The Horror at 37,000 Feet

Reasons to recommend this TV-movie:

The story centres around an evil druid artifact that threatens the passengers and crew of an airliner in flight. Now how much more potential for good creepy fun could a premise hold? It's like something Matheson and Lovecraft might have put their heads together to come up with.

Eerie phenomena galore as the windows on a aircraft suddenly frost over as if blasted by an arctic breeze, spooky sounds (borrowed from "Forbidden Planet") echo through the plane and a flight officer inside an on board elevator is turned into a frozen corpse.

Great atmospheric music courtesy of Morton "Hawaii Five-0" Stevens.

William Shatner in one of his best post "Star Trek" roles plays an ex-priest who reclaims his faith to combat the evil force threatening the plane. It's almost too good to be true seeing Shatner once again on a plane encountering the supernatural just as he did in the similarly titled "Nightmare At 30,000 Feet" episode of "The Twilight Zone." And he's really good in this, too.

Roy Thinnes from "The Invaders" and "The Norliss Tapes" comes along for the ride playing the guy who brought the cursed artifact on board.

Also on the passenger list: grabbing an extra pay cheque in between episodes of "Barnaby Jones" is the one and only Buddy Ebsen. Hmm, actually he coulda' stayed on the ground, but then with a cast so jam-packed with stars at least one actor's presence is likely to stick out like a sore thumb, right?

Anyways, despite a little bit of questionable casting, a smidgen of scenery-chewing and a dash of dated effects, this is still quite an enjoyable little horror story that someone really ought to consider remaking.

I was 9 years old when I saw this CBS Network movie when it first aired in 1972 and my brother, sister, and I were wide-eyed and scared silly by it! The next day in elementary school it was the talk of the playground and lunchroom discussion was lively! Nothing could beat this until at least Killdozer showed up two years later...

Why is it that after all these years, those of us my age that know such wise things as Scooby Doo went completely downhill with the introduction of Scooby Dumb and Scrappy Doo .....CAN'T get this film out of our heads and it is agreed it is one of the most memorable pieces of TV wackiness every created! I give Horror At 37,000 Feet such a high rating because it successfully ENTERTAINS, no matter how completely schlocky it is. TV movies in the 1970s were quite edgy, you must admit.

They TRIED, whether good or bad, and yet like a lot of music, we always refer back to the 1960s and '70s for pop culture references that just won't die.

Completely serious yet unable to escape its hokey execution, it still comes across as genuinely creepy (that whole thing with the doll as a sacrifice was a jaw-dropper!), and you can't deny that any time this is broadcast on television (thanks to the TNT network lately!), you'll drop what ever you're doing and watch it no matter what time it's on. For an "obscure" TV movie to maintain pure entertainment value after 30 years is an accomplishment, and it's quite alright to LOVE this one and laugh at it.

Chuck Connors and Russell Johnson as pilots, William Shatner as the most drinkingest ex-priest I've ever seen, Buddy Ebson looking like he showed up thinking he must be in some other film, Tammy Grimes with that inexplicable evil smile of glee ("my beautiful dog..." she laments but never actually seemed to worry about it before, rather relishing the nastiness creeping up from the cargo hold). Major plus points for the scene where the stewardess tells Grimes not to say anything to the other passengers about what she just saw, and a split second later a passenger asks what happened and Grimes matter-of-factly states a pilot is dead, and walks away without missing a beat. Also, you gotta love a film that uses that "cricket" sound effect that seems borrowed from War Of The Worlds. Man, and everyone on that plane has SUCH an attitude or issue with something, those who survived the evil creeping up from the cargo area must have at least been left with an ulcer. I've never seen so many actors look like they've just been goosed when trying to look terrified.

Gosh, to think that people once freely walked around in a plane and smoked. 9/11 has truly changed our lives because when I recently saw this film again and the scene where the woman opens a kit with scissors and clippers I just looked at the TV screen as if I couldn't believe what I saw her holding. This film will truly take you back to days when things were just, well, different.

UPDATE May, 2014: It's now available as a barebones DVD, but what would be a dream come true would be a complete DVD treatment with commentary and production information -- Horror At 37,000 Feet is too outrageous to be a lost enigma of the 1970s. With an obvious cult following (as I know many are of the likes of this one, Killdozer, and The Car), it could be a collector's dream come true. How many other TV movies this bizarre can you REALLY remember as well as this one? They just don't make 'em like this anymore, and I cherish each minute I am subjected to when watching HORROR AT 37,000 FEET!!

Finally this showed up on lunchtime TV yesterday. Brief - all of 72 mins, "Horror at..." is a highly entertaining twist on the airplane based suspense theme. All of the ten passengers carry an attitude problem with Buddy "Barnaby Jones" Ebsen being an arrogant millionaire. Tammy Grimes, as always, looks ravishing and plays a sinister part perfectly. Chuck Connors excels as the Captain, pre-dating his Airplane II role by some nine years. Yes it'll make you laugh but that's what makes it so good. 7/10

Disaster movie meets horror movie as supernatural events happen on a passenger plane.

This might be just a TV movie but this is more fun than Airport 1975 and Airport 79 put together!

1960s sci-fi stars William Shatner (Star Trek) and Roy Thinnes (QM's The Invaders) dealing with more out-of-this-world dangers in the early 1970s, that is what draws me to this movie.

But if you don't view the film that way, well, you might not get such a blast out of it. The horror element is very mild, in fact the first 30 or 40 minutes of the flick are more about the quirks of the passengers and crew of the plane...not much horror.

Produced by Anthony Wilson who was the story editor for all 83 episodes of Lost In Space.

I just found this long lost gem of a movie on YouTube with a surprisingly good print. I hope others enjoy it on YouTube, if it does not get taken down.

The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

AIRPORT with demons is the best way to sum up this made-for-TV flick that isn't one of the best out there but thankfully there's a terrific cast that helps make it entertaining. What we've basically got is a flight from London to Los Angeles where a couple bring on board an ancient abbey. Half way through the flight an invisible demon breaks free and goes after the passengers. THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but if you enjoy these TV movies and you like the genre then you should be able to at least get a few kicks out of it. We get a pretty impressive cast that includes Chuck Connors, Buddy Ebsen, William Shatner and Paul Winfield and there's no question that these familiar faces help keep the film moving at times. I think out of all of them Winfield comes across the best as a good-hearted doctor trying to help people. Shatner is fun to watch as the former priest who has turned to alcohol instead of God. The screenplay offers up several interesting ideas, although not too much can be done with such a short running time of 74-minutes. I really liked how the demon was using the cold to work its magic as this here is something I've never seen before. There are some major problems in the picture and one is the incredibly bad and campy sound effects that play whenever the demon is at work. These things are never scary and quite often they kill whatever the film had working up. The shots of the plane flying are also quite laughable in how cheap they are but this here doesn't kill the film too much. THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET is short enough and contains enough fun to make it worth viewing.