# Name this Film game!



## G. Elliott (May 27, 2008)

I've been searching forever now for the title to a Scifi film I saw when I was younger. I have no specific names or words that would narrow my search, only some basic aspects of the plot.

What I know is:

-the film is set in a dystopian future where it seems to rain all the time, and there is rarely, if ever, sunshine.

- the film follows the lives of a few children, (maybe at a school). Due to the lack on sunlight, the children are regularly exposed to artificial sun treatments. 

-the sun finally comes out, but only for a few hours, likely to never be seen again in a lifetime. All the children prepare for this day when they will see the sun for the first and maybe last time in there lives. I seem to remember that some of the children cruelly lock one child (maybe the main character) inside so that he will miss his only opportunity to see sunlight.

- it seems like maybe this film was made in the 70s', and from what I remember, it seems very short and may only be a short film or an episode of some larger series.

Can anyone shed some light on this? What is this film?


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## Quokka (May 27, 2008)

I haven't seen it but from the summary I'd say this is certainly it, except that its always raining because the school children live on Venus.

*All Summer in a Day* (1982) which is based on a short story of the same name by Ray Bradbury


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## Grimward (May 27, 2008)

Would agree.  As a junior high student ( 6th thru 8th grade for Quokka's sake ), we actually had to read *All Summer in a Day* and write about how we would feel if we were a) the child locked in the closet, or b) one of those who locked the child in.  If memory serves, the children doing the locking hadn't intended for the child locked in to miss the sun, either....the original story, of course, was published back in the 50's (and NO, THAT's *NOT* when I read it!).


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## G. Elliott (May 27, 2008)

Thanks Quokka, This IS what I've been looking for for so long. And to Grimward, now I remember that I also first came across this in a 6th grade english class. You can find the whole thing on you tube if your interested.

thanks again.


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## Quokka (May 27, 2008)

Glad to help out and I think I will take you up on the offer and go watch it myself .


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## UltraCulture (May 27, 2008)

I've been waiting for this thread.

righteo, all I remember about this film is that it was all set onboard a plane, and involved some kind of devil worship I think, there was something nasty lurking in the cargo, I seem to remember demonic chanting(which at the time chilled me).

Not much to go on I know.


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## Grimward (May 27, 2008)

To G. Elliott, thanks for the trip down memory lane.  Also, a belated welcome to the Chrons.  Beware its addictive qualities, or suffer the (happy!) consequences!

To Ultraculture, do you recall if part of the plane was eventually taken over and frozen, or, at least, the temperature was markedly lower and the light noticeably dimmer in that part of the plane?  I remember a film from the 1970s that kind of matches your description, but the name isn't coming to me yet.....


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## UltraCulture (May 27, 2008)

Grimward, yes there was a chilling mist that eminated from said cargo hold.


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## Grimward (May 27, 2008)

Ah, OK.....it will come to me.  Pretty sure we're talking about the same thing.  Will return when it does....

EDIT:  Found it!  (YouTube is a wonderful thing if you can direct it a bit).  I think the title you're looking for is _*Horror at 37,000 Feet*_, and believe it or not, it has William Shatner and Buddy Ebsen in it.  Boy is it cheesy 35 years later!

Here's the link I found YouTube - Horror At 37,000 Feet (1973) William Shatner Buddy Ebsen


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## Quokka (May 27, 2008)

I wonder if we could get this thread stickied, we probably don't need a whole section like the book search but a running thread for half remembered movies might be fun, *Where Have All The People Gone* had been bugging me for years before I finally found it.

Sorry Ultraculture can't help you with that one.


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## UltraCulture (May 27, 2008)

Good idea Quokka. seconded.


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## Nesacat (May 27, 2008)

Ah Grimward thank you. I read the post and wanted to know the movie too and had been asking Google. Am very fond of creepy movies.

Am adding my vote for a 'sticky'.


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## UltraCulture (May 27, 2008)

Thanks Grim, that's the one.

I dont recall it being that bad.


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## Quokka (May 27, 2008)

For some reason I always thought that was an episode of _The Twilight Zone.
_


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## Foxbat (May 27, 2008)

Quokka said:


> For some reason I always thought that was an episode of _The Twilight Zone._


I think there was an episode with Shatner. Only he could see the gremlin on the wing of a plane he wasa passenger in...or something along those lines.


