Dan Curtis’ Late-Night Mysteries (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Oct 20, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Herbert Kenwith/Burt Brinckerhoff/Lela SwiftRelease Date(s)
1974 (September 30, 2025)Studio(s)
ABC (Kino Cult/Kino Lorber)- Film/Program Grade: See Below
- Video Grade: B-
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: A
- Overall Grade: B+
Review
The Wide World of Mystery was a late-night anthology TV series that featured melodramas of mystery and suspense. The series ran from 1973 to 1978 and was the ABC Network’s attempt to draw viewers away from Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, the NBC talk show that reigned supreme in late night for decades. The recent Blu-ray release, Dan Curtis’ Late-Night Mysteries, contains four complete shows from that series.
In Shadow of Fear, wealthy Danna Forester (Anjanette Comer) is in a kept relationship with much-older Mark (Jason Evers). Both are having affairs, and Danna is secretly involved with Mark Brolin (Tom Selleck). When she returns one night, the house is in a shambles and sinister messages have been painted on the walls. The police can’t help, but ex-cop Styron (Claude Akins) offers to figure out what happened.
This smacks of low-budget all the way through. The acting by most of the cast is sub-par, the exception being Claude Akins who’s invested in his role. Sets are claustrophobic and cheap, takes are lengthy, and close-ups are frequent, allowing for the small size of TV screens of the period. The script by Larry Brody is talky and Herbert Kenwith’s direction is uninspired.
The Invasion of Carol Enders is more at home on The Twilight Zone since it deals with spiritual possession and the supernatural. Carol Enders (Meredith Baxter) has just been dumped by her boyfriend when a man emerges from the shadows and attacks her. She winds up in the hospital, unconscious, where another woman, Diana Bernard (Sally Kemp), has been brought after what appeared to be an automobile accident. At the moment Diana dies, Carol opens her eyes, but somehow the spirit of deceased Diana has infiltrated her body and she believes she is Diana, determined to find her ex-husband Dr. Peter Bernard (Chales Aidman) to figure out who killed her.
The premise is far-fetched and isn’t your traditional whodunit. The mix of murder mystery and Carol’s condition gives the film an interesting reincarnation slant, though it gets sillier as it goes along. To the credit of the actors and director Burt Brinckerhoff, the story is treated with dead seriousness and Baxter is pretty effective as the title character. Veteran character actor Aidman adds class as Diana’s husband. However, Cris Nelson as Dr. Bernard’s son Jason is an awful actor and fails to convince. Filmed mostly on studio interiors, the film is overly talky, with exposition dependent more on dialogue than visuals. Reincarnation was prominent in the 1970s as dramatic focus in the feature films The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972), The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975), and Audrey Rose (1977).
Come Die With Me is a step above the previous two films. It’s about a power play by one character over another when she’s witness to a murder. Walter (George Maharis), needing money to pay a stiff gambling debt, reaches out to older brother Frank (Charles Macaulay) to bail him out. Frank berates Walter for his irresponsible ways and Walter is so incensed the two men wind up fighting and Walter strikes and kills Frank with a poker. Housekeeper Mary (Eileen Brennan), who knows she’s not the most attractive or desirable of women, sees a way to win handsome Walter by blackmailing him, not for money but for affection.
She hides the murder weapon with Walter’s fingerprints all over it as leverage against Walter running out on her. Meanwhile, Walter has a girlfriend Suzy (Kathryn Leigh Scott) back in New York who wonders why Walter’s absence has been extended. Walter is literally back and forth between plain Mary and beautiful Suzy as he tries to protect himself and placate two women simultaneously.
Come Die With Me is Eileen Brennan’s film all the way. She etches a touching, yet sinister, performance as Mary. When we first meet her, she talks endlessly to be polite while poor Walter is sweating over the money he needs to get out from a debt to people who won’t be so polite about waiting to be paid. The role of Mary is better written than typical made-for-TV movies and Brennan really sinks her teeth into it in a quietly disturbing performance. Walter describes Mary to Suzy as “a lady from another century,” which doesn’t take into account her ability to get a man even through extreme means.
The strongest film in the set in Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest, which is based on an actual case. Gregory Leyden (Jim Hutton), wife Esther (Emmaline Henry), and daughter Nancy (Linda Curtis) are asleep at home in the middle of the night when cops break in the front door searching for heroin. Greg protests, insisting he and his family know nothing about drugs, and their search turns up nothing incriminating. Realizing that police team leader Clarence Hartog (Peter Mark Richman) made a mistake because they were supposed to go to 43 North Hillcrest, not 43 Hillcrest, and concerned that the publicity could ruin his reputation, he orders one of his men, Sandy Bates (Don Dubbins), to plant drugs on the premises. Never mind that innocent individuals will become victims of his plan. Hartog and Bates shred original evidence and rewrite police reports to support their lie.
