Tower of Terror

Earlier in 2017, the Tower of Terror ride at Disney’s California Adventure permanently closed for the “Guardians of the Galaxy” ride, which came out later that year. Despite the Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World in Florida is still there, the California closure reminded everyone of the movie the ride inspired that came out 20 years prior.

In October 1997, The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC aired “Tower of Terror,” which starred Steven Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. Germain Lussier said in his review, “It takes the story of The Twilight Zone-themed Disney ride (such as it was), removes The Twilight Zone, and adds enough subplots and side characters to stretch it into 90 minutes. And though it sounds absolutely terrible, it’s not! It’s by no means good, but it’s not absolutely terrible, especially if you grade it on a curve (which is to say “a 1997 made-for-TV movie”).”

The film opens on Halloween in 1939. At the popular Hollywood Tower Hotel, lightning strikes while five people (Melora Hardin, Alastair Duncan, Lindsay Ridgeway, Wendy Worthington, and John Franklin) are in an elevator and they suddenly disappear. The story is a famous legend. Sixty years later, a woman (Amzie Strickland) claiming to know what happened to the missing passengers meets Buzzy Crocker (Guttenberg), a shamed journalist who now uses his niece (Dunst) to fake scary photos for the tabloids. However, when Buzzy finds out the legend of the Tower is real, he decides to write an article about it, hoping it will be his big comeback.

Again, there’s more to the film than just that however: Buzzy has a romantic interest (Hardin), all of the missing people have backstories, the hotel caretaker (Michael McShane) plays a part, and there’s also a twist. There is a lot going on for a Disney TV movie.

However, for those who are fans of the ride the film is based on, there are a lot of things to enjoy. The costume design, the hotel lobby, the special effects, even the dial above the elevator – Lussier said, “all of it screams “Disney Theme Park.” There’s even an actual “drop,” just like the ride, near the end of the film.”

Lussier continued, “However, that comes after lots of long, exposition-filled dialogue scenes and Buzzy’s copious tiptoeing around the tower, encountering the type of “scares” safe for Sunday night television. These can be a little grating but at least the film is attempting to be a family-friendly, supernatural mystery… until all that just gets thrown out the window.”

Lussier went on, “That’s when the ghosts start appearing to Buzzy and Anna in human form, and any actual mood or tone the film was going for disappears in favour of hijinks.” At one point a woman (Melora Hardin, who went on to play Jan on “The Office”) talks to Buzzy at the hotel. They walk the area, flirt, and later we find out she’s one of the ghosts. This runs any type of horror the movie was going for.

Both Gutten berg and Dunst give their best, a little over-the-top “We’re in a Disney TV movie” performance. However, that means every emotion is exaggerated. Everyone is completely shocked when they should be surprised, and entirely terrified when they should just be scared. Still, watching the film makes those remember why Guttenberg was so popular of an actor in the 80s. Meanwhile, Dunst, tow years before she was set to break out, has screen presence but her Anna never really feels like a completely developed character.

Lussier admitted, “Tower of Terror is full of problems: dumb logic questions, questionable performances, an abundance of exposition, and more. But if you roll with the punches and remember this is a Disney TV movie from the ’90s, the production design, the acting, the hokey story — all of it makes the film moderately fun. That doesn’t make it good, but it stands as a solid monument to the now-departed ride.”

This film isn’t on Disney+ when I tried to watch it, but I did see it on YouTube. As you may have already guessed, I didn’t like this film. I remember seeing some of the movie when it aired back in 1997, but I never saw the entire movie. My sister had told me about this movie, but I didn’t remember this movie until I was an adult and I saw that Doug Walker review this. I decided to see it, and for a Disney 90s TV Movie, what can you expect from it? See it if you want, but I don’t think I will need to see this film again.

Look out tomorrow when I look at a funny movie in “Disney Month 2022.”