Shadow: Dead Riot Shadow: Dead Riot
Feb
16
2007

Seldom Seen review | A COLD NIGHT’S DEATH

Posted by Collin Armstrong at 10:04am.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews , Thriller, Horror, USA & Canada, Seldom Seen Reviews.

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During many a night in my misspent youth you’d find me up at all hours, trolling local TV stations in search of a late night thrill. Said thrill nearly always took the form of an aged horror story or a low-tech sci-fi trope. I didn’t know it at the time, but many of the films I loved and caught over and over again after hours were products of a criminally overlooked cycle of American genre filmmaking—made-for-TV (MFTV) features from the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Of the hundreds of pictures produced during the MFTV’s “golden age,” only a few like Spielberg’s Duel and the original Night Stalker are known beyond collector’s circles. The rest exist in obscurity, an odd title popping up on one of Brentwood’s legally suspect multi-movie packs, a few (like The Norliss Tapes and Frankenstein: The True Story) scoring budget releases from major labels here and there.

Most titles have slipped deep into the ever-expanding cracks lining pop culture’s edifice. That these films have something to offer shouldn’t necessarily surprise, considering the talent frequently involved in their production. That many serve as near-text book examples of how to build and sustain suspense on a scale via uncanny evocation of atmosphere and intelligent writing might, however, shock more than a few. Forgiving their period trappings, a clutch of MFTVs work with such chilly, calculated precision when it comes to pushing panic buttons they emerge as genuinely unnerving works. One such offering is 1973’s A Cold Night’s Death.

Following a series of strange transmissions from an Artic laboratory, researchers Jones (Robert Culp) and Enari (Eli Wallach) are air-lifted in to replace the facility’s solitary caretaker, Dr. Vogel. Upon arrival they find the building trashed, the monkeys intended for study near death from the cold, and Vogel frozen in place, the windows in his room wide open. Settling in and resuming a series of experiments examining the effects of stress and extreme temperature change on the primates, Jones and Enari clash over what could’ve happened to Vogel. Refusing to rule out something supernatural, Jones is plagued by a strange, repeating series of seemingly random events—windows left open, doors closing and locking. Enari suspects Jones might be coming unhinged. Faced with an outlandish truth, both men snap and Jones is killed, while Enari eventually succumbs to the same cycle that claimed Vogel’s life.

Essentially a two-man show, Death elicits excellent performances from its leads. The dialog can err on the side of ham, but Culp and Wallach make it work more often than not. That the characters are philosophical opposites is rote but earnestly woven, and is used to nicely subvert expectations in the end. Death‘s narrative turns on a precise axis, and its maneuverings stand up quite nicely even after repeat viewings.

Two thing help elevate Death above much of its brethren (to say nothing of many modern-day suspensers)—its smartly-realized Artic setting and the associated sound design, and Gil Melle’s nerve-rattling synth-driven score. The former is an occasional go-to for the genre (Carpenter’s The Thing and Fessenden’s Wendigo are but two examples of films which use snowy settings to convey feelings of otherworldliness and isolation), and imparts strong notions of unease and dread here. The latter is a progressive marvel of jangled tones and pulsating rhythms and a highlight for Melle, who provided musical backing for a litany of iconoclastic projects (including Larry Cohen’s fantastic Bone).

A Cold Night’s Death (sometimes referred to under its production moniker of Chill Factor, under no circumstances to be confused with the legendary-in-the-worst-kind-of-way Cuba Gooding / Skeet Ulrich / nuclear ice cream truck abomination of the same name) is, puns aside, the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exceptional MFTVs. It goes without saying some titles have aged better than others and almost all have some warts, but the sheer volume of unseen-by-generations works from talents like Robert Bloch, John Carpenter, and Spielberg (who helmed two additional MFTVs as well as a sci-fi themed episode for the long-form series The Name of the Game) shouldn’t be eclipsed just because some pockets don’t hold up as well as others.

Death occasionally still pops up on TV in a scandalously washed-out print, and ABC continues to hold its rights. The Alphabet would do well to usher the film into the digital age, though its chances are (sadly) roughly equal to anything else from the same era and format. “Seldom Seen” will from time to time focus on MFTV titles, with the hope that someday the right pair of eyes might happen upon a review and see to it something’s done to put these films back where they belong—up on screen. But who’s to say? One supposes, if nothing else, that this is why they invented Tivo…

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Reader Comments

  1. arch stanton 02/16/2007 @ 10:52am

    They really did make a bunch of exceptional TV movies back then. Three I would grab if they ever show up on DVD are ISN’T IT SHOCKING, a terrific small town cop piece with Allan Alda directed by John Badham, THURSDAY’S GAME with Gene Wilder and Bob Newhart, and SHIRTS AND SKINS.
    I was in HMV a few weeks ago and saw that KILLDOZER was on DVD but that one was cheesy even back in 74.

  2. nitty 02/16/2007 @ 1:21pm

    This one sounds interesting.I dont recall watching it or at least I dont remember.I love me some MFTV movies.Two of my favorites that I’m waiting to hit DVD are Bad Ronald and Dont Be Afraid Of The Dark.

