The Horror at 37,000 Feet

Although not as good as that terrifying Twilight Zone episode starring Bill Shatner, this movie is definitely under appreciated. The plot is strange with all the Druid rituals, but the oddness of the subject matter adds to the atmosphere. It takes place on a virtually empty airplane which I myself have flown on before. With a full plane, the whole thing would have been a chaotic mess where as this sparse cast allows for a bit more calmness and thought. The characters work together to defeat this demon or ghost or whatever it's supposed to be, but they gradually fall apart as the terror gets more intense. You will recognize most of the actors and they all turn in decent performances. It's hard to pick a favorite, but Shatner's drunken defrocked priest is the most interesting. The special effects are good at times, but occasionally amateurish due to working under a TV budget as opposed to a movie one. The whole package is very entertaining though. When I realized it was coming to an end I was kind of disappointed as I wanted more. Overall, the film really impressed me and after watching this it made me want to look into many more 1970s made for television horror movies.

A familiar cast of TV veterans star in this entertaining, reasonably effective TV movie that stars Roy Thinnes("The Invaders") as an architect transporting an old Abbey altar on an airplane from London to L.A. that comes to demonic life, threatening all aboard, like William Shatner("Star Trek") as a former priest called back into action to defeat the evil, and Chuck Conners("The Rifleman") as the pilot. Buddy Ebsen("Barnaby Jones") and Russell Johnson("Gilligan's Island") costar.

Interesting coincidences here: both Shatner and Johnson starred together on an excellent episode of "Thriller" called 'The Hungry Glass', and Shatner also memorably appeared on "The Twilight Zone" as a similarly tormented man('Nightmare At 20,000 Feet') Both Shatner and Conners would later costar in spoof "Airplane II: The Sequel"

Just out on DVD, and worth a look.

... there is some degree of atmosphere (mostly taking place in the cargo room) in the movie, even though the acting looks like it leaped off the page of a graphic novel. Chuck Connors is Captain Slade, who flies the plane in the dark of night from London to New York. But something sinister is in the cargo hold: an ancient Druid altar containing a demon. Jane Merrow seems to know what is going on and blurts out the reason they are in danger, failing to leave anything to the viewer's imagination. William Shatner is a former priest who drinks far too much, and the inside temperature of the plane continues to drop. The big question is: will the airplane reach New York by sunrise?

Roy Thinnes, Russell (The professor) Johnson, Tammy Grimes, Paul Winfield and Buddy Ebsen provide reasonable support in this made-for-television movie. Best watched at the time I did (which was past midnight!), only one of the passengers makes a sacrifice to the demon.

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.

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