You won't be disappointed!

hyped garbage

good back-story, and good acting

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This was horror exponent Curtis' follow-up to the popular made-for-TV genre efforts THE NIGHT STALKER (1971) and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1972), featuring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, but with a new protagonist in Roy Thinnes' David Norliss. The overall style (down to the intermittent narration) and supernatural theme involved are remarkably similar – though the San Francisco-based writer hero in this case is much more somber than the wisecracking but dogged reporter from Chicago. These two elements actually spelt doom for the Norliss character as it seems that when it was time to create a full-blown series (even if it extended to just one season and 20 episodes), the choice fell upon the humor-tinged exploits of Kolchak… In any case, the premise itself – dying sculptor turns to the occult and is allowed to 'come back' in return for 'giving life' through his work to a demon – is undeniably intriguing; the creepily effective zombie make-up (these scenes naturally constitute the film's highlights) resembles the one seen in DEATHDREAM (1972). Though the abrupt finale actually leaves Norliss' fate hanging, this can be excused – since the film was obviously conceived as a pilot, so that his story was intended to resume in subsequent installments! Incidentally, there are a couple of other illogicalities owing to the necessary streamlining: while the events related in the film are seen to fit on just one tape, the final session in the creation of the sculpture entails no more than a couple of brief strokes to the eyes! Supporting Thinnes (by the way, I've just acquired Season One of the vintage sci-fi series THE INVADERS [1967-8], which had actually made his name – though I probably won't be able to include it in this Halloween challenge) is a good cast: Don Porter (appearing as Norliss' publisher), Angie Dickinson (the sculptor's wife), Michele Carey (her sister and a Norliss acquaintance), Claude Akins (the requisite disbelieving sheriff), Vonetta McGee (the occultist who gave the sculptor the magical ring which enabled his subsequent resurrection) and Hurd Hatfield (a debonair but shady patron of the arts with ambitions above his station). For the record, I'll be following this with two of Dan Curtis' feature-films – HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971); I had also intended to check out his TV version of THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1974), but I decided to leave it for an eventual triple-bill of adaptations of the Henry James source novel along with THE INNOCENTS (1961) and THE NIGHTCOMERS (1971).

Throughout the 70's, there were some awesome and terrifying movies made specifically for television. The success of Dan Curtis may be largely responsible for this. Some people will find this shocking, but I've never been a big fan of Dan Curtis. I never got into Kojak, I thought Dark Shadows was a bit laughable, and both Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings are overrated in my opinion. But something about The Norliss Tapes intrigued me. After seeing it, I think that this is Curtis' masterpiece and it's a shame a series never developed (this was obviously a television pilot). The story follows David Norliss, an investigative journalist and supernatural debunker. Norliss has disappeared and his publisher has only his tapes to go on. By playing his tapes, the story unfolds. I don't want to spoil too much because the mystery of the piece is enjoyable. Two of the factors that make this project so cool are the music and the setting. The movie takes place in the rainy California Bay area and the music is that familiar, creepy piano that seems to show up in all of Curtis' productions. The actors are all top-notch as well. Roy Thinnes is playing the lead, with Angie Dickinson as the damsel and Claude Akins as the sheriff. The movie gets a little cheesy towards the end, put that's also part of its charm. The Norliss Tapes is a fun and forgotten horror movie.

This film is a made-for-TV pilot movie. Sadly, the show never went into production; I think it would have made for decent horror fare. As it stands, The Norliss Tapes is an interesting enough story about an author who is writing a book to disprove the supernatural. His research, however, proves otherwise. The movie seems to have sort of a minor cult following but I honestly didn't think it was anything special at all (it was average at best), or even all that scary (despite the claims). Really, I believe it's one of those shows that linger in someone's mind if they had watched it at a younger age, nostalgia and all that.

This movie scared the #$%@* out of me!!!! I watched it when I was a kid and I LOVED it! It's just like The Night Stalker! It has a top notch cast of actors which makes all the difference in the world. The music is eerie, the location is scary and all of the typical Dan Curtis tricky shock effects are in place. The scene where her sister opens the curtains and James Cort is there staring at her is truly priceless! They don't make them like this anymore. I found it on eBay (just type in the movie name in the Ebay search) but the quality was terrible because it has never been released on VHS. I watched the whole thing anyway despite the poor picture quality. :) Would love to find a good copy of it.