  3. M.Christian 02/16/2007 @ 1:58pm

    Weirdness—I was just commenting on this as a great example of ‘lost’ flicks. The ABC Mystery Movies series had some great works, and this was one of the best!

  4. El Duderino 02/17/2007 @ 8:00am

    Great article Collin!
    Please write more about MfTVmovies.
    I saw Bad Ronald some months ago and it’s really a creepy little flick.
    Then i saw The Marcus Nelson Murders, which is the real good Kojak 2-hour Pilot.
    I would love to see “A cold Night’s Death” and other of these movies.

    Anyone of you knows Sole Survivor(Paul Stanley) or Paper Man (Walter Grauman)??

  5. arch stanton 02/17/2007 @ 8:46am

    El Duderino another very seldom seen TV flick from back then is the one Spielberg did after DUEL called SOMETHING EVIL. Saw it once and all I remember is the opening shot of the farm house. I think it was ABC’s effort in rural creepiness maybe trying to cash in on the success of THE OTHER at the time.

  6. El Duderino 02/17/2007 @ 9:02am

    Thanks, Arch!
    I just looked it up on imdb and it’s written by Robert Clouse!
    I would love to see it, but that’s always the problem with the mftv.

    By the way it seems that 1973 was a really good year.
    Shirt/Skins, Isn’t it shocking?, A cold Night’s Death , Don’t be afraid of the dark, The Night Strangler, The Norliss Tapes, The Marcus Nelson Murders, Frankenstein: The True Story

  7. collin a 02/17/2007 @ 9:10am

    THE PAPER MAN was released on VHS by Anchor Bay; you can find it at dollar stores on a double bill with another Dean Stockwell MFTV offering (can’t recall the name). As per usual, the print is crap.
    I love SOLE SURVIVOR (in fact, I’m on the road right now and have it in my bag in case I have time to check something out).

    There are so many good titles out there. THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME is a fantastic MFTV adaptation, but its VHS release was heavily cut. I’ve caught its full version on TV once but didn’t manage to tape it. I’d love to see it again.

  8. Sean "The Butcher" Smithson 02/17/2007 @ 9:44am

    Yeah, I grew up on all these as a lad.
    I am desperately looking to flesh out my MFTV collection. Anybody remember the James Brolin one where he was trapped in a department store with a bunch of doberman gaurd dogs?

    And also CROWHAVEN FARM needs to be added to the list of films mentioned already! smile
    Anybody have these flicks in their collection? Inquiring minds with movie ADD want to know!

  9. El Duderino 02/17/2007 @ 10:39am

    Thanks a lot, man!
    Keep writing about them.

  10. El Duderino 02/17/2007 @ 10:45am

    I haven’t seen the one with Brolin, but i think it’s called Trapped.

  11. arch stanton 02/17/2007 @ 1:01pm

    It is called TRAPPED and I’d forgotten all about that one. I must have seen that at least three times or so and it was quite well done .That is what was usually so enjoyable about these films, they’d take a simple premise and exploit it to it’s full potential, at least as far as TV would allow.

    Like SHIRTS AND SKINS, Iv’e only seen it a couple of times back when it was new but I still remeber it being a clever look at of male ego, competition and easter-egg hunt that escalates until it ain’t funny anymore. Still remember the image of one guy hiding a basketball in plain sight by painting it white and adding it to a street light.

  12. El Duderino 02/18/2007 @ 5:59am

    There is a british TvMovie from 1980 that is an amazing film. It’s called CHARLIE MUFFIN (from the Brian Freemantle books), starring David Hemmings.
    One of my favourite Spy-movies ever!

  13. Don Oesterle 03/15/2007 @ 2:16pm

    I, also, loved these types of movies, especially those features on Elvira’s Movie Macabre on Sunday afternoons.
    Weren’t the monkeys in “A Cold Night’s Death” named after Mafia-types and gangsters?

  14. collin a 03/15/2007 @ 4:19pm

    The monkeys are actually named after great leaders / conquerors - but are called by nicknames (Alex for Alexander the Great, etc). The names are actually part of a clever plot point in the film!

  15. peterD 04/21/2007 @ 2:52pm

    Colin:
    ice writing!...make that “nice writing”...no wait, I think ‘ice writing” is rather appropriate.....anyway, i saw this film (A Cold Night’s Death)way back in the day and was blown away by it.....really scary and creepy...who can forget the innocent-looking chimp reaching up and calmly locking that door ...and Sole Survivor was also fantastic...it featured William Shatner and Richard Basehart, i believe...Which is spookier or better acted/written? take your pick.....truly a golden era with character and writing we don’t see anymore..

    One other sleepre that was really haunting: ‘The Shuttered Room”
    with Carol Lynley....you never do see the murderous “entity/thing/person”....just the chain that it is tied to, which ominously starts to slowly move.....LOT’S OF GOTHIC DEPTH TO THIS ONE....YOU WILL NEVER GO INTO A DESERTED HOUSE AGAIN!
    peterD

  16. PETE C 04/26/2007 @ 3:37pm

    you are right ..good movie, another one that came to mind was one with Patti Duke in which she goes to an old boarding house on the English sea coast and encounters some weird goings on ...come to think of it I think she was in a couple of the ABC movie of the week things ...thanks again.
    -----

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