What makes it different from others?

Let's be realistic.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

In THE NORLISS TAPES, David Norliss (Roy Thinnes) was supposed to write a book, debunking the supernatural. Instead, after a year, he hasn't written a word, and has dropped from sight. When his friend and publisher, Sanford Evans (Don Porter) goes to his home, he finds the titular tapes. These recordings chronicle the dark adventure that Norliss found himself caught up in. When a woman named Ellen Cort (Angie Dickinson) comes to him w/ a bizarre tale of undead horror, Norliss is skeptical but intrigued. It seems that Mrs. Cort had a visitation from her husband (Nick Dimitri), who was supposed to be entombed in the family crypt at the time! Meanwhile, a series of deaths take place, with the victims completely drained of blood. The local sheriff (Claude Akins) will entertain no such foolishness. As he digs into the case, Norliss becomes convinced that something supernatural could be going on, concerning a mystic (Vonetta McGee), a ring, and a very hellish statue. Can Norliss find a way to stop the late Mr. Cort, before he ushers in something truly terrible? Riding high following the success of THE NIGHT STALKER / STRANGLER, this made-for-TV movie is producer / director, Dan Curtis proving once again why he ruled 70's tele-horror!...

Roy Thinnes of "The Invaders" TV series fame gives a typically fine performance as David Norliss, a cynical and skeptical investigative reporter working on a book which debunks various supernatural occurrences and paranormal phenomena as phony baloney frauds. While researching his book Norliss crosses paths with widow Ellen Cort (the ever-lovely and appealing Angie Dickinson), who claims that her recently deceased husband (an impressively robust turn by Nick Dimitri, who sports some truly ghoulish make-up and uncanny yellow eyes) has come back to life as a murderous gray-skinned zombie. Norliss finds out much to his dismay that this particular case is all too real and by no means yet another far-fetched hoax.Expertly directed by the late, great Dan ("Trilogy of Terror") Curtis, with a smart and compelling script by William F. ("Logan's Run") Nolan, an arrestingly creepy and mysterious atmosphere, an eerie and rousing score by Robert Cobert, a snappy pace, polished cinematography by Ben Colman, genuinely shocking and stirring outbursts of surprisingly brutal violence (Angie blasts the zombie with a shotgun!), and a thrilling fiery conclusion, this failed pilot for a possible spin-off show sizes up as an often quite scary, always engrossing and overall superior made-for-TV fright feature. Moreover, the sound acting from a solid cast counts as another major asset: Both Thinnes and Dickinson are strong and sympathetic, with bang-up support from Claude Akins as a hard-nosed sheriff, Don Porter as Norliss' concerned publisher, Vonette ("Blacula") McGhee as a helpful occult store owner, Stanley Adams as an excitable truck driver, and Patrick ("The Cheerleaders") Wright as a deputy. Short (it's only 72 minutes long), spooky and extremely well-done all around, "The Norliss Tapes" is definitely worth checking out.

This film is a made-for-TV pilot movie. Sadly, the show never went into production; I think it would have made for decent horror fare. As it stands, The Norliss Tapes is an interesting enough story about an author who is writing a book to disprove the supernatural. His research, however, proves otherwise. The movie seems to have sort of a minor cult following but I honestly didn't think it was anything special at all (it was average at best), or even all that scary (despite the claims). Really, I believe it's one of those shows that linger in someone's mind if they had watched it at a younger age, nostalgia and all that.

I recall seeing this TV movie twice as a child and it scared me more than the Exorcist! I have'nt seen it on British TV for at least 15 years. The way it is set up and ends seems like it is a continuing series. I don't know if this was the original intention, or just to make it spookier.Roy Thinnes, made one or two movies like this at the same time and was excellant in both. In this he is the 'goody' but in the other ( Satan's School For Girls ) he was the ultimate baddy. From his Invaders Days he always had the ambivalent look of always looking like the opposite of the character he played.This film had that early seventies supernatural feel of many TV movies and series of the same ilk, but I thought this quite original. Thinnes investigates a disappearance or death of a woman's sculpter husband. Meanwhile people are being killed and drained of blood. Through numerous chills mainly because the monster/vampire in this looks like a proper scary version of a Scooby-Doo monster, it transpires that the sculpter is a devil-desciple who is making an effigy of Lucifer out of clay and human blood, in order to bring him to life. The scene at the end when Lucifer comes alive is numbing. Don't know why all the Hollywoood rip-off merchants dont remake this. Would be a smash