Amanda Reyes
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madefortvmayhem.bsky.social
Amanda Reyes
@madefortvmayhem.bsky.social
Film scholar, soap opera and slasher film fanatic, die-hard TV movie nut and Rondo winner! I am the editor and co-author of Are You in the House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium: 1964-1999. I have a podcast too (Made for TV Mayhem Show).
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For those of you following me, but who aren't that familiar with what I do... Let me introduce you to a few home video releases I have contributed to lately. I do liner notes, commentaries, and visual essays. Sometimes I even show up on camera! I'm known for my knowledge of horror and TV movies!
For DAY 340 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose Night Cries (1978), which features Susan St. James as a woman suffering from a series of disturbing dreams, leading her to believe her stillborn baby is actually alive and calling for her
December 6, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Jennifer is brilliant and always engaging and informative. If you are in London and can check this out, you won't be sorry.
Super excited to welcome @harbottlestores.bsky.social to the Miskapodium on Tuesday, for this dreamy presentation.
Tix: billetto.co.uk/e/and-where-...
@letterboxd.social lists have been updated!
Busy weekend ahead!
See you at the Horse Hospital!
December 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
For DAY 339 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I went with another made for cable thriller, Deadly Love. This Lifetime Original stars Susan Dey as a lonely vampire who falls in love with the police detective investigating a murder she committed
December 6, 2025 at 2:43 AM
For DAY 338 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose the compelling USA Original The China Lake Murders (1990). Michael Parks plays a big city cop who uses his vacations into the desolate desert to kill people at random. A great thriller
December 4, 2025 at 9:27 PM
For DAY 337 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose the hilarious 1993 FOX spoof Based on an Untrue Story, which pokes joyous fun at all the telefilms of the era. Morgan Fairchild plays a perfume mogul who loses her sense of smell. Oh, the irony!
December 3, 2025 at 11:45 PM
For DAY 336 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose the most famous Moment of Truth entry, Justice for Annie (1996). This is based on a true story about a young woman (Danica McKellar) who falls (literally) for the wrong boy and dies mysteriously
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 PM
OMG. I loved this story. I was MADLY in love with both Steve Holden and Brenda... she was amazing. And when Ursala put a bomb in that cake, it set off a series of events that leads to my favorite baby switch storyline of all time! Yes, I have a favorite baby switch!
#OnThisDay in 1988, during the double wedding reception, Steve and Brenda got engaged. Later, Steve pushed Brenda out of the way as the wedding cake exploded #OLTL #OneLifetoLive
December 2, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Gawd, I hate being marginally sick. I'd rather be in the depths of a cold or completely over it. I don't know why but I feel so guilty not going into work when I'm in this in between state. Maybe a few episodes of Knots Landing while I'm in bed will help. :P
December 2, 2025 at 11:53 AM
For DAY 335 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose the 1983 miniseries Malibu. William Atherton and Susan Dey are a Midwestern couple who find themselves in the swingingest part of California, mixing with big wigs and tons of melodrama
December 1, 2025 at 11:32 PM
We Made it!
December Newsletter
amanda243.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:43 PM
For DAY 334 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose Daughter of the Mind (1969). Ray Milland plays a man who believes he's seeing his dead daughter's ghost so he enlists the help of a parapsychologist (Don Murray) to get some answers. Chilling
November 30, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Just resharing this Curtis Harrington poll. Like the post in this thread that mentions your favorite Curtis Harrington telefilm!
OK, let's do a Curtis Harrington TVM Poll. I'll leave a thread of his telefilms and you just like the post with your favorite film!
November 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
For DAY 333 of my year long retrospective on made for TV movies that need a DVD/Blu Ray release, I chose Nowhere to Run (1978), a drama about a man who fakes his own death to start a new life & begins by devising a system to make his fortune playing blackjack. David Janssen is terrific (as always)
November 30, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Amanda Reyes
#TVMParty Thanks for joining us everyone! Allan may be awful, but he looks good in powder blue. Happy Holidays!
November 29, 2025 at 8:16 PM
We are taking next month off, so we can eat gingerbread cookies and not have to think about anything else. But we'll be back in January for more TV movie watchalongs. I'll think of a good deep dive and we'll get 2026 started right!

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Hey, we made it.

Thanks to everyone who sat down and watched How Awful About Allan with us. It's a good one, and really works as an early marker for the kind of classic and gothic beats most of Curtis Harrington's telefilm work would lean into.

Plus, Joan Hackett. ❤️

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:15 PM
This ending is so good. Well done, Curtis Harrington. Well done!

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Joan Hackett would become a familiar face in the made for TV genre movie and appeared in some great films, including Five Desperate Women, Reflection of Murder, Dead of Night and The Possessed

I love her. Did I mention that?

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I love how the color scene abruptly changes in this last scene. Captures his redemption.

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I love this idea that Harris got rid of the physical remnants of the scar, but carried the deeper trauma of it with her. #TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Producer George Edwards worked with Curtis Harrington on a handful of projects that include Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and What’s the Matter with Helen?

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Barbara Steele gave such a love eulogy at Harrington's funeral. You can read it here:

#TVMParty

thechiseler.org/home/curtis-...
Curtis Harrington Eulogized by Barbara Steele — The Chiseler
Director Curtis Harrington (1926-2007) lead a fascinating life. Barbara Steele delivered this eulogy at Harrington’s funeral – and The Chiseler thanks her for providing an intimate portrait, publishe...
thechiseler.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM
As I mentioned earlier, working on How Awful About Allan allowed Curtis Harrington to forge some relationships, including one with Aaron Spelling. Harrington would go on to direct Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and The Colbys. #TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Henry Farrell also said that having the male character in How Awful About Allan as the one in distress was a shift from women always being the ones in peril and he was drawn to that.

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Turning on Olive is like kicking a cat.

#TVMParty
November 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM