A for Andromeda (2006)
Messages from Space
A tv movie remake of a classic 1960s BBC serial where astronomers pick up messages from space that gives instructions for the construction of a body for themselves
TV Movies
TV Movies refer to films specifically made for television as opposed to theatrical release. These can range from original self-contained dramas to pilots for potential tv series, which may or may not be picked up. This also includes the British tradition of the tv play, self-contained televised works (often adapted from plays) usually for arts audiences. For more long-form televised works, which are self-contained stories split into multiple episodes, see TV Mini-Series.
The Golden Age of TV Movies was during the 1970s, which produced a number of classic works, some of which received theatrical release outside the USA. US TV Movies tended to be tamer than theatrical releases due to being made for public broadcast audiences. This is not the case in the UK and its tv plays, which often contain more adult content
The notion of the tv movie has been largely erased by the advent of cable and streaming services where it becomes difficult to tell the dividing line between a work intended for theatrical, video/dvd or televised release where in many cases a film’s intended destination may have nothing to do with the way it is eventually released. There are still some works that can be regarded as made-for-tv, notedly a number of psycho-thrillers made for the Lifetime network.
An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)
The Origins of Doctor Who
A film about the origins of Doctor Who made for the series’ 50th anniversary. This comes packed with pieces of fanservice and origins of various iconic aspects. David Bradley gives a wonderfully nuanced and moving performance as William Hartnell
Airwolf (1985)
Hi-Tech Helicopter
The pilot for a tv series that was theatrically released outside of the US. A blatant copy of Blue Thunder, this concerns the hijacking and retrieval of a hi-tech helicopter
The Aliens Are Coming (1980)
Alien Invasion
Unsold tv pilot that was clearly made as a quick cash-in on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Produced by Quinn Martin, responsible for many classic 70s tv shows, who has simply rehashed his The Invaders
An American in Austen (2024)
Modern Girl Transported Back Into Pride and Prejudice
A modern girl pining for the perfect man is transported back into the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice where she ends up disrupting the story
Amityville: The Evil Escapes (1989)
Cursed Lamp/Haunting
The fourth and one of the worst of the numerous Amityville films. This reduces everything to a series of crude and increasingly more preposterous, eventually laughable, shocks
Bad Ronald (1974)
Disturbed Teen Hides in the Wall of His House
From the Golden Age of TV Movies, a film where Scott Jacoby hides in the cubbyhole of the wall of his home after he accidentally kills someone and then develops a fixation on the family that move in
The Bad Seed (2018)
Psychopathic Young Girl
The 1956 The Bad Seed is the original evil child film. All other psycho children films draw themselves from here. This is a remake directed by actor Rob Lowe who also plays the father. McKenna Grace gives a superbly chill performance as the child
Baffled! (1972)
Clairvoyant Thriller
A young and dashing Leonard Nimoy plays a clairvoyant racing driver in this unsold tv pilot. The disappointment is that his powers amount to no more than a detective deducing clues in a standard murder mystery
Bailey’s Mistake (2001)
Magical Realism
Strange Disney tv movie in which widow Linda Hamilton moves to a small town where the people seem able to do magic
Bates Motel (1987)
Psycho TV Pilot Spinoff
Not the tv series, this is an unsold earlier tv pilot that attempted to spin a series off from Psycho, An ill-conceived disaster, the film’s clumsy
direction could not be further away from Alfred Hitchcock if it tried
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Space Opera
The original Battlestar Galactica tv series was an incredibly blatant copy built on the success of Star Wars. This is the pilot, which aired on tv in the US but was released theatrically to theatres in other countries
Beauty (2004)
Modernised Beauty and the Beast
A quite enjoyable attempt to modernise the story of Beauty and the Beast with Martin Clunes as a disfigured reclusive aristocrat and Sienna Guillory as a plumber who connects with him
Big Driver (2014)
Stephen King Adaptation/Rape and Revenge
Stephen King’s version of I Spit on Your Grave. What kills the film is the plot device that involves the heroine having imaginary conversations with dead bodies and her GPS
Billion Dollar Threat (1979)
Spy Film
A TV movie that was released theatrically outside the US with Dale Robinette as a James Bond copycat with Dale Robinette up against villain Patrick MacNee who has weaponised the ozone layer
Black Box (2020)
Amnesia and Mind Transference
Blumhouse film in which an initial plot about a man suffering amnesia undergoes a twist to become a body theft story
Black Noon (1971)
Horror Western/Sinister Town Where No-One Can Leave
