Getting an emergency call the Us Coast Guard scramble a helicopter crewed by Lt Commander Pagnolini and Lt Haig . Arriving at the scene of the emergency Haig abseils down on to a boat and finds a young woman called Eva . After the winch breaks Pagnolini returns to base to fix a repair leaving Haig on the boat with Eva who tells him of the events that killed everyone else on board
Amazing to think nowadays after seeing countless made for television films on the SyFy and Hallmark channels that once upon a time in the 1970s TVMs were relatively good . We even saw a TVM directed by an unknown movie brat called Steven Spielberg called DUEL . This was a time when American networks seemed to have a genuine concern about quality and this film is amongst the very best that American television companies produced even though it perhaps cheats the memory somewhat
What helps is that ST has a relatively large cast of well known names attached to it who despite not giving Oscar worthy performances aren't exactly slumming it either . Doug McClure perhaps best known in Britain for playing square jawed hunky heroes fighting against rubber monsters plays his usual smoothy type character . Kim Novak forever known as her lead role in VERTIGO brings a smouldering sexuality befitting of her character and we get actors like Ed Lauter and Jim Davis be better known in later roles
To be honest not a lot happens in the film . Haig listens to Eva's story of the fate of the other occupants on the boat and she insinuates demonic forces are at work only for Haig to come up with rational explanations . What this TVM does superbly and why it's so remembered is that it lulls the viewers in to believing there is a rational explanation for all this only to pull the rug out from under the audiences feet with a twist in the tale . Okay it's rather corny and probably is nowhere as smart or as scary as you remember it from all these years ago but as someone who's watched far too many SyFy channel productions with CGI monsters running amok it still makes me nostalgic for an era where TVMs at least tried to spook the audience
Amazing to think nowadays after seeing countless made for television films on the SyFy and Hallmark channels that once upon a time in the 1970s TVMs were relatively good . We even saw a TVM directed by an unknown movie brat called Steven Spielberg called DUEL . This was a time when American networks seemed to have a genuine concern about quality and this film is amongst the very best that American television companies produced even though it perhaps cheats the memory somewhat
What helps is that ST has a relatively large cast of well known names attached to it who despite not giving Oscar worthy performances aren't exactly slumming it either . Doug McClure perhaps best known in Britain for playing square jawed hunky heroes fighting against rubber monsters plays his usual smoothy type character . Kim Novak forever known as her lead role in VERTIGO brings a smouldering sexuality befitting of her character and we get actors like Ed Lauter and Jim Davis be better known in later roles
To be honest not a lot happens in the film . Haig listens to Eva's story of the fate of the other occupants on the boat and she insinuates demonic forces are at work only for Haig to come up with rational explanations . What this TVM does superbly and why it's so remembered is that it lulls the viewers in to believing there is a rational explanation for all this only to pull the rug out from under the audiences feet with a twist in the tale . Okay it's rather corny and probably is nowhere as smart or as scary as you remember it from all these years ago but as someone who's watched far too many SyFy channel productions with CGI monsters running amok it still makes me nostalgic for an era where TVMs at least tried to spook the audience