The Horror at 37,000 Feet

A transatlantic airliner full of stereotypes finds itself terrorised by an evil supernatural force that resides in the container hold. William Shatner stars in this one and he had this to say about his appearance, "I get sucked out of an airplane while carrying a lit torch into the airliner's baggage compartment while trying to confront a druid ghost." If that isn't a recommendation then I don't know what is! It is a film with some silly plot developments for sure (the doll!) but I am a sucker for any 70's movie set on a Boing 747 where disaster strikes and this is another one, even if it makes Airport '79 seem believable by comparison.

I saw this program when it originally aired and I was 13. My entire family watched it together. We found it spell bounding and frightening so much that writing these comments some thirty-five years later I can still recall the thrill of the movie. The prior comments on Shattner are self-serving and cheap. The film was exciting and fearful and I wish I could get a copy to see it again. William Shattner's performance was very good as his character gained prominence throughout the film. The whole idea of horror at 37,000 feet has the intensity of a bull in a china shop full of danger. A high budget production of the movie would be intriguing.

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

I totally loved this blast of 70s disaster horror campery. It's got everything and something and more besides. A boozed up William Shatner does not fail to entertain. There's a Rosemary's Baby-esque scene with a twist. The whole cast literally rock in this film. And Mrs Pinder is now my spirit animal. Honestly, if you don't enjoy this movie you must be dead inside! 10/10 bish x

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.

Disaster movie meets horror movie as supernatural events happen on a passenger plane. This might be just a TV movie but this is more fun than Airport 1975 and Airport 79 put together! 1960s sci-fi stars William Shatner (Star Trek) and Roy Thinnes (QM's The Invaders) dealing with more out-of-this-world dangers in the early 1970s, that is what draws me to this movie. But if you don't view the film that way, well, you might not get such a blast out of it. The horror element is very mild, in fact the first 30 or 40 minutes of the flick are more about the quirks of the passengers and crew of the plane...not much horror. Produced by Anthony Wilson who was the story editor for all 83 episodes of Lost In Space. I just found this long lost gem of a movie on YouTube with a surprisingly good print. I hope others enjoy it on YouTube, if it does not get taken down.