The Norliss Tapes (1973 TV Movie)
6/10
Well, it was scary in the 70s...
2 September 2005
I ordered this hard-to-find show on eBay and got an excellent copy of it. I'd been literally waiting years to finally watch the TV show that had left the greatest impression of terror on me since childhood. I mean, I wasn't let down when I acquired a DVD of Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black; that last episode with the freaky doll still creeped me out... kinda.

Well, last night I sat down, put the disc in my trusty old DVD player , and -- uh, found it to be a less-than-horrific experience. Of course I knew it wasn't going to have the same sort of effect on me that it did back then, so I prepared myself for a bit of disappointment.

It was okay I guess, and considering I'm much older and can follow the storyline infinitely better than I did when I was 9 helps too. I liked the shots of the Bay Area and the Pacific coastline, and a young and lovely Angie Dickenson is always easy on the eyes, but still -- I wasn't even so much as mildly surprised throughout the entire film. The evil manifestation that happened at the end of the film almost had me laughing -- and I scolded myself for mocking this beloved show.

As a made-for-TV film it is somewhat enjoyable and certainly above average, but as with all things nostalgic and memorable, don't get your hopes up too much like I did.

Okay, now I'm off to find some "ABC Movie of the Week" episodes that hopefully have aged a little better than this one did...
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