Connie Collingsworth returns to Adventures In Design for a special Halloween episode celebrating the strange, creepy, and often forgotten movies that shaped our childhoods.

Forget the usual Halloween recommendations. Connie has assembled a collection of obscure 1970s made-for-TV horror films, psychological thrillers, and supernatural mysteries that terrified an entire generation of kids who grew up with three television channels, shag carpeting, and absolutely no parental controls.

Together, Mark and Connie revisit the trailers, break down the storytelling, admire the wonderfully dated production design, and try to understand why some of these low-budget films were so effective at scaring audiences without relying on elaborate special effects, gore, or modern jump scares.

Connie's forgotten Halloween classics include:

Crowhaven Farm (1970) — An inherited farmhouse, mysterious visions, and a disturbing connection to the past.
Bad Ronald (1974) — A teenage boy secretly living inside the walls of a house while an unsuspecting family moves in.
Salem's Lot (1979) — The original Stephen King television adaptation and one of Connie's all-time horror favorites.
The Stranger Within (1974) — Barbara Eden stars in a bizarre psