This film was representative of the early 1970's and ABC was taking full advantage of what was popular. Disaster movies like Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. Passenger disaster movies like the Airport series. Finally, movies that featured the devil. The Exorcist was out that year along with all the cheap rip offs like Beyond the Door. This movie had a little of everything in it and I remember I had trouble sleeping that night. I must have had a guilty conscience and thought the devil would be tugging at my toes or standing over my bed as I tried to fall asleep. I bet the nuns at school were partially responsible as well.
The movie of the week during that time was trying to take advantage of the popularity of devil themes however they usually were not that scary. I guess because it was 1970's TV, they were required to tone everything down. The Terror at 37,000 Feet was better than most other movies of the week because they had a fairly large cast of known TV actors like the disaster and airport movies that always had a large cast of known film actors. The story established quickly that almost everyone on board probably deserved to get hurt or die because they were not nice people, and that whatever evil was in the cargo hold was not going to let up until things were made right. Although I have to say that the Professor (Russell Johnson of Gilligan's Island) and the dog, did not deserve to die in the first reel.
If you saw this movie as kid I would recommend that you not see it again. The memory you have of it will always be precious and you are going to ruin that memory by seeing what a slow paced, hole filled plot, terribly acted movie this really is. I gave it 6 stars based on my memory from 42 years ago. You also may remember the Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black. I thought it would be fun to watch again and I was terribly disappointed. Most of the TV movies from this era were one long tease with 10 minutes of a payoff at the end. Sometimes.
The movie of the week during that time was trying to take advantage of the popularity of devil themes however they usually were not that scary. I guess because it was 1970's TV, they were required to tone everything down. The Terror at 37,000 Feet was better than most other movies of the week because they had a fairly large cast of known TV actors like the disaster and airport movies that always had a large cast of known film actors. The story established quickly that almost everyone on board probably deserved to get hurt or die because they were not nice people, and that whatever evil was in the cargo hold was not going to let up until things were made right. Although I have to say that the Professor (Russell Johnson of Gilligan's Island) and the dog, did not deserve to die in the first reel.
If you saw this movie as kid I would recommend that you not see it again. The memory you have of it will always be precious and you are going to ruin that memory by seeing what a slow paced, hole filled plot, terribly acted movie this really is. I gave it 6 stars based on my memory from 42 years ago. You also may remember the Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black. I thought it would be fun to watch again and I was terribly disappointed. Most of the TV movies from this era were one long tease with 10 minutes of a payoff at the end. Sometimes.