For one thing, they always have recognizable actors.
But the main thing I like about them is, they have reliable audio.
You'd be hard-pressed to name a TV movie with below-par sound.
One more thing I like of them is that they're as influential as they are.
Many of them have an underrated script. π
The news has been clearly taking things too far sometimes.
This is the biggest standout to me:
The Day After (1983)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MobwUGgdI3A
A few other good ones:
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
Donβt Go to Sleep (1982)
Salemβs Lot (1979)
I've heard a lot about it, mostly good things.
It's just so long, I have to wait until I'm in the mood to watch it. π
Don't forget Spielberg's Duel. For my money that was the best made for TV movie ever.
shareThe movie The Bermuda Depths easily the most haunting a TV movie as I've ever seen. There seems to be a pattern of everyone who saw this movie when young has it indelibly etched into their memory (maybe not so much specific details, but just an unforgettable impression that it left). It almost makes me want to think they were messing around with subliminal messages or something due to how it seems to similarly affect anyone I've ever discussed it with.
shareI donβt think Iβve seen this one. Iβll like it up for sure. π
shareOther than the Columbo movies (1971β2003) and A Christmas Carol (1984), I can't think of any that I thought were particularly good.
shareThree TV movies I really like all star the same actress. Carla Gugino.
The Christmas movie "A Season for Miracles"
The horror movie "She Creature"
The crime drama movie "Hide"
Even the theme was great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-Vkd7On2Q
Thanks for posting the theme on youtube. Boy, that takes me back!!! Back to the time when TV movies were quality productions and not the endless, repetitive cookie cutter drivel that you see on Hallmark and other channels.
One of my favorite actresses, Elizabeth Montgomery did a bunch of TV movies after she ended Bewitched. Some that I
recall fondly.
1, The Victim- just suspenseful enough to scare my little sister and me
2. Mrs. Sundance
3. The Legend of Lizzie Borden-started my fascination with the infamous hatchet lady.
Another scary one was called "The Devil's Daughter" starring Belinda J. Montgomery, a very pretty actress who was a TV staple of the late sixties and seventies.
'Haunts of the Very Rich"- a truly scary, suspenseful movie starring Lloyd Bridges, Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Ann Francis, and Donna Mills among others.
I've never been able to find these on DVD. Thank goodness for youtube. I've found most of these movies there.
The theme takes me back as well. As to the particular movie shown, perhaps that was just random, but to the OP's point...Brian Keith, Juliet Prowse, William Windom...that's a feature film movie cast!
shareI miss the made for tv movies from the 70s and 80s
shareSome others that I liked that I don't see mentioned.
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983)
When Michael Calls (1972)
The Burning Bed (1984)
The Karen Carpenter Story (1989)
Dance 'Til Dawn (1988)
Sybil (1976)
Trilogy of Terror- watched that a few months ago on youtube. It was still as scary as I remembered it!
The Karen Carpenter Story was excellent. So sad. I remember it aired in January because I was watching it while taking down the Christmas tree. Funny how certain memories are tied together.