Despite its goofy premise and a handful of even goofier scenes, The Horror at 37,000 Feet manages to overcome the silliness and deliver some honest-to-goodness thrills and chills.
A 747 piloted by Captain Ernie Slade (Chuck Connors) takes off late one evening from London’s Heathrow, enroute to New York City. Only nine passengers are aboard, in part because it is a semi-private charter, paid for by wealthy architect Alan O’Neill (Roy Thinnes). O’Neill is transporting the remains of an ancient Druid temple, complete with a stone altar, from England to the United States.
The temple originally stood on grounds owned by the ancestors of his wife, Sheila (Jane Merrow), and now O’Neill intends to rebuild the entire structure just outside his New York estate.
Among the flight’s remaining passengers is arrogant millionaire Glenn Farlee (Buddy Ebsen); former Catholic priest - and current alcoholic - Paul Kovalik (William Shatner); actor Steve Holcomb (Will Hutchins), who just finished shooting a western in Italy; and Dr. Enkalla (Paul Winfield).
Also aboard is Mrs. Pinder (Tammy Grimes), who tried to obtain a court order in London that would have prevented the O’Neills from removing the sacred temple. Having failed in the UK, Mrs. Pinder now wants to try her luck in the New York courts, on the off-chance they will force the O’Neills to return the temple to its original home.
Turns out Mrs. Pinder had reason for concern; shortly after take-off, the plane runs into trouble when, 25 miles out, it can no longer move forward!
As Captain Slade and his crew, co-pilot Frank Driscoll (H.M. Wynant) and navigator Jim Hawley (Russell Johnson, aka the Professor from Gilligan’s Island) work diligently to get the plane moving again, the passengers and stewardesses (Darleen Carr and Brenda Benet) begin to experience things they cannot explain, including noises from the cargo hold, flickering lights, and a freezing wind emanating from nowhere.
It is soon revealed that the stone altar the O’Neills are bringing back to America was, over 500 years earlier, used for human sacrifices, and is now is rumored to be the resting place of a centuries-old evil entity. Needless to say, this malevolent spirit is none too happy to be headed to America!
The Horror at 37,000 Feet has moments that will have you scratching your head, like when the plane stops, seemingly hovering in mid-air, despite moving at an estimated 630 MPH the moment it ground to a halt. Then there’s the sub-zero temperatures in the cargo hold, which freeze Mrs. Pinter’s dog (also in the hold) to death.
Confusion aside, The Horror at 37,000 Feet is a lot of fun, in part because its all-star cast takes every bizarre twist and turn very seriously, but also because this made-for-TV movie boasts some genuinely creepy moments. During a scene inside the cargo hold, something attempts to break its way out of a steel container, frightening Mrs. Pinter’s dog to the point that it tries to escape by chewing its way through the cage. Lights flicker, the plane shakes, and the freezing cold conditions in the cargo hold soon envelop the passenger area as well. On top of that, Mrs. O’Neill is hearing voices, and after passing out for a brief time starts talking in tongues, uttering random phrases in Latin.
Things get even stranger when the passengers, advised by Mrs. Pinter, take matters into their own hands, doing whatever they believe might keep the demon at bay. The fact that all this chaos is set in the narrow confines of a 747 plane dangling in mid-air only adds to the tension of it all.
Connors is at his heroic best as the Captain, while Paul Winfield and co-star Lyn Lowery (she plays the traveling companion of Shatner’s Paul Kovalik), are solid in support (Winfield is especially effective as the film’s sole voice of reason).
Then there is William Shatner as the former man of faith who nowadays believes only in drinking himself into a stupor. His Paul Kovalik dismisses all talk of deities, and the mere suggestion a spirit is vying for control of the aircraft is utterly ridiculous to him. Playing Paul as sarcastic and downright argumentative, Shatner delivers yet another memorable performance.
The climactic scenes of The Horror at 37,000 Feet are both chilling (especially when the passengers build a fire to try and ward off the entity) and unintentionally hilarious (Shatner has a pretty poignant moment that’s ruined by dated, truly awful special effects). Still, all things considered, I give The Horror at 37,000 Feet a hell of a lot of credit for working as well as it does. It may be ridiculous, but it’s never boring.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
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