The Norliss Tapes
| The Norliss Tapes | |
|---|---|
DVD artwork
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| Written by | William F. Nolan |
| Story by | Fred Mustard Stewart |
| Directed by | Dan Curtis |
| Starring |
Roy Thinnes Angie Dickinson Don Porter |
| Music by | Bob Cobert (credited as Robert Cobert) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Ben Colman |
| Running time | 72 minutes |
| Production company(s) | NBC |
| Release | |
| Original release |
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The Norliss Tapes is a 1973 American television horror film directed by Dan Curtis and written by William F. Nolan, starring Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickinson. Framed through a series of tapes left behind by the missing Norliss, an investigator of the occult, it tells the story of his encounter with a widow and her artist husband who has returned from the dead.
The film was originally produced by NBC as a pilot for a television series which was ultimately not produced. The film premiered as a standalone movie on NBC Networks on February 21, 1973.
David Norliss, an occult investigator, vanishes from his home in San Francisco, California, leaving behind a series of tapes explaining his absence and recent investigations. The narrative follows along with Norliss's voiced recordings, listened to by his friend, Sanford Evans.
Norliss had recently investigated an incident reported by Ellen Cort, a widow who claims that she was attacked by her recently-deceased husband, James, one night on their estate near Monterey. She tells Norliss her husband, who had been suffering from a crippling disease, became involved in the occult after meeting a mysterious woman, Mademoiselle Jeckiel, who attended one of his art exhibitions. She also says he was buried with a mysterious Osiris scarab ring that Jeckiel gave him.
That evening in Carmel, a young woman is attacked by James in her car, causing her to crash and die. When she is found, her skin is similarly a dark shade of grey, and a coroner confirms her body was drained of blood. Norliss travels to Carmel to meet with Sheriff Tom Hartley to discuss Ellen's claims. Later, Norliss and Ellen go to visit James's crypt on the estate, and find his body inside, the ring on his hand. Norliss goes to San Francisco to meet Charles Langdon, a gallery owner who had called Ellen inquiring about purchasing James's ring. Langdon, now knowing that the ring was buried with James, goes to the family crypt after their meeting intending to steal it, but he finds the coffin empty; as he leaves the crypt, he is attacked by James.
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Wikipedia