Spectre

Interesting buddy-teaming of Robert Culp as a criminologist in England who specializes in paranormal matters and Gig Young as a disbelieving physician never quite catches fire. The two are on the spooky trail of someone or some THING who scares his victims to death and rips apart their bodies. A trip to the shady mansion of a haughty financier--and possible devil-worshiper--takes up too much time on the clock (the would-be sins and titillation therein fail to come off in a movie made for television). Culp and Young trade dry, beleaguered quips in a riff on Holmes and Watson while the wind whips up a tempest and a wolf howls in the background. Gene Roddenberry penned the teleplay from his original story, making the film a curiosity for "Star Trek" fans, however the scenario offers nothing particularly special. Wait for a showing of "Curse of the Demon" instead!

Concerning the question of why "Spectre" did not become a series , i would like to give my 2 cents. the 1970's saw a lot of supernatural/sci-fi themed TV movies which were obviously intended as series pilots . NBC had this film , and also "The Norliss Tapes" with Roy Thinnes. "The Questor Tapes" was a Gene Roddenberry concept. CBS had another of Gene's creations,"Genesis II". This was later redone as "Planet Earth" on ABC , which also aired "Baffled!" with Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy as a clairvoyant race car driver(!). Not a one made it to series. I believe it was a concern about not having enough plots to sustain a weekly series , expensive location shooting and f/x , and a continuing lack of support for the genre led to their demise. The failure of ABC's "Night Stalker" and "The Sixth Sense" also didn't help. In addition , "Star Trek" itself was still at that time considered a relative failure despite the beginnings of its resurgence. I think a possible answer may have been to include a series like "Spectre" as part of a rotating "Mystery Movie" type of show along with some more standard detective /thriller series. with a star like Robert Culp , older viewers may have given it a chance , along with younger viewers who were the main fans of the genre.

Take the basis of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, bring them forward 100 years and instead of crime, have them battle spiritual evil... A great idea, but unrealized here. A slightly ridiculous plot only saved by the talented Robert Culp who plays it straight down the line. A criminologist who specializes in the occult and battling evil. Gig Young was at the end of his carreer and shortly following this outing, his life as well. A sad loss of a fine comedic actor who usually didnt get the girl but did get all the best lines. Though in this film, Young basically sleep walks through the movie... Almost as if he was on sedatives. Culp and Young are recruited by a beautiful woman whose brother has recently undergone a personality change after doing some archeological investigations on his English country estate. So, off they all go to England to get to the bottom of things. This movie has a real Gene Roddenberry flavor to it. If you have seen any of Roddenberry's post Star Trek TV movies (basically, failed pilots)... Well, you'll know what I mean. But, bottom line is I liked this when I saw it in 1977 and it is still fun to watch. Not scary, but fun never the less. Look for it on The Fox Movie Network as it gets shown there often....

This would have made an excellent television series. Robert Culp has rarely been better as Sebastian, a psychic sleuth and expert on the occult. He takes on a case that threatens the world. Not bad for your introduction. An excellent Gene Roddenberry creation. I give it a "7" out of "10."

Spectre is one of Gene Roddenberry's busted pilots.All during the 1970's he tried to repeat the success of Sta Trek only to churn out pilot after pilot and failure after failure. Most were cliché ridden variations on a sci-fi theme and probably wouldn't have gone anywhere. Spectre is the exception to that cycle.

Telling the story of a supernatural Holmes and his Watson this is a very good thriller that might have been the lead into bigger things had it been picked up. More akin to Hammer's The Devil Rides Out than any standard satanist film of the period this film has our heroes investigating a rich English Lord and his family. While not particularly scary, it is extremely entertaining as Robert Culp shows himself to be much more clever than anyone around him.

If you can see this film. Its worth your time.

8 out of 10