Noite do Terror

I agree with Kirk; I saw this when I was nine, and never forgot it! It provided a special twist to your typical, melodramatic woman-alone-on-the-road story, so common for an age where were just getting over the idea of women being "helpless." But this killer should never have messed with Rhoda!

The production values weren't bad for the 70s-made-for-TV genre, either. Really kind of a breath of fresh air, when all the other made-for-TVs were going for the "creepy-crawly thing of the week" motif.

Valerie Harper plays a mother who is traveling across the country to see her son, who has just had an ear operation. On the way, she witnesses a policeman being murdered. What's worse, the murderer witnesses HER. Then the chase is on!

The killer only speaks through a vibrating larynx box, which makes his words, considering their nature, sound even more sinister and mechanical, when we hear him speak at all (really only at the beginning).

I'm not sure where this movie can be rented...the best hope is to wait for your local television station to play it as a late-night feature or a Sunday matinee. Try and catch it if you can. Watch especially for the clever climax and turnabout, as Val turns the tables on the killer!

In NIGHT DRIVE, Carol Turner (Valerie Harper) and her family are in the midst of a move from Phoenix to Denver. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Carol winds up having to make the trek alone. Unable to fly due to inclement weather, she heads off by car.

Unbeknownst to Carol, a murdering madman (Richard Romanus) is in her path. Upon witnessing this man committing a homicide, Carol finds herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Low on gas and terrified, Carol's night of relentless insanity has just begun.

This is a tense, fast-paced, made-for-TV thriller that really captures the 1970's vibe. An era before cell phones could -possibly- save us. Ms. Harper is very good as the woman in danger, as is Romanus in his genuinely scary role!

Another wonderful TV chiller that deserves a new audience!...

I saw this movie when I was a kid, and still remember it. The suspense in the movie was off the charts. It was on late at night and kept me up even after it was over. You really had no idea what was going to happen next. Once you started watching it you definitely could not stop. The character that used the voice box made it even scarier. Valerie Harper was awesome, and definitely showed that she can do more than comedy. I would love to see the movie again. Hopefully it will come back on, or there is a way to find it on video. For a made for TV movie I must say it was even better than some that I have seen at the movies. Back than they had to have good stories, and great actors since they couldn't rely on big budget special effects.

I saw this movie years ago on a late night t.v. movie and haven't forgotten it... It kept me on the edge of the couch and couldn't get to sleep for hours... Not that it was terribly a good movie... just one of those that you remember for a long long time. If anyone out there knows where I can get a copy of this I would appreciate the info. It's about a woman that is being chased in a car and always running into dead ends, or out of gas or anything else that can possibly go wrong. I can't quite remember why she is chased.. just how awful it was.

This one has good and bad points. The climax and ending were the bad points. It's as if they really didn't know how to end it so they threw in the desert and helicopter stuff... followed by the hospital scene.

The good to it is that most of it is fairly interesting - all the middle stuff going on is sorta thrilling. The gas station scene is simply weird. I thought for a minute she was trying to break into a wall safe to try to find coins to use the phone, then I realized it was to turn on the gas pump. lol.

This would have a really good movie but the ending - when it became daylight in the desert and then the hospital scene was a bad way to end an otherwise decent made for TV thriller.

5/10