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## Foxbat (May 27, 2008)

Quokka said:


> I wonder if we could get this thread stickied, we probably don't need a whole section like the book search but a running thread for half remembered movies might be fun, *Where Have All The People Gone* had been bugging me for years before I finally found it.


 
We are not keen on too many stickies here  but will do for now. If there's plenty of activity then fine, if not, I may unstick it and let it drift into the sunset at a later date.


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## Ice fyre (May 27, 2008)

I think I remmber this film and I'm sure it had a poor dog frozen to death in the hold (poor wee Puppy!!) it was about the time that disaster movies were being churned out ten to the dozen. I'm sure its Horror at 37,000 feet or something very like it. 

The episode of the twighlight zone featuring the gremlin was originally in black and white and as I remmber was re-made for the movie, "wanna see something scary?" still chills me to the bone.


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## Grimward (May 27, 2008)

Nesacat said:


> Ah Grimward thank you. I read the post and wanted to know the movie too and had been asking Google. Am very fond of creepy movies.
> 
> Am adding my vote for a 'sticky'.


 
You're quite welcome, Nesa.  I will confess that I'd recently been wondering about the name, too!




UltraCulture said:


> Thanks Grim, that's the one.
> 
> I dont recall it being that bad.


 

And you, as well, UltraC.  I didn't think it was that bad when I first watched it (on TV, although it was prime time TV) either, but seeing the excerpts from it again on YouTube, it is definitely aged in terms of the special effects (one would expect this), but also appears to have captured most of the exaggerated side of Shatner while simultaneously losing the intense side.  And then there's the fact that they're basically running away from possessed mud (not my idea of a stirring premise) for most of the movie.  Still, I'd probably watch it again on late night cable if I was up and had limited or no other choices, so perhaps I'm being a little harsh! Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to do a little sleuthing.


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## Quokka (May 31, 2008)

Just remembered another movie, I posted it here once before but have still not been able to find a title for it. It's a horror movie 80's or early 90's and it's pretty standard teenagers end up in a big old house at night and mosters start killing them one by one, the only twist is that in the end one gets out of the house (I think it was a girl) and just as you think she's safe the monsters pop up again. The monsters win!

Sorry for the spoiler but it wasn't a great movie  I thought the title was something like Creepies/Creepers but have never been able to track it down.


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## ravenus (Jun 1, 2008)

Sounds like *Evil Dead*, except there it was Ash aka Bruce Campbell that survived and then got attacked by the unseen creature of the woods (he did survive for the sequel, though )


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## Quokka (Jun 3, 2008)

It definitely wasn't Evil Dead, I saw it on TV one night and wouldn't be at all suprised if it was a straight to video movie, it certainly wasn't a big hit anyway. I also thought it might have had a Ouija board in it but it wasn't turning up on google/imdb searches  so maybe not, again I'm almost sure that it was a one word title, something refering to creatures/monsters... except I'd have thought I could find this movie and the fact I can't may well mean I'm not remembering everthing correctly .


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## Tansy (Jun 3, 2008)

Quokka said:


> Just remembered another movie, I posted it here once before but have still not been able to find a title for it. It's a horror movie 80's or early 90's and it's pretty standard teenagers end up in a big old house at night and mosters start killing them one by one, the only twist is that in the end one gets out of the house (I think it was a girl) and just as you think she's safe the monsters pop up again. The monsters win!
> 
> Sorry for the spoiler but it wasn't a great movie  I thought the title was something like Creepies/Creepers but have never been able to track it down.


 
It wasn't *Critters* was it?

Critters (1986)


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## Quokka (Jun 4, 2008)

Nope, I'm sure it was a small group of teenagers in something like a haunted house at night, I seem to remember them getting killed individually or in pairs and I'm sure there wasn't one monster type, each person or pair was killed by a different type of monster/s. It's the ending I remember most, a girl running away from the house and just as you think she's safe something jumps out to get her.

It's strange but the other thing I've always remembered is the screen going to the add breaks, I'm sure it was a one word tittle (again something like critters, creepers....) written in red with monsters around it, double o also seemed right but I couldn't find anything there, no it's DEFINITELY not goonies  and we're talking more than 20 years ago here so who knows.

I don't think I ever saw it again (it was definitely American not Australian) so it's probably wasn't a particuarly good or popular movie.


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## Heebie (Nov 3, 2008)

Sounds like a good film, does anyone know if it's out on Region 2 DVD in the UK?