Classic tv movie that is one of the earliest horror/Westerns hybrids where Roy Thinnes plays a preacher who ends up in town only to find he cannot leave amid mysterious goings-on
Black River (2001)
Perfect Town Where Nobody Can Ever Leave
Modest and quite effective Dean R. Koontz adaptation in which Jay Mohr is trapped in a small town run by an A.I. that does everything it can to prevent him from leaving
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Depiction of Childhood/Adults Play Children
I have said it before and will say it again – Dennis Potter was the greatest writer to ever work in television. This is his classic work depicting childhood where all the roles of the children are played by adults
Body Bags (1993)
Horror Anthology
A pilot for a never sold horror anthology tv series featuring John Carpenter as a pun-cracking narrator. The two Carpenter directed episodes have some tension, while Tobe Hooper’s third episode has a clumsy heavy-handedness
Books of Blood (2020)
Clive Barker Anthology
A new Clive Barker film is always something to be excited about – Barker has been absent too long as a creative force. This is an anthology based around Barker’s celebrated story collection
Borealis (2013)
Outpost in a Future Thawed-Out Arctic
A pilot for a tv series that never went ahead set in a future where Global Warming has turned the Arctic into a thawed-out tundra where various countries seek to claim the new territory
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010)
Teenage Werewolf/Children's Film
Entirely unrelated to the forgettable 1973 film, this is a children’s film for the Nickelodeon Channel. Merely adequate but no more. Brooke Shields seems to be having the time of her life vamping it up with Bela Lugosi accent
The Brides in the Bath (2003)
True Life Multiple Wife Murderer
British true crime tv drama based on the George Joseph Smith who in the early years of the 20th Century would marry women, get them to sign life insurance policies and then drown them in the bath
Bridge Across Time (1985)
Jack the Ripper Resurrected in the Modern Day
Film made just before the centenary of the Jack the Ripper killings that imagines the Ripper being resurrected at the site where London Bridge has been relocated in Arizona
A Bucket of Blood (1995)
Murderous Artist
Roger Corman’s original A Bucket of Blood is a cult black comedy starring Dick Miller a nerdy wannabe who is acclaimed after passing dead bodies off as works of art. Here it was remade with Anthony Michael Hall inheriting the role of Walter Paisley
Buried Alive (1990)
Burial Alive and Revenge Scheme
The directorial debut from Frank Darabont who went on to make The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist. A wife and her lover plot to kill husband off by poisoning him only for him to survive and plot an elaborate revenge scheme
By Dawn’s Early Light (1990)
Nuclear War
The last gasp of the Cold War nuclear film. A tv movie that features Martin Landau is the US President who tries to stop an accidental Russian nuclear release escalating into full-out war
Captain America II (1979)
Comic-Book Superhero
Another of the mostly disastrous Marvel tv adaptations of the 1970s. Captain America is sidelined for much of the show. This does conduct the coup of casting Christopher Lee as the villain but criminally gives him nothing to do
Captain America (1979)
Comic-Book Superhero
Laughably cheap and dull tv pilot version of comic-book superhero, which emerges less the Captain America of Marvel Comics fame than Captain America imagined as Evel Knievel superhero
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002)
Sherlock Holmes Mystery
One of a series of cheap Canadian-made made Sherlock Holmes tv movies featuring a wildly overacting Matt Frewer who makes possibly the worst screen Holmes ever
The Cat Creature (1973)
Ancient Egyptian Cat Vengeance Curse
TV movie about an Ancient Egyptian cat vengeance curse. The cast was culled from 1940s genre films and the material feels just as old despite a script from Psycho author Robert Bloch
A Christmas Carol (1984)
Miser’s Redemption
Well-made and extremely faithful adaptation of Charles Dickens’s perennial Christmas story starring George C. Scott as Scrooge. This brings out story elements other versions skip over
A Christmas Carol (1999)
Miser's Redemption
For my money, the best adaptation of the multiply-filmed Charles Dickens tale. Patrick Stewart is a great Scrooge and the film respects the story, giving its milieu and central character life as a tale for adults
A Christmas Carol (2004)
Miser's Redemption Musical
TV movie version of the oft-filmed Charles Dickens tale featuring Kelsey Grammer as a very theatrical Scrooge. This tells the story as a musical but also manages to be surprisingly faithful to the original
City Beneath the Sea (1971)
Underwater City
Irwin Allen offers a variant on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in this film about an underwater city. A tv pilot that was foisted onto international audiences as a theatrical film after it failed to be picked up as a series
The Clone Master (1978)
Scientist Creates Clones of Himself
One of the earliest film treatments on the subject of cloning, this comes with an intelligent and well written script in which Art Hindle creates twelve copies of himself. The original Orphan Black if you like.
Cold Blood: The Last Hurrah (2007)
Serial Killer Thriller
The fifth and final of the Cold Blood films, brings Matthew Kelly’s serial killer back but still lacks the gripping tension of the first two films
Cold Blood (2005-2006)
Serial Killer Thriller
One of the best copies of The Silence of the Lambs, a British tv mini-series in which police must seek the help of imprisoned serial killer Matthew Kelly, who delivers a great performance in the role
The Cold Equations (1996)
Tough Moral Choices on a Space Mission
Film adaptation of a classic SF short story about a pilot having to make tough choices about a stowaway on a space mission. The story gets mangled in the need to expand it to feature length
A Cold Night’s Death (1973)
Mysterious Happenings at a Remote Research Laboratory
1970s television produced some remarkable genre works. One of the best was this – a work of eerie tension as scientists conducting experiments at a remote laboratory find something unseen is toying with them
Crawlspace (1972)
Mentally Disturbed Stranger in the Cellar
A strange but compelling tv movie in which an aging couple befriend a homeless man they find living in their crawlspace and adopt him as a son of sorts
Crowhaven Farm (1970)
Occult Conspiracy
TV movie that was an early effort from celebrated producer Aaron Spelling, concerning an occult conspiracy surrounding a couple who inherit a farmhouse
The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb (1980)
"True Story" of the Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb
TV movie about the historical discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter that inflates the tabloid notion there was a curse and so distorts the historical record that it more properly enters the realm of fantasy
Dark Intruder (1965)
Occult Investigator
Pilot for an unsold tv series that was later released theatrically produced by Alfred Hitchcock’s company. Leslie Nielsen plays an occult detective and the film proves surprisingly well-shot and atmospheric
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
Scarecrow Enacts Supernatural Retribution
Frank De Felitta was mostly known for writing the novel that became Audrey Rose. He directs this tv movie where intellectually handicapped Larry Drake is killed by a lynch mob only to return from the dead as a scarecrow
The Day After (1983)
Nuclear Holocaust
From Nicholas Meyer, a TV movie (released theatrically in some countries) that was considered controversial in its day for its no-holds-barred depiction of a nuclear attack on the US
The Dead Don’t Die (1975)
Film Noir/Voodoo Resurrected Dead
Largely forgotten tv movie from a Robert Bloch script. Curtis Harrington creates a fascinatingly creepy atmosphere that blends film noir with mysterious happenings involving voodoo and the resurrected dead
Descendants (2015)
The Children of Disney Villains
This has an appealing premise – the children of all the Disney villains have grown up and go to school together. This is promptly killed by the awfulness of the film itself, which is essentially High School Musical set in the Disney universe
Descendants 2 (2017)
The Children of Disney Villains
Sequel to the painfully bad Disney Channel film that copied the success of High School Musical and featured the teenage children of classic Disney animated villains. This is just as empty-headed and unwatchable
The Devil’s Daughter (1973)
Satanist Conspiracy
TV movie that copies Rosemary’s Baby as closely as copyright will allow with Belinda J. Montgomery encountering Satanists and the realisation she is the devil’s daughter
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003)
Malevolent House
TV movie prequel to the Stephen King tv mini-series Rose Red that tells the story of the building of the house. A lesser work but not without moments of interest
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (2002)
Evil Personality Within Unleashed
Excellent tv movie adaptation of the Jekyll/Hyde story starring John Hannah. This is mounted with exquisite period detail and brings new depths and interpretations of an oft-told tale
Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2008)
Evil Personality Within Unleashed
Modernised version of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story starring Dougary Scott. The principal novelty here is that the bulk of the story takes place in a courtroom as Hyde is placed on trial for murder
Dr. Strange (1978)
Marvel Comics Magician Superhero
Forgotten, unsold tv pilot based on the Marvel Comics sorceror superhero. Unlike other Marvel tv properties of this era, this has an imaginativeness in its reach for esoteric spaces that favourably compares to the comic-book original
Dolores (2016)
Model Maker's Miniature House Affects Reality
A model maker is hired to build a miniature of a famous actress’s house but then finds the model is capable of influencing reality. An ingenious premise that plays out with near-perfection
Dracula (2006)
Dracula Adaptation
BBC costume drama version of the Bram Stoker novel, which offers the most radical take on the story of any version made to date, substantially wrenching around many of the familiar characters
Dracula (1974)
Dracula Adaptation
TV movie version of Bram Stoker’s book that was released to theatres in some places. Richard Matheson’s script brings back many aspects of the book that are dropped by other productions but the film suffers the fatal miscasting of Jack Palance in the title role
Dracula (2002)
Modernised Dracula Adaptation
This conducts the interesting idea of updating Bram Stoker’s book to the present day with Patrick Bergin as Dracula. Ultimately, this suffers from low tv movie horizons
Duel (1971)
Murderous Truck
The first film from Steven Spielberg, a tv movie that was released to theatres. Spielberg demonstrates style to spare in the gripping tale of a lone man on the road who finds himself stalked and followed by a murderous truck
