Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

azathothpwiggins In THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET, a typical flight from London, England to Los Angeles California, USA is transformed into a supernatural nightmare. It seems that, aside from the passengers, there's something quite different in the cargo hold. A man (Roy Thinnes) is transporting an altar from an ancient abbey. An eeevil abbey! Odd occurrences begin almost immediately, like sudden cold, and female flight attendants wearing go-go boots and jockey helmets! The passengers, including a pseudo-cowboy, a Cindy Brady clone, a cranky zillionaire (Buddy Ebson), and a disillusioned ex-priest (William T. Shatner), are unaware of the brewing mayhem. Thankfully, Captain Chuck Connors and his crew, including Professor Russell Johnson are in the cockpit. What the... ? The jet stops dead in the air, floating in place! Could it be that spooky abbey? The creepy Mrs. Pinder (Tammy Grimes)? Or, is it the fact that Bill Shatner is aboard? After all, he just might have seen something on the wing of the plane! THE BIGGER QUESTION IS: Are airline tickets refundable if the flight engineer has been quick-frozen, or if pea soup begins bubbling up through the floor of the aircraft? THE BIGGEST QUESTIONS ARE: Can anything, even the sacrifice of Mrs. Beasley, possibly assuage these dark forces? Could there be any hope left, once ex-Father, T.J. Kirk begins sanctimoniously pontificating? HA37KF is what early 1970's made-for-TV cheeeze was all about: An all-star cast in peril, with Captain Kirk as a clergyman! The thought of him flying into the heavens shall stay w/ me forever...

MartinHafer Back in the early 1960s, William Shatner starred in one of the most iconic episodes of "The Twilight Zone"..."Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". It's that episode where he's on an airplane and keeps seeing a monster walking about on the OUTSIDE of the plane trying to make it crash! Now, here with "The Horror at 37,000 Feet", he's once again on a hellish plane...one with an invisible demon!! What I learned by watching these two things is that if I board an airplane and see Mr. Shatner aboard...I'm staying on the ground!!The plot is a strange one here...much like "Airport" combined with "The Exorcist"! I kid you not--it's about a doomed flight where a demon is residing in the cargo hold. All heck breaks loose and it must be exorcised or at least gotten drunk so they can land the plane and save the small number of passengers aboard this big airliner. The passengers, for the most part, are caricatures...broad stereotypes such as the millionaire, the drunk, the movie star, the intense religious zealot, the doctor, and the demon-possessed lady (okay, I admit...that one IS not exactly what you'd see in airplane films of the era) and more. So is it any good? Not really. While the "ABC Movie of the Week" often took on supernatural themes and got pretty weird at times (such as Barbara Eden bearing an alien baby in "The Stranger Withing" and Karen Black being chased by a possessed African doll in "Trilogy of Terror"), this one is hard to take seriously...though it could be worse (in "Killdozer" a meteorite touches some construction equipment and turns it into a possessed killing machine). Subtle or intelligent, this movie isn't. Though it is enjoyable in a very goofy, kitschy way. The acting, at times, is over the top and silly. I loved Paul Winfield and his silly accent and there were many bad performances...but the religious lady probably worked hardest to take home a special Emmy Award for over-acting!! And, that final scene of Shatner...what a terrible, terrible shot...it'sone that SHOULD have really embarrassed the director (if this film even had one!).By the way, you can tell that this film was made long ago, as it's set aboard an airliner--a big plane but taking off with only 10 passengers!! Today, you'd be lucky to be on a plane where they don't have someone riding on your lap they are so overcrowded!! Or, perhaps since it's a fantasy film, only having 10 folks aboard is all part of that bizarro fantasy. Or, perhaps it was just a cost-savings plot device to make the film cheaper!

Rosettes I suppose it helps to remember when one first saw a movie, how it made them feel then, to be able to appreciate it when they see it again years later. For me, when I first saw this movie, it was late night TV, usually Friday night. It made a great way to welcome the weekend. How could it not for it was situated at night, it had its tense moments, and then it ended greeting the sun, the new day. A wonderful transition from Friday and the week to Saturday.For the time period when I first saw it, it was the latter part of the 70's. My first 747 ride had only been 3-4 years before. Chuck Connors was still the Rifleman. William Shatner was still an unknown name (Doug McClure was more popular to me in the Barbary Coast). Russel Johnson was an occasional recognized face of "hey, wasn't he on...", but nothing more. Buddy Ebsen was barely seen as familiar since the Jed makeup was such a change (and we often did homework instead of watching TV on school nights). Roy Thinnes might have been recognized but probably more for "Black Noon". Paul Winfield would be an unknown to me for at least another seven years.It was a time when cable only consisted of the local channels in your and other cities, so what syndication one did see was in the off hours of major network broadcasting. There was a thin slot in the afternoon, movies occupied the late night, stations only had a certain number hours to be on the air, and the massive bombardment of "ancient" shows wasn't happening yet. It was before the Star Trek 2nd coming and it was long before Airplane. It was a time when I knew that flying on an airliner was fun and exciting as oppose to the dread one might feel now.I saw this movie for the story it told, for how the cast portrayed it, and not because of who they had been in previous productions, what they were known for. I watched the movie today to feel again the world I knew when I was a teen, to enjoy some time in another world, and not with an eye to criticize and slash with all I know and have experienced now.If one comes from a time back then, then they may indeed enjoy this movie. If on the other hand, one knows of the world only in the present, then this will probably be their toy to abuse for 70 minutes or so.

Scott LeBrun 'The Horror at 37,000 Feet' has to rank as one of the lesser efforts from the era when the made for TV horror movie flourished. It has some great moments, but not as much atmosphere as one would like. Some viewers may appreciate the fact that the evil in this story is never really given a face, others may be underwhelmed. The acting is variable, the direction (by David Lowell Rich) competent if not distinguished, and the special effects entertaining enough, but mostly what this television movie delivers is laughter - I'm assuming most of it is of the unintentional variety. Be prepared for very dodgy accents, which is also part of the (mild) fun of this thing.The cast of big names includes Chuck Connors as intrepid pilot Ernie Slade, Buddy Ebsen as pompous rich man Glenn Farlee, Tammy Grimes as the self-righteous Mrs. Pinder, France Nuyen as passenger Annalik, the almighty William Shatner as cynical boozing ex-priest Paul Novalik, Roy Thinnes as architect Alan O'Neill, Paul Winfield as dedicated Dr. Enkalla, Will Hutchins as cowboy film star Steve Holcomb, and Russell Johnson as Jim Hawley, another member of the flight crew on a plane travelling from London to NYC. Unfortunately, Alan has ruined the trip for everybody by bringing back architectural artifacts - specifically, the remains of an abbey - in the cargo hold. Bad idea. Apparently druids used this place in a previous century. The passengers and crew are then subjected to supernatural phenomena including freezing cold and wind, a lot of ooze, and cracks opening up in the floor. It remains to be seen if these people will figure out how to survive before the plane runs out of fuel.In general, this is fairly entertaining, with Shatner stealing the show as the former religious man, treating us to some very Shatnerian acting. Grimes is also a total hoot as the crazed lady who seems to have all the answers. Director Rich does at least give this thing a good sense of pace; like many movies of this kind, 'The Horror at 37,000 Feet' clocks in at a trim 70 minute plus running time. Best of all is when the flight crew are making their way through the hold. The finale is likely to leave people busting a gut laughing, however.Worth a look if one is really into the TV horrors of the 1970s.Six out of 10.