Oh my word! I was starting to believe that I had just imagined seeing this on television when I was a little kid! I saw it at my aunt's house in Cape Girardeau, Mo., when I was staying over. I thought it might have been on a weekend, but the original air date, 11/25/75, was a Tuesday; but that also means it must have been right before Thanksgiving that year, so maybe I was staying with my aunt and uncle for the entire week. Anyhoo, that's neither here nor there; I only remembered bits and pieces of this episode, just the general plot and that final image, but whoo boy! Did those small chunks stick with me! I've searched for this on internet sites under every conceivable iteration of the ABC Movie series title, and here it was, a WIDE WORLD of Mystery movie! No wonder I couldn't find it. And to discover it starred Mrs. Columbo's Kate Mulgrew, currently of NTSF:SD:SUV! And also Trapper John's Pernell Roberts! Man, hoping the entire show has somehow found its way onto the web; next stop: YouTube!
6 Reviews
Creepy and memorable
martin_houser18 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I'm another person who spent years trying to identify this pretty obscure show, about aliens from another dimension trying to enter ours through an old TV in an attic, and preying on an insecure teenage girl who just returned from a mental institution. I vividly remember watching it on late night TV when 10 or 11 years old, and as another person commented, I remember how creepy it was when the girl saw that the inter-dimensional aliens had seized Jude (her cousin I think) and now had him on the other side of the TV. To me the ending was pretty clear - the aliens had crossed into our dimension, and nothing would stop them.
Well-written little piece of late-night TV arcana. And I was fascinated to see that it starred Kate Mulgrew! I see there is a clip on youtube, it would be nice to see a DVD of this.
Well-written little piece of late-night TV arcana. And I was fascinated to see that it starred Kate Mulgrew! I see there is a clip on youtube, it would be nice to see a DVD of this.
This mystery kept me hooked
robert_kresko21 September 2004
I saw this in its rebroadcast in March of 1978 at age 15 when I was on spring break during my freshman year in high school. How the plot would unfold was a real mystery throughout much of the film, which kept me interested. Had I known how creepy it would actually get even before its climax, I might have turned it off, but I was hooked. The creepiest part actually occurs before the end of the film. The ending just leaves the viewer sort of hanging because nothing is resolved one way or the other. (Has the invasion of earth begun, or were the dire warnings about the alien's intentions mere fabrication?) The alien Marc actually seems so sincere about his love for the young girl. I wasn't totally sure whether his intentions were evil or not but I suspected that they were. He actually seems like a nice gentleman at first. Yet, in the middle of the film, another cast member (an unlikable character himself) warns the young girl that Marc's intentions are sinister. At the end, I found myself hoping that he could perhaps be reasoned with about the possibility of peaceful co-existence with our dimension. If not, we were in trouble because their technology was evidently way ahead of ours!
Cheap but fun
rat_man6114 July 2007
Warning, I will tell the outcome of the movie This is to the best of my memory even though I haven't seen it since the premiere. Kate Mulgrew plays a young girl that has suffered a breakdown and is now staying with some family members. Roberts plays the father of the family. One other member is a teen, who I think was a electronics genius, and is very nasty and doesn't like anyone.
Mulgrew starts to see the handsome man is an old television. She knows it is crazy and fears that if she tells someone, they'll think she is having a breakdown. At times, there is a flashing affect and the man's head changes into the head of one of the aliens in the old Outer Limits episode "Keepers of the Purple Twilight." The teen finally tells her that it is they who trained in in electronics because they want him to build a device to bring them in this world. On day, one of them reach through and touched his dog, and it killed his dog. At that point, he knew to fear them. One day the girl hears screaming, she enters the world and sees in the television the teen being dragged off by two of the aliens.
At the last, Roberts is convinced that she is having another breakdown after she tells them about the world in the old television. She runs from them into the room (which I think is in the basement)and locks the door as they pound on it. Strange lights come from under the door and he hears strange noises. He gets in and there she stands with her alien friend. The alien is smiling, and there is the flashing effect, and you see his real face.
Mulgrew starts to see the handsome man is an old television. She knows it is crazy and fears that if she tells someone, they'll think she is having a breakdown. At times, there is a flashing affect and the man's head changes into the head of one of the aliens in the old Outer Limits episode "Keepers of the Purple Twilight." The teen finally tells her that it is they who trained in in electronics because they want him to build a device to bring them in this world. On day, one of them reach through and touched his dog, and it killed his dog. At that point, he knew to fear them. One day the girl hears screaming, she enters the world and sees in the television the teen being dragged off by two of the aliens.
At the last, Roberts is convinced that she is having another breakdown after she tells them about the world in the old television. She runs from them into the room (which I think is in the basement)and locks the door as they pound on it. Strange lights come from under the door and he hears strange noises. He gets in and there she stands with her alien friend. The alien is smiling, and there is the flashing effect, and you see his real face.
Strange
BandSAboutMovies23 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
An entry in ABC's Wide World of Mystery (Rock-a-Die, Baby) this quick burst of shot on video is way ahead of its time and way worth watching. Produced by Dan Curtis, directed by Lela Swift (who also helmed Dark Shadows and several of these ABC mini-movies) and written by George Lefferts (whose made for TV career includes several of the 1960's Special for Women specials and episodes of afterschool specials for both ABC and CBS), it's all about an orphan (an incredibly young Kate Mulgrew) who discovers an alien TV signal and falls in love with Marc, a man from another dimension played by John Ventantonio (Private Parts).
Sure, she may have just left the mental institution, but who is to say what's real and what is not in her world? And man, if you only knew Pernell Roberts as the kindly Trapper John, get ready to be upset.
Sure, she may have just left the mental institution, but who is to say what's real and what is not in her world? And man, if you only knew Pernell Roberts as the kindly Trapper John, get ready to be upset.
A masterpiece of TV-movie horror (partial spoiler)
Scarlata196613 September 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Hunting down this puppy's identity for over 25 years has been one of my great quests. The problem was that I totally forgot that Kate Mulgrew played the girl. Of course, now it makes sense. She did Ryan's hope, ABC, this was ABC Night Mystery Movie, whatever. I finally discovered what it was doing a key-word search, only because I did remember it was part of this mystery movie thing, that slightly pre-dated Nightline for the late night ABC slot. In my opinion, this series of creepy, soap-opera looking stage productions is a forgotten jewel of TV history. The director, Lela Swift was apparently a veteran director of "Dark Shadows", so making movies in this kind of video-staged format wasn't anything new. It all had shades of the British "Thriller" program. It's absolutely amazing how scary a format shift can be, BLAIR WITCH being a good example.
Aside from the format look, the plot of this movie is at the core of its terror. This was like Rod Serling golden age stuff. Too bad he didn't get a chance to see it. He died the year it premiered. The plot summary was wrong. The TV guy wasn't from another galaxy, but another dimension. Just the idea of this guy trying to worm his way into our universe was enough to creep me out. And the guy who played Marc had that classic 70's Freddy Mercury look to him. So, in a way, it played off that whole teen idol appeal from that time period. No. There's no great special effects in it, just a series of chilling ideas and images. This is one of those movies where the bulk of the terror is released by a revelation ending. How scary is the ending? Let me put it this way. I saw this when I was 9 years-old and put my hands over my eyes during the ending. I just might do it again if I ever ran across it. Sure hope to run into Kate one of these days and ask her about it.
Aside from the format look, the plot of this movie is at the core of its terror. This was like Rod Serling golden age stuff. Too bad he didn't get a chance to see it. He died the year it premiered. The plot summary was wrong. The TV guy wasn't from another galaxy, but another dimension. Just the idea of this guy trying to worm his way into our universe was enough to creep me out. And the guy who played Marc had that classic 70's Freddy Mercury look to him. So, in a way, it played off that whole teen idol appeal from that time period. No. There's no great special effects in it, just a series of chilling ideas and images. This is one of those movies where the bulk of the terror is released by a revelation ending. How scary is the ending? Let me put it this way. I saw this when I was 9 years-old and put my hands over my eyes during the ending. I just might do it again if I ever ran across it. Sure hope to run into Kate one of these days and ask her about it.
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