The Norliss Tapes (1973)
A newspaper publisher listens to the personal tapes of investigative reporter David Norliss, who has disappeared during an investigation. The tapes tell the story of that investigation, involving a recent widow whose late husband has been seen working in his private studio. As Norliss and the widow investigate, they unravel a plot involving Voodoo and the walking dead.
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Excellent but underrated film
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
In THE NORLISS TAPES, David Norliss (Roy Thinnes) was supposed to write a book, debunking the supernatural. Instead, after a year, he hasn't written a word, and has dropped from sight. When his friend and publisher, Sanford Evans (Don Porter) goes to his home, he finds the titular tapes. These recordings chronicle the dark adventure that Norliss found himself caught up in. When a woman named Ellen Cort (Angie Dickinson) comes to him w/ a bizarre tale of undead horror, Norliss is skeptical but intrigued. It seems that Mrs. Cort had a visitation from her husband (Nick Dimitri), who was supposed to be entombed in the family crypt at the time! Meanwhile, a series of deaths take place, with the victims completely drained of blood. The local sheriff (Claude Akins) will entertain no such foolishness. As he digs into the case, Norliss becomes convinced that something supernatural could be going on, concerning a mystic (Vonetta McGee), a ring, and a very hellish statue. Can Norliss find a way to stop the late Mr. Cort, before he ushers in something truly terrible? Riding high following the success of THE NIGHT STALKER / STRANGLER, this made-for-TV movie is producer / director, Dan Curtis proving once again why he ruled 70's tele-horror!...
From what I understand, this was a pilot attempt from Dan Curtis for another supernatural mystery series like The Night Stalker. Unfortunately, this one stars Roy Thinnes, who looked bored out of his skull in almost every scene. His monotone delivery and smug performance come close to ruining this for me. Combine that with a story that felt thin, a "mystery" that wasn't very mysterious, and an abrupt and less than satisfying ending, and I'm not surprised that NBC didn't pick it up. All the other performances are pretty decent, with Angie Dickinson and Claude Akins carrying most of the weight. Great filming locations, an okay "monster," and a pretty decent score added entertainment value for me as well. I'm a big fan of The Night Stalker and was hoping for something similar. To an extent, this is, but it's nowhere near as good.
Roy Thinnes stars as author David Norliss, doing research for a book on the supernatural, who mysteriously disappears, but leaves behind a series of audio tapes detailing the case he was investigating, revolving around Angie Dickinson playing a wife trying to uncover the mysterious death of her husband, which takes a sinister turn as events unfold...Roy Thinnes portrays Norliss with the same steely, no-nonsense determination he gave to David Vincent from his previous series "The Invaders". Some find his humorlessness off-putting, but I find it a refreshing change from the norm.Made as a pilot film to a proposed series that was never picked up, which I think is a great pity, since I found Norliss and this case quite interesting, and would like to know what became of him, either with a sequel film and/or TV series.As a consequence, this character remains an intriguing enigma.
My father got the creeps when he saw this movie when it aired in early 1973. I was glad I missed it, given that it aired 17 days after my grandmother's murder. It would have been too much.Thirty seven years later, it comes off like so many other productions from that era: Underwhelming and, from a horror standpoint, stupid. In all fairness, I have to give the movie points for its Nixonian paranoia stemming from the actions of the sheriff, played by Claude Akins. Remember, this was from the time that the Watergate scandal began unfolding, though it was not the major headline of the time. But as I remember that era well, the movie seemed to reflect some of that era's tensions.I also give points as well to the casting, especially Don Porter and Michele Carey. That said, I could get my thrills more from "All The President's Men" than from this TV movie. It is hardly rotten, just a little underwhelming.