Death Car On Tv

 

 (imdb)

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY-1979-An actress named Becky (Morgan Brittany) is driven off the freeway by a mysterious black van. Later another woman is put in the hospital by a crash caused by the van. A reporter (Shelly Hack) investigates and butts heads with a police Lt. (Peter Graves) while being pursued by her estranged husband (George Hamilton) to get back together. Frank Gorshin is her boss and Barbara Rush is a co-anchor. Typical all star TV cast DUEL inspired melodrama directed by Hal Needham who has a small role. Also with Harriet Nelson as a blind landlady, Dinah Shore as a victim on TV, Abe Vigoda and Sid Haig.

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The Original Harry Potter

TROLL-1986-An ugly troll (Phil Fontacaro) pretends to be a little girl and terrorizes her dysfunctional family (Michael Moriarty and Shelly Hack) and the idiot tenants in their apartment building. After turning Pete (Sonny Bono) into a plant, the troll turns the apartment into a breeding ground for other trolls. He turns a dwarf professor (also Fontacaro) into an elf and wants to rule the world. The landlady (June Lockhart) has a singing mushroom and knows magic. She becomes young (Junes's real life daughter Anne) but is turned into a tree sump. A kid named Harry Potter (Noah Hathaway from THE NEVER ENDING STORY) must fight a giant bat creature to save his sister and everyone else. 

Typical Empire production for the time, part fantasy, part horror film. Special effects artist John Carl Buechler also made CELLER DWELLER and FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE NEW BLOOD soon after this. It was followed by TROLL 2 and TROLL 3 which aren't sequels. 

Because of the name of the lead character and the fantasy elements some think this is where JK Rowling got her idea for her Harry Potter series.

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