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## Happy Joe (Nov 7, 2008)

Could it be "The Legend of Hill House" ?

I have one that has been bothering me for some years (since the early 60s)...
Its a very early black and white talkie (late 1920s or early 30s), a young couple (inherits?) moves into a stately (English?) manor/castle; inhabited by a female ghost and surly servants. A mystery/series of mysteries (murder?/disappearance?) ensue. Secret passages are found and the hero is thrown into a jail cell/torture chamber with a slowly descending spiked ceiling (He escapes with the help of the ghost).
The ghost was a very early transparent projection effect (well done for the time).

Enjoy!


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## TheEndIsNigh (Nov 17, 2008)

Sounds like the one with the mysterious room where people had disappeared over the years and nobody knew how our why. The victims had to stay in the room overnight alone with nobody else in the castle. It turned out that the drawbridge counterweight was an enormous block that descended into the room and crushed the victims to death as the castle was evacuated. Although I can't remember what it was called or even when I saw it. Pretty sure it would have been on the TV in the days of B&W so must have been some time ago.


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## Happy Joe (Nov 18, 2008)

I don't think it had to do with the drawbridge. As I recall, (spoiler alert) the butler (possibly also the maid) was involved in smuggling and their gang was using the castle as a front. 
The room was definitely a cell in a hidden dungeon (reachable by secret passage and) and had an iron grill work with long spikes that would slowly decent on the victims... as I recall the hero was knocked unconscious; awakening in the cell, he piles stones from the floor in an attempt to stop the ceiling (the descending spikes slowly split the rocks) while the friendly ghost attempts to contact the wife (who cannot see the ghost) to effect rescue...

I figure that finding the title is a long shot due to the age of the movie.

Thanks...
Enjoy!


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## Omphalos (Nov 29, 2008)

Is this spam?  Like, manually placed spam?  Steamspam, if you will?


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## Ursa major (Nov 29, 2008)

TheEndIsNigh said:


> Sounds like the one with the mysterious room where people had disappeared over the years and nobody knew how our why. The victims had to stay in the room overnight alone with nobody else in the castle. It turned out that the drawbridge counterweight was an enormous block that descended into the room and crushed the victims to death as the castle was evacuated. Although I can't remember what it was called or even when I saw it. Pretty sure it would have been on the TV in the days of B&W so must have been some time ago.


 
I don't recall that earlier version, but the plot device was used in the 2001 Christmas Special edition of Jonathan Creek**.




** - There will, apparently, be a Christmas special _this_ year.


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## UltraCulture (Nov 29, 2008)

Ursa major said:


> I don't recall that earlier version, but the plot device was used in the 2001 Christmas Special edition of Jonathan Creek**.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
And the blurb on this years Xmas special is as follows.

*Jonathan Creek* (BBC1) A one-off mystery, The Grinning Man, sees Alan Davies and new sidekick Sheridan Smith investigating a series of disappearances from a sinister room in a Gothic house.


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## Joe Meils (Dec 5, 2008)

The TV episode you are thinking of is "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" based on the short story by Richard Matheson. It was the original Twilight Zone series, with William Shatner... later remade in the TZ: Movie, with John Lithgow.


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## FireDragon-16 (Dec 24, 2008)

I don't know if any of you can help, but I'm going to give this a try.

When I was younger there used to be a Halloween movie they'd always show about some friends who found an old guy's house, and the old guy ended up doing in one of the kids (I think) and the kid turned around and ended up helping his friends realize what had happened?

A whole bunch of memories are running around in my head so I may have just given you a combined summary for 3 or 4 movies, but if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.


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## clovis-man (Dec 24, 2008)

Happy Joe said:


> Could it be "The Legend of Hill House" ?


 
Don't know About "Legend", but *The Haunting of Hill House* was a novel by Shirley jackson which was made into a very good 1963 B&W film, *The Haunting*, directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. A great creepy score by Humphrey Searle helps build suspense.

The recent remake isn't worth the time spent to watch it.


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## Happy Joe (Dec 27, 2008)

Actually, I was thinking The Legend of Hell House (typo), however on looking it up the plot is not what the inquiry was made about; teens in a (haunted) house with the final one killed as they are about to get away... sorry!

Enjoy!


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## dialibra (Jan 12, 2009)

*All Summer in a Day* (1982) i think that' s it


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## PhoenixRising (Aug 20, 2009)

Hey. Can you help me find one. I don't have much info on it as it was from when I was tiny.

