I got room off for you!
08:46No!
08:46What are you doing?
08:48No!
08:48Satan School for Girls.
08:50The investigation of an all-girls school
08:51reveals a disturbing cult.
08:53Some robots break under the pressure.
08:55Sooner or later, but without exception.
08:58All are driven to various forms of psychotic behavior.
09:01Terror on the beach.
09:02An innocent beach trip turns into a nightmare weekend.
09:05Mom, could you help me with this?
09:06Nice to see you again.
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09:26Number one, Threads.
09:28Threads was produced in Britain
09:29only a year after a similar film
09:31the day after debuted in the US.
09:32Come on, queen, get down!
09:34Both follow the events leading up to
09:36and after a nuclear holocaust,
09:38a topic which was weighing heavily
09:39on the public's mind during this time.
09:41If we're on it, we're tackling you.
09:43Is it for real?
09:44Threads is far less optimistic
09:45than its American counterpart, however,
09:47and presents an absolutely harrowing
09:49and depressing account of life after the bomb.
09:51Send another motorcycle.
09:53There are no roads left.
09:54All the people here will be dead already.
09:57It's completely flattened.
09:58Violence, hunger, radiation sickness,
10:00and nuclear winter
10:00all afflict those left in the aftermath.
10:02It's powerful and unforgettable stuff
10:08and a true testament to the power
10:09of quality storytelling on the small screen.
10:11Which of these films do you remember
10:13from your childhood?
10:14Let us know in the comments below.
10:15Do you accept the guardianship of the lights?
10:19I do accept it.
10:20Did you enjoy this video?
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