Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)
Intergalactic Adventures
A Star Trek film spun off around Michelle Yeoh and the secret service that appears in the modern revival series
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 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
Nocturne (2020)
Rivalry Between Sisters at a Music School/Occult Spell
The best of the Welcome to Blumhouse films set among the rivalry of two sisters at a highly competitive music school where one gets an occult text allowing her an advantage
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
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
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
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
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
No Escape Room (2018)
Haunted Escape Room
Another in the fad for horror films about escape rooms we have had in the last few years, this concerns a possibly haunted venue and reaches an interestingly odd ending
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
King Charles III (2017)
Near-Future British Royal What If Story
A near future film that with eviscerates the royals with biting savagery as it depicts Prince Charles becoming the King of England and clashing with the government of the day
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
Jack the Ripper (2016)
Jack the Ripper Killings
A girl sets out to solve the Jack the Ripper killings to free her innocently convicted brother. This is no more, no less factual than any other version but conducts a fine period recreation of Victorian England
The Last Dragonslayer (2016)
Modern-Day Dragonslayer
An adaptation of Jasper Fforde, one of the cleverest of modern humorous fantasy writers. Alas, the finished result is one that understands nothing about the book and is one of the worst ever screen adaptations
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)
Modernised Shakespeare Adaptation
Adaptation of the Shakespeare play about fairy enchantments by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies. Davies goes with a standard interpretation alongside radical reinvention – Athens as a fascist dictatorship
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
Gender-Bender Rock Musical/Frankenstein Spoof
Nothing indicates how miscalculated this remake is than the fact it has been placed in the hands of the director of the High School Musicals and sundry Disney Channel fodder
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
Parallels (2015)
Alternative Universe Hopping
Smart and fascinating venture into the alternate universe hopping theme that suggests something of what the underwhelming Sliders should have been. Originally made as the pilot for a tv series, this comes with much intriguing backstory set-up for a potential series
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
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
Lizzie Borden Took an Ax (2014)
True Crime
Lizzie Borden is one of the more fascinating figures in True Crime. This is very accurate to the details of the case; alas it gets the most sensational aspect over soon in and bogs down in the minutiae of the trial
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
Petals on the Wind (2014)
Flowers in the Attic Sequel
Sequel to the Lifetime channel adaptation of Virginia C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic. Andrews’ prolific output of Gothic melodramas are really the horror equivalent of daytime soap operas. Though marginally better, this drowns in the same stultifying blandness as its predecessor
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
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 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
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
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
Red: Werewolf Hunter (2010)
Werewolf Film
Syfy Channel film that seems to offer the intriguing premise of a Modernised Little Red Riding Hood but only deals with this in the vaguest ways. Otherwise this is a standard werewolf film and contains maybe the crappiest CGI wolf transformation scenes ever
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 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
The Turn of the Screw (2009)
Psychological Ghost Story
A BBC adaptation of the classic oft-filmed Henry James ghost story in which we cannot be sure whether the ghosts are real or exist inside the heroine’s imagination. This treats some aspects of the story liberally but gets the essence of the story right
U Be Dead (2009)
True-Life Female Stalker
A British-made tv movie about a female stalker. What sets this above Fatal Attraction and the other copies is that it is based on a true story
The Unquiet (2008)
Haunted Building/Rival Paranormal Investigators
There is a certain potential to the concept of two rival teams, parapsychological debunkers and a tabloid tv crew, researching a reputedly haunted prison. Only a couple of years later, this would have been mandatorily made as a Found Footage film but suffers from a director with no aptitude for atmosphere
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
Lost City Raiders (2008)
Tomb Raiding Adventures in a Drowned Future
