Cast: Kim Novak, Doug McClure, Alejandro Rey, Michael Conrad, Ed Lauter, Jim Davis
Director: Sutton Roley
U.S. Distribution: ABC Television
U.S. Release Date: 1/14/75
Running Time: 1:17
MPAA Rating: Not rated (merits "PG" for subject matter)
First off, this film is impossible to find on video or see on television anymore. Sadly, it has all but disappeared from radar. I was able to purchase a dubbed version of an old Sci-Fi Channel airing from some years ago, and I was every bit as entertained and almost as spooked as I was when I watched it as a young boy more than 27 years ago.
Two Coast Guard pilots are sent to respond to a call for help deep in the heart of Satan's Triangle. They find a badly-battered boat adrift with several casualties and just one survivor (Kim Novak). The toothy and quite alluring girl tells Lieutenant Haig (Doug McClure) the details of a dark and frightening voyage into terror as the two spend the night together on the vessel. The next morning, his partner (Michael Conrad) returns with help; and another creepy, and quite sinister, tale is soon revealed to all.
For as long as I can remember, I have always had a fascination with the Bermuda Triangle, and it may lead right back to this movie. I remembered many of the scenes and I can just imagine that I was sipping a nice, cold Delaware Punch (and maybe peeking around the bottle) when it first aired on ABC-TV so long ago. (I am fairly certain that it originally aired as one of the Friday Night Mystery Movies.)
Satan's Triangle isn't a great film, and it is not nearly as good as the "X-Files" episode "Triangle" which aired a few years back, but it just sticks with you. Almost everyone I know remembers being scared silly by it - although admittedly, most of them were 8-12 years old at the time. I really hope someone, and someday soon, does a re-release or a remake or just any form of resurrection of this lost gem.
© 2002, Delton Perrodin