The Leydens are arrested and things look bad until one of the men on the raid, Linwood (John Karen), comes to the Leyden house telling them he has doubts about what happened during the drug raid. Since we know at the outset that the Leydens are being framed, the film is essentially a police procedural with Assistant DA Sharon Reischauer (Marietta Hartley) dominating the last half of the film. The scenes between arrogant Hartog and self-assured Reischauer really crackle with Hartog’s feigned indignation at having his reputation and record questioned and Reischauer’s cool, calm, unruffled attempt to get to the truth.
Richman has a nice meaty role and makes the best of it. Confident, authoritative, and well-tailored, his Hartog is corruption wrapped in an attractive package. His indignity at being questioned by a woman reflect misogyny as well as cockiness as a cop with a long list of arrests and commendations to his name. Richman is the dramatic backbone of Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest.
SHADOW OF FEAR: C-
THE INVASION OF CAROL ENDERS: B-
COME DIE WITH ME: B+
NIGHTMARE AT 43 HILLCREST: A-
All four films in Dan Curtis’ Late-Night Mysteries were shot on video using three cameras by directors of photography Frank Stanley (Shadow of Fear), Gordon Baird (The Invasion of Carol Enders), and John C. Andersen (Come Die With Me). For Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest, Hank Geving, Ernie Hall, and Lou Horvitz served as camera operators. The films are presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The films were shot in the style popularized by soap operas. Most of the shots are either medium shots or close-ups with limited camera movement. Rather than cutting to a close-up, the common way was to zoom in, thereby eliminating the necessity of an additional camera set-up. When budgets we’re limited, speed and efficiency prevailed over artistic cinematic techniques so the films have a bland appearance. There are dramatic peaks just before what were commercial breaks (eliminated from this release). Takes are lengthy and dialogue much greater than in a theatrical feature. Exteriors are either recreated in the studio or eliminated completely, giving each of the films a claustrophobic quality. Visual quality overall resembles network TV airings prior to the advent of high-definition TV sets. With their abundance of close-ups, the films have a sort of prehistoric look.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English subtitles are an available option. Dialogue is clear and distinct in all four films, which is significant since it’s the dialogue that drives each story. Music plays a rudimentary function in bridging scenes and provided a bit of mood. In keeping with the films’ limited budgets, the music consists of solo piano or a small combo and lack the grandeur of a theatrical score. In Shadow of Fear, Bob Cobert’s music consists of a single theme played over and over throughout the film, and is extremely distracting.
Bonus materials on the 2-disc Blu-ray from Kino Lorber (Kino Cult # 36) include the following materials:
- Introduction, Shadow of Fear (6:49)
- Shadow of Fear Commentary
- Introduction, The Invasion of Carol Enders (4:56)
- The Invasion of Carol Enders Commentary
- Introduction, Come Die With Me (3:39)
- Come Die With Me Commentary
- Introduction, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest (4:21)
- Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest Commentary
Introduction, Shadow of Fear – Author Jeff Thompson, author of House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadow Auteur, notes that Shadow of Fear has the look and feel of a daytime soap opera, which isn’t surprising since it was directed by Herbert Kenwith, a veteran of daytime soaps. Scenes are long and unrelieved. Though claustrophobic, the film is “surprising and intricate.”
Audio Commentary (Shadow of Fear) – Amanda Reyes, author of Are You in the House Alone?, notes that many episodes of Wide World of Mystery are thought to be lost. An extensive overview of Tom Selleck’s career is provided. Selleck stumbled into acting, was signed by an agent, and was cast on the soap opera The Young and The Restless. He later had the starring role in the TV series Magnum P.I. Sudden Fear was filmed at General Service Studio, where I Love Lucy, Perry Mason and the feature films La La Land and Zoolander were filmed. Melodramas were popular because of network TV’s content limitations. The differences between melodrama and film noir are discussed. Wide World of Mystery contained 64 original productions, but due to the network’s policy of erasing and reusing tape, half of the episodes are considered lost. Some titles had evocative titles, such as The Satan Murders, A Beautiful Killing and The Haunting of Penthouse B. Claude Akins, a longtime character actor, has a meaty role and lots of screen time. The film is characterized as “old school noir.”
Introduction, The Invasion of Carol Enders – First aired on March 8, 1974, The Invasion of Carol Enders tells a wild, improbable story yet it’s emotional and involving. Overviews are provided for key cast members. The plot is played seriously, though it could have gone “off the rails” if it wasn’t handled just right. Meredith Baxter’s performance is the film’s anchor. She successfully sells the fantasy element.
Audio Commentary (The Invasion of Carol Enders) – Television historian Scott Skelton speaks about Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows, a gothic soap opera featuring vampires and other creatures. Curtis’ career is discussed extensively. Meredith Baxter starred in the TV series Bridget Loves Bernie, about an interracial married couple, but it was so controversial with religious groups that CBS cancelled it even though it had the fifth highest rating of the year. Only 24 episodes were made. Baxter herself is heard from archival interviews. She speaks about writing a book in which she was open about topics she had previously kept private. She talks about an “emotional bondage” she experienced and how she took stock of her responsibilities.
Introduction, Come Die With Me – Author Jeff Thompson notes that this TV movie originally aired on May 14, 1974. It was the 6th of 7 Dan Curtis episodes of Wide World of Mystery. The film focuses on the shifting power people have on one another, Eileen Brennan gives a nuanced performance as Mary, who finds herself involved in a crime she uses to her advantage. Music from several other Dan Curtis films is used. Come Die With Me is a “tight, neat little melodrama” with a surprise ending.
Audio Commentary (Come Die With Me) – Author/podcaster Dan Budnik and film historian Robert Kelly share this commentary. The film opens with jaunty music. Eileen Brennan appeared in the feature films Murder by Death, Private Benjamin, Clue, and Scarecrow, among others. Her performance is “buttoned down.” Her attire is frumpy and is typical of what an older woman would wear. Much can be inferred from the dialogue which had to step gingerly around censorship. The dynamic between the two brothers is established in a single scene in which Frank’s constant haranguing of Walter leads to violence. The suggestion is that Mary having sex with Walter was her first time. George Maharis appeared in the feature films The Satan Bug and Look What Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, the sequel to the 1968 Roman Polanski film. Maharis starred in the TV series Route 66. Despite the many good points of Come Die With Me, it’s referred to as a “cheap, cost-conscious production.” This was James Blumgarten’s final writing credit. He had written scripts for several anthologies.
Introduction, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest – Jeff Thompson notes that Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest was originally broadcast on August 20, 1974 as “an alternative” to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The Leyden daughter is played by Linda Curtis, Dan Curtis’ real-life daughter, who died about a year after making the film. After providing a brief synopsis of the film, Thompson says that the film was shot at General Service Studios in Hollywood, the same location where The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was filmed. The film comes off as a docudrama because of the crawl at the end that tells, in detail, what happened to the characters.
Audio Commentary (Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest) - This commentary is shared hby film historian Amanda Reyes and Heidi Honeycutt, author of I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies. There’s a spirited discussion about director Lela Swift, who worked mostly in taped drama. She directed more than half the episodes of Dark Shadows, a hugely popular gothic horror soap opera. She won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for directing The Web. Much of her work hasn’t been preserved. The notion that women are only suited to direct certain kinds of films is disputed. Women simply want to direct, whatever the genre. The long, silent opening of Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest sets up the late night setting and creates suspense. No-knock raids were prominent at the time. Jim Hutton, who plays Greg Leyden, tended to play affable characters and did a lot of comedy work. Both he and co-star Mariette Hartley had appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone. Peter Mark Richman made a career of playing bad guys.The commentators point out that genre films are often considered less significant than theatrical features. They note that “unearthing” TV history is challenging. From Dragnet, Highway Patrol, M Squad and on, police procedurals have always been popular TV fare. Usually, cops were the good guys. In film noir, this notion was flipped, with cops often portrayed as corrupt. Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest harks back to noir, in which cops may be good or bad. TV movies reflect the audiences that watch them. Often the bonds of family are strengthened. The film is loosely based on an actual event—the Winthrop raid, in which cops broke into the front and back doors of a home looking for drugs. It turned out the cops had come to the wrong house without a warrant. As with the other films in the set, Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest was produced quickly. The film’s ending is upbeat, but the crawl that follows gives the film a darker tone.
Dan Curtis’ Late-Night Mysteries is a time capsule of the kind of made-for-TV movies that flourished in the 1970s. They all have interesting premises but lack the development and production values of better-financed theatrical features. Network television was limited in terms of content, so the films in this collection had to tread gently on sensitive material, which removes considerable edginess from their narrative. For fans of mysteries, these films are forgotten curiosities and also offer an opportunity to see actors at the beginning of their careers in significant roles.
- Dennis Seuling