A conceptually peculiar mix of Indiana Jones and Waterworld about tomb raiding adventures in a drowned future and the quest for Moses’s staff to turn back the rising waters
Instinct (2007)
Psycho-Thriller
British psycho-thriller that is a little too laidback to work but does eventually put some effective twists on its audience
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
Empathy (2007)
Clairvoyance Thriller
British clairvoyance thriller with an almost identical premise to The Dead Zone. Familiar material told with a modest effectiveness
Murder in the Outback (2007)
True Life Australian Outback Murder
A tv movie based on the true-life murder of hitchhiker Peter Falconio and the trial by media of his girlfriend Joanne Lees
Twitches Too (2007)
Twin Sister Witches
Having to sit through the Mowray twins airhead natter again in a sequel to their early Disney Channel film feels the equivalent of nails being scratched on a blackboard
A Valentine Carol (2007)
Romantic Redemption Fantasy
Lifetime Channel Valentine’s Day movie that rewrites A Christmas Carol to have Emma Caulfield visited by the ghosts of relationships past, present and future
Swarm (2007)
Ants on a Plane
A blatant copy of Snakes on a Plane featuring mutated ants aboard a plane. Without the other film’s tongue-in-cheek approach, this collapses into absurdity
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
The Wind in the Willows (2006)
Talking Animals/Absurdist Adventures
Amiable live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s work made for the BBC with an all-star cast
Random Quest (2006)
Alternate Timeline/John Wyndham Adaptation
BBC tv play adaptation of a short story by John Wyndham that also furnished the earlier film Quest for Love about a man finding himself in an alternate world. Despite this version being more faithful to Wyndham, the earlier film makes the central relationship work better
The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines (2006)
Adventure Film
The second of The Librarian tv movies featuring Noah Wyle as an Indiana Jones-modelled adventurer in search of mythical artifacts – here a map to King Solomon’s Mines
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006)
Teenage Girl Martial Arts Warrior
Disney Channel film where a modern teenager finds she is the reincarnation of a martial arts warrior
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.
Sweeney Todd (2006)
Murderous Barber
Released before the Tim Burton version, this is a British tv production that offers a grimly realistic, non-musical historical portrait of Sweeney Todd with Ray Winstone in the title role
The Initiation of Sarah (2006)
Occult War Between Rival Sororities
A remake of the 1978 tv movie about occult rituals in a girl’s sorority house. This is a film that feels directed and written without any real involvement by those responsible.
Still Small Voices (2006)
Ghostly 911 Calls
TV movie in which Catherine Bell is a 911 operator who receives calls from a ghostly child
Santa Baby (2006)
Santa's Daughter
TV movie where Jenny McCarthy plays Santa’s daughter who takes over the family business
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
The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)
Christmas Film
Dull live-action tv remake of the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated Christmas special
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 Quatermass Experiment (2005)
Mutating Astronaut
A remake of the first Quatermass story conducted as a live broadcast tv movie. Quite a considerable technical achievement considering the limitations and one that works with quite reasonable results
Meet the Santas (2005)
Santa's Son Gets Married
Sequel to Single Santa Seeks Mrs Claus where here Santa’s son (Steve Guttenberg) ties the knot – amazingly traditional and conservative in its sentiments and with everything so predictable that there is no real drama
Locusts (2005)
Insects Amok
A formula Syfy Channel film variant on the bugs gone amok film, starring Lucy Lawless as a government official who fights to stop a genetically-engineered swarm of locusts miles wide
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (2005)
Arthur Conan Doyle Biopic-Mystery/Meta-Fiction
BBC production that seems to be a straightforward biopic of Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle only for it to take a very strange dogleg into meta-fiction
Now You See It (2005)
Teen Magician's Powers Might Be Real
Not to be confused with Now You See Me, the one about the bank-robbing magicians, this is a surprisingly good film for the usual creative wasteland that is the Disney Channel about a reality show for illusionists who discovers a teen whose powers would appear to be real
Once Upon a Mattress (2005)
Musical Fairytale
Disastrous tv movie version of the classic musical based on The Princess and the Pea
Twitches (2005)
Twin Sister Witches
Inane Disney Channel film with twin sisters Tia and Tamera Mowry as sisters who didn’t know it who discover they are witches. A film that has zero interest in its fantasy elements and is entirely taken up by airhead teenage airhead natter
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005)
Modernised Shakespeare Adaptation
Under the umbrella title ShakespeareRetold, Shakespeare’s tale of fairy enchantments and romantic mix-ups is reimagined in a modern day British holiday camp
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
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
Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus (2004)
Santa's Son Seeks a Wife
Mawkishly sentimental Christmas tv movie with Steve Guttenberg as Santa’s son who needs to find a wife before he can take over the role. So cliched and written to expectation that it lacks any conflict
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)
Adventure Film/Quest for Mythic Artifacts
The first of several tv movies and later tv series about a team that collect mythic artifacts. An unapologetic copy of the Indiana Jones films and surprisingly more fun than you expect
Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Telepath Recruited by Law Enforcement
This comes with the undeniable influence of the then recent Minority Report in its story about a telepath recruited by law enforcement
The Stranger Beside Me (2003)
True-Life Serial Killer
True crime film based on a woman who was best friends with serial killer Ted Bundy
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
Too Good to Be True (2003)
Stalker Ex-Husband
British tv movie variant on Fatal Attraction where a woman is stalked by her ex-husband Peter Davison
Red Water (2003)
Killer Shark
B killer shark films where environmentalists, oil rig workers and drug dealers converge on a Louisiana river where a shark lurks
Riverworld (2003)
All of Humanity Resurrected on an Alien Planet
The first adaptation of Philip Jose Farmer’s series of novels where every person who ever lived is resurrected on an alien planet is given an abysmal treatment as a tv movie that ditches and rewrites major aspects of the books
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
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
Lathe of Heaven (2002)
Man Whose Dreams Change the World When He Wakes
This was the second film adaptation of conceptually ingenious Ursula Le Guin novel about a man whose dreams change reality around him whenever he wakes up
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
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
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
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
Saint Sinner (2002)
Demonic Succubi
Clive Barker based work about a monk pursuing two demonic succubi through time to the present. Clive Barker watered down for the Sci-Fi Channel but worth watching for the imaginative creature effects
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
Snow White (2001)
Fairy-Tale
Caroline Thompson, a regular Tim Burton scriptwriter, directs a uniquely revisionist version of the fairytale in which she digs in to explain the origins of many of the familiar aspects of the story
WW 3 (2001)
Biowarfare Outbreak Thriller
A routine biowarfare outbreak thriller that holds a fascination in that it imagines the attacker to be al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden two months before 9/11
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
The Luck of the Irish (2001)
Teenage Leprechaun
A Disney Channel film where Ryan Merriman discovers that he is the child of leprechaun parents. A mad pastiche of Irish culture, related to the earlier film in name only
When Good Ghouls Go Bad (2001)
Children's Halloween Film
Halloween film for children from the pen of horror author R.L. Stine of Goosebumps fame. The children’s horror story (and tv movie) is filled with many insipid and formulaic entries but this is a decent one that is not unafraid to scare people
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
The Phantom of the Megaplex (2000)
Phantom in the Multiplex/Kid's Caper Movie
A Disney Channel film, this has the amusing idea of translating The Phantom of the Opera to a modern multiplex and telling it as a children’s story
The Spring (2000)
Fountain of Youth/Sinister Small Town
TV movie where Kyle MacLachlan comes across a town where the residents have discovered a Fountain of Youth
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 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
Prince Charming (2000)
Fairytale Prince in the Modern Day
Fairly silly fairytale parody with a prince transformed into a frog trying to find a modern girl to give him the kiss of true love
Satan’s School for Girls (2000)
Deviltry in a Girl's School
Remake of the classic tv movie with Shannen Doherty investigating her sister’s death among deviltry in a girl’s school
Race Through Time (2000)
Time Travel
TV movie in which aging William Devane travels back in time to try and prevent the death of his father
The Wyvern Mystery (2000)
Gothic Thriller
BBC tv adaptation of Gothic potboiler by J. Sheridan Le Fanu with newlywed wife Naomi Watts facing an evil squire and mad women in a big gloomy house
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
Mom’s Got a Date With a Vampire (2000)
Children's Vampire Film
Amiably silly children’s vampire film that manages to take a juvenile approach off with tongue planted in cheek
The Other Me (2000)
Kid and His Clone/Children's Film
Disney Channel film about a cloned kid. The result indifferently slung together and the basic premise dealt with in a hardly serious way