It's a sci fi film and it's set in the future around a group of kids who play a game that's kind of like hockey on roller blades, instead they scoop up a ball and throw it into a basketball hoop lol. But then this 'magical' ball comes along, its glowy and white and it starts to play with them.

hat's all i remember but I know i loved it when i was little. Any ideas?


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## ulalume (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi, i've asked about this film on a couple of forums before, to no avail as yet. Someone there pointed me in this direction. The film was probably shown on British tv in the mid to late eighties. I saw it as a child.
            The plot concerns a possible future of earth. Mankind has disappointed god (or whoever it may have been) with his wars and weapons and selfish evil. He wants however, to give us a second chance. This is conveyed via a voiceover during the opening credits, which roll over a scene of people bathing in a rocky mountain stream. Anyway, all our inventions and luxuries have been stripped away and we are left in animal skins and rags with only small remnants of previous modern society (in particular, a young girl carries a talking doll) The film takes place in a coniferous forested mountain landscape.
           As i recall, the film concerns a group of these people going on a quest. Probably involving travelling to some promised paradise or maybe just to find something "better" I can't remember exactly. There were adults involved but being a child myself i remember mainly the two children, a girl (with the aforementioned doll) and a boy. Both blonde i think. I remember distinctly their big animal skin boots bound tightly to their feet. In appearance i suppose the nearest reference would be "clan of the cave bear" which reminds me of it a little.
            Anyway, the quest advances and people fight and are lost on the way. This is unclear to me now. But near the end the two children are separated from the adults (either that or the adults are all killed) They find themselves moving through a long tunnel-like cave with a burning torch held i think by the boy. I remember they are attacked by wolf-like creatures and perhaps monsterous bats (or maybe a mixture of the two?) These things were dark in colour. Right at the end the boy is bitten and a swift cut scene shows his bleeding hand (unusual perhaps for bloody violence involving children as victims at the time) He then drops the torch. This scene is stark and very memorable. The girl also drops her doll. The camera focuses on the doll laying in the sand and gravel on the cave floor.I presume seen in the light of the fallen torch. The action of dropping it has activated its voice mechanism and the doll repeats "mama, mama, mama" over and over as the credits begin to roll. An ending that reminds me of "the blair witch project" in its brutality.
        I imagine since i was a child when i saw it it may be a laughable or cringeworthy piece of film now. I don't know if it was part of a serial (such as "into the unknown") or a standalone short or long film. The ending has always stayed with me. The music at the end was suitably creepy. I would be very grateful if anyone here could help me with identifying this. Thanks folks.


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## Winters_Sorrow (Sep 22, 2009)

PhoenixRising said:


> Hey. Can you help me find one. I don't have much info on it as it was from when I was tiny.
> 
> It's a sci fi film and it's set in the future around a group of kids who play a game that's kind of like hockey on roller blades, instead they scoop up a ball and throw it into a basketball hoop lol. But then this 'magical' ball comes along, its glowy and white and it starts to play with them.
> 
> hat's all i remember but I know i loved it when i was little. Any ideas?


 

That'll be "*SolarWarriors*" - I think it may also have been called *"Solarbabies"* in the States. With a very young Lukas Haas (Witness) as one of the leads. Also memorable for me as it had Alexei Sayle (UK comedian/satirist) as a minor villain. He was particularly rubbish in the role


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## ________ (Oct 13, 2009)

*Another one to add to the list...*

I've been looking for this film for almost as long as I can remember... I only know the first few minutes, and then only barely. It starts off with this spaceship, which may or may not have been called the excalibur, and then something goes wrong(?). Or something. I don't really know that much about it. The whole thing had this old sci-fi, slow-paced kind of feel to it.

Does this ring anyone's bell?


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## Winters_Sorrow (Oct 13, 2009)

You'll need a bit more than that to help us out, oh nameless one. Decade? Actors? Character names? 

At the moment it sounds more like the Babylon 5 spinoff series called "Crusade" as that featured a spaceship called Excalibur but that seems too recent to have been something you've been puzzling over for "as long as you can remember", unless you have a really bad memory!


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## ________ (Oct 14, 2009)

Don't know much more...

And "as long as I can remember" might be a bit misleading...

More like ten++ years.

____

Babylon 5? Really?


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