Satan’s Triangle (1979)

This little made for TV film released in 1975 has the best plot twist I have ever seen in a movie. Just when you think you have it figured out ... Whamo!!The setting is the Bermuda Triangle on a small power sailboat that is drifting in distress. Doug McClure plays the rational and in control coast guard pilot and Kim Novak plays a temptress on the vessel that explains what has happened. The dialogue from another coast guard officer over the radio and on the ship introduces the plot twist: "That is not what we found" makes you see everything differently. Great writing and acting. Well worth the time to find on YouTube and watch. I love this little jewel.

OK telling of strange goings-on in the world's most famous 'hot spot'.Haig (Doug McClure) is an irresponsible helicopter rescue worker who derails his investigation of a seemingly abandoned ship so he can try to make it with the lone woman survivor he finds hiding on board.Meanwhile, Pagnolini (Michael Conrad) is the helo pilot who DOES NOT have his head up his butt. When he realizes that Haig is taking too long to return to the deck of the ship with the survivor, Pagnolini smartly high-tails it out of there so he can refuel, as well as not having to listen to Haig destroy the pronunciation of Pagnolini's Italian name -- it's pronounced Pon-yo-lini, not Pag-o-lini (idiot Hollywood writers).Some eerie moments, but mostly an exercise in 'looking-at-the-clock-while-waiting-for-the-ending'.

I saw this movie on TV when it first aired in September, 1975. I was 14 at the time and it was the day before I started high school. I never forgot the movie. The Bermuda Triangle was all the rage in the mid seventies. Satan's Triangle started down that predictable "see, everything has an explanation" route, then freaked me out at the end! These days, movies are SOOOOO predictable and it's a rarity when one fools me. I always kept an eye out for this movie and it finally showed up on TV twenty years later in 1995 and I recorded it. Later, using two stereo VCRs, I carefully edited out the commercials. Two days ago, I found it on E-bay in DVD format and bought it for $15!! Hmmmm......maybe I'll sell the VHS copy............. :-) I also discovered something interesting about the soundtrack for the movie. I bought the soundtrack for 'Planet of the Apes' and the CD came with a bonus track from 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes'. That track sounded very familiar and I realized that the music was also used on 'Satan's Triangle'. The producer must have paid a royalty to use the music. Yes, it must have been done a limited budget, but what was lacking in special effects was more than made up for in good writing!

The latter-day, 40-something beauty of Kim Novak--striking and yet sinister--is milked for all its worth in this effective TV-made occult suspenser about a Coast Guard pilot investigating a doomed private yacht adrift on the waters, finding a sole survivor who seems to know the ship's many mysteries. The film builds suspense through tension and an atmosphere full of unseen dread. Although I was initially chilled by the well-handled twist ending, I was somewhat disappointed to see the film throw out all its mystery to instead become a battle between good and evil. I don't mean to suggest that's a bad thing, it's just that "Satan's Triangle" was doing such a fabulous job of being scary without being too specific that it's a bit of a letdown to see the story slip into formula. Nevertheless, a creepy, cunning item to jangle the nerves.