The Horror at 37,000 Feet

"The Horror at 37,000 Feet" (1973) is an ABC Movie of the Week fright film that takes place in an airplane.  It has a host of stars including: Chuck Connors, Lynn Loring, William Shatner, Roy Thinnes, Paul Winfield, Jane Merrow, Russell Johnson, Buddy Ebsen and Tammy Grimes.

  Architect Alan O'Neill (Thinnes) and is wife Sheila (Merrow) have just been at her family estate in England that is going to be torn down and developed and are shipping an ancient abbey that was on the estate back with them to LA.  Mrs. Pinder (Grimes) is totally against them removing the abbey and is joining them on the flight back to the U.S. to fight them in court.  The abbey is in the cargo hold of the plane and since it is so heavy the flight can only accommodate about 15 passengers.

Shortly after takeoff, things start to go awry.  Sheila starts to hear strange chanting voices through her headphones.  Strange things start happening in the cargo hold including subfreezing temperatures coming from the boxed up abbey.  The evil inside the abbey starts radiating outward to the rest of the plane and we start to lose passengers and crew to the terrible cold.

The passengers start rallying together at first, including Paul (Shatner) who is a defrocked priest who has lost faith.  Paul identifies that this abbey is part of an ancient pagan religion.  As the evil gets closer to everyone in the plane, people start losing their veil of civility and passengers turn against one another to survive.

The special effects are laughable for the most part.  There are tons of guest stars who play their parts well.   This movie is pure escapist fun in a claustrophobic setting.