Empathy (2007)
Clairvoyance Thriller
British clairvoyance thriller with an almost identical premise to The Dead Zone. Familiar material told with a modest effectiveness
Evil Eye (2020)
Reincarnated Stalker
Blumhouse film where a Westernised Indian girl rejects her traditional mother’s fears about her new boyfriend being a bad man reincarnated only for them to come true
The Ewok Adventure (1984)
Children's Planetary Adventure/Star Wars Spinoff
Crass attempt by George Lucas to further milk the Star Wars phenomenon with a tv movie (released to theatres outside the US) given over the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi
Ewoks and the Marauders of Endor (1986)
Children's Planetary Adventure/Star Wars Spinoff
Follow-up to The Ewok Adventure, a tv movie released to theatres internationally. This is a better film than its predecessor that even captures something of the Star Wars spirit on occasions
Fail Safe (2000)
Nuclear War
Live tv broadcast remake of the 1960s Cold War nightmare about an accidental nuclear release over Russia, now with an all-star cast. This proves far more suspenseful and expertly played than one might have thought
The Fall of the House of Usher (1979)
Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation
Maybe the worst Edgar Allan Poe adaptation ever, a version made for tv that fails utterly to project any of Poe’s gloom and despair, while a badly overacting Martin Landau is disastrously miscast as Roderick Usher
A Fire in the Sky (1978)
Comet on a Collision Course with the Earth
TV movie about an impending asteroid collision that was intended as a copy of the big-budget disaster movie Meteor but is actually a far better film. The science and Civil Defence reaction is written with an impressive credibility
The First Men in the Moon (2010)
Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation
Very nicely produced BBC retelling of the H.G. Wells novel that conducts an extremely faithful adaptation of the story and captures a perfect period sense of wonder
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994)
Hammer Films Documentary
The most exhaustive of the various documentaries about Hammer Films. This covers the history of the studio and crucially was made when most of the principals from Hammer’s heyday were still alive and able to be interviewed
Flowers for Algernon (2000)
Experiment Turns Intellectually Handicapped Man Into a Genius
Matthew Modine stars in the remake of the classic story about an experiment that turns an intellectually handicapped man into a genius. Everything comes in the simplistic emotions of a tv movie
Flowers in the Attic (2014)
Twisted Family Melodrama
TV movie remake of Virginia Andrews’ best-selling Gothic melodrama about children imprisoned in an attic. Even if more faithful to the book, this is no better than the 1987 film
The Follower (2016)
Singer Imprisoned by a Psycho Fan
A blatant copy of Misery where Erika Christensen is a popular singer who is abducted and made a prisoner by deranged fan Bethany Lauren James who wants her to write more songs in the style she used to
Frankenstein (1973)
Frankenstein Adaptation
An obscure tv movie version of Mary Shelley made by producer Dan Curtis. This suffers cheap production values but is the most faithful version of the book up to that point
Freaky Friday (2018)
Mother-Daughter Bodyswap Musical
The fourth film version of the Disney comedy about a mother and daughter who swap bodies for one day. This was made for the Disney Channel and comes as a grating teen musical
Futuresport (1998)
Future Sports Game
This borrows the basics of Rollerball and concerns a futuristic sports game played aboard hoverboards. Cocky player Dean Cain decides a showdown with terrorists must be settled over the outcome of a game
Gargoyles (1972)
Secret Race of Demons
A fascinating tv movie about the discovery of a race of demons. This has gained a cult reputation because of its uncanny atmosphere and the eerily unworldly title characters
Genesis II (1973)
Cryogenic Sleeper Awakes in a Post-Holocaust World
An unsold Gene Roddenberry tv pilot that is a fascinating almost-ran. Roddenberry rehashes Star Trek by way of Buck Rogers in a post-holocaust setting. This could have made for a worthwhile series
Get a Life! (2012)
Star Trek Fandom Documentary
The William Shatner directed documentary can be a unique beast. Here he makes a quite reasonable effort to examine what is at the heart of Star Trek fandom
Ghostwatch (1992)
Live Broadcast Investigation Into a Haunted House
Classic BBC live broadcast tv special where a camera crew investigate a haunted house. Cited as one of the first Found Footage films, this does some ingenious things blending fact and fiction and messing with its audience
The Glow (2002)
Sinister Health-Obsessed Seniors
This rehashes the basic set-up of Rosemary’s Baby but with a spin where a couple move into the perfect apartment only to find their neighbours are health obsessed seniors with a sinister agenda
Good Against Evil (1977)
Deviltry and Exorcism
From the great and underrated Paul Wendkos, a 1970s tv movie that taps the deviltry movie fads of the day and becomes a blatant copy of The Exorcist, albeit cleaned up for tv sensibilities
Harrison Bergeron (1995)
Future Where Everybody Must Be Average/Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut story about a future where everyone must be average wherein Vonnegut’s farcical satire is completely misjudged and played straight
The Haunted Airman (2006)
Dennis Wheatley Adaptation/Paranoia and Possible Hauntings
Robert Pattinson (before he was a recognised name) as a convalescing pilot during WWII who is haunted by demonic spiders in an adaptation of a book by occult writer Dennis Wheatley.
Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)
Mysterious Happenings at a Luxury Resort
From the Golden Age of TV Movies, a name cast line-up arrive at a luxurious resort only to become trapped there and caught up in increasingly mysterious happenings
The Hobbit (1977)
Epic Fantasy Adventure/Animation
Generally overlooked animated adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien book made for tv by Rankin-Bass. This keeps to the text very faithfully – more so than Peter Jackson – and is only let down by some limited animation
The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)
Haunted Airplane
TV movie that combines the mid-air disaster film of Airport with the 1970s occult fad with a line-up of name actors dealing with druidic stones that exude evil in the midst of a plane flight
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)
Sherlock Holmes Film/Ghostly Dog Mystery
Given lavish period settings and featuring a sterling cast line-up of British talent from the day, this is probably the most faithful film adaptation of the Conan Doyle story
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000)
Sherlock Holmes Film/Ghostly Dog Mystery
Another adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes quasi-supernatural mystery. This is also one of the worst ever thanks to the wildly over-acted, scenery chewing performance from Matt Frewer, badly miscast as Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002)
Sherlock Holmes Film/Ghostly Dog Mystery
A new and extremely good adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story featuring Richard Roxburgh as Holmes. This offers some radical shakeups of the story and characters
The House That Would Not Die (1970)
Haunted House
A routine haunted house film that was made as a tv movie,. One of the several early genre works made by celebrated tv producer Aaron Spelling.
The Hunters (2013)
Quest for Fairytale Artefacts
The premise of a group of adventurers seeking artifacts from fairytales has mild possibilities but is given zero conviction by anybody involved. A sub-Indiana Jones adventure that was made as a tv pilot
I Married a Monster (1998)
Alien Duplication and Takeover
Rather tatty remake of I Married a Monster from Outer Space made for tv. This is routine tv filler that has been churned out with little care or feel for the original.
I Saw What You Did (1988)
Prank Phonecall Psycho-Thriller
TV movie remake of a 1960s psycho-thriller about two girls making prank calls and uttering the title phrase – only to inadvertently call a killer. The premise makes a lot more sense updated to the 80s
I Was a Teenage Faust (2001)
Pact with the Devil Comedy
A very lightweight made-for-tv comedy where a nerdy teen signs a pact with a desperate agent of The Devil who offers him cool and the girl of his dreams
Ice (1998)
New Ice Age
A made-for-tv disaster movie about a new Ice Age. This uncannily prefigures the scenario of Roland Emmerich’s big budget, high-profile The Day After Tomorrow
If There Be Thorns (2015)
Flowers in the Attic Sequel
The third of the Lifetime Channel’s films based on the Gothic incest melodramas of Virginia C. Andrews that began with Flowers in the Attic. The plotting is absurd and the film feels uninhabited by human beings
If You Believe (1999)
Woman Meets Her Childhood Self
Nicely made seasonal tv movie where cynical Ally Walker has her life turned around by the appearance of her childhood self (Hayden Panettiere)
The Incredible Hulk (1977)
Comic-Book Adaptation/The Rampaging Monster Within
The theatrically released pilot film for the 1970s/80s tv series based on the Marvel Comic that tells the Hulk’s origin story. This is one of the better episodes of the otherwise banal series
The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team-Up
The very first ever team-up between Marvel Comics characters on the screen in which Bill Bixby’s Hulk meets Thor. The film has a camp reputation because of its Thor who resembles a Swedish bodybuilder
The Initiation of Sarah (1978)
Sorority Girl's Telekinetic Revenge
A TV movie that has been construed as a blatant copy of Carrie where innocent Kay Lenz moves into a sorority house and finds occult goings-on around her