More TV Movie Thrills-- Possibly the most frightening thing I saw on screen when I was very young was the first segment of the Night Gallery TV movie cum pilot. Perfect nightmare fodder: Ossie Davis, in abject horror, recognizing the thumping footfalls of a vengeful living dead Roddy McDowell and recognizing the dead man's progression in an ever shifting painting on the wall. Christ, that scared the bejesus out of me. Night Gallery was a fairly successful series (at least in my eye, due not so much for the stories --although some like the version of Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model" and that one with the giant white rat on the moon with the astronaut in the jumbo mousetrap gave me goosebumps-- but the very creepy paintings with which Rod Serling would introduce each story.
The Night Stalker was another TV movie that spawned a sequel and a series. The monsters weren't all that scary, but Darren McGavin pretty much carried the show. Strangely, two "movies" were compiled from four episodes of the Night Stalker series, Demon in Lace and Legacy of Terror, which were usually shown on late night TV.
Dark Shadows was another popular horror series (a daily half-hour soap opera). The series also inspired two films, House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows, which were pretty gory drive-in and grindhouse fare back in the early '70s.
Extra bonus for you Dark Shadows fans! Here's an mp3 of Jonathan Frid's recorded thank you message for the Dark Shadows Vampire Fan Club in 1969. Also, a radio spot where we learn how the vampires "do it".
A tip of the hat to Mr. BaliHai for the post suggestion...
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