1970s Horror TV Movie Thrilled A Generation But No One Remembers It
While a made-for-TV horror film lacks the budget of a studio production, there have been a good number of excellent genre entries since the medium’s golden age. Multiple Stephen King movies have chilled network viewers over the years, joining adaptations of other novelists’ writings in giving fans something to rave about. But some quality network TV horror movies, like the 1970 production Crowhaven Farm, have been doomed for the dustbin of history as there are no current outlets for them to be streamed.
Crowhaven Farm sees Maggie experiencing first person perspectives on what happened when townspeople interrogated and tortured women for witchcraft during troubled times centuries before.
Crowhaven Farm is a great tale of Satanic cult conspiracy that weaves in elements of Rosemary’s Baby in its overtones, but takes on a life of its own as it explores the witch hysteria of the late 17th century. The movie follows a New York City couple as they move from Manhattan to a rural New England farm, only to fall into the hands of a sinister plot orchestrated by the locals.
Maggie and Ben Porter (played by Hope Lange and Paule Burke, respectively) are in the midst of some marital turmoil when Maggie unexpectedly inherits an old farm. The couple isn’t in their new community for long when Maggie begins to suffer from strange, vivid dreams at night and wicked hallucinations during the day.
Since the movie first aired in 1970, horror fans were lucky enough to catch the movie in repeat showings on the network over the next decade.
Crowhaven Farm sees Maggie experiencing first person perspectives on what happened when townspeople interrogated and tortured women for witchcraft during troubled times centuries before. One hallucination involves the poor woman being sandwiched between the ground and a door while Puritanical types are slowly placing stones on top of her, pressing her to death.
Are the hallucinations a sign of sickness, or do they represent some connection between Maggie and an accused witch that was put to death generations before? Crowhaven Farm keeps viewers guessing as over-friendly neighbors, a strange handyman (played by horror icon John Carradine), and continued marital strife make you question whether or not the past is doomed to repeat itself.
To say that audiences have forgotten Crowhaven Farm is a massive understatement. Since the movie first aired in 1970, horror fans were lucky enough to catch the movie in repeat showings on the ABC network over the next decade. In the 1980s, late night syndicated horror programs showed it to a new generation of viewers.
But it’s not a film that’s seen much airplay since then, and has gone completely ignored by streaming platforms.
Crowhaven Farm is a great tale of Satanic cult conspiracy that weaves in elements of Rosemary’s Baby in its overtones, but takes on a life of its own as it explores the witch hysteria of the late 17th century.
Crowhaven Farm has faded into such a level of obscurity that even review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes has zero critical reviews of the movie. Only three audience reviews factor into the movie’s unofficial score.
Crowhaven Farm has been released to physical media twice, though the movie is currently out of print in both VHS and DVD. Curious horror fans can still snag a copy online, though some listings can be rather pricey. There are YouTube accounts that feature the full movie as well, though the video quality is poor.
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This is a great example of a made-for-TV production that deserves recognition and certainly should be available for today’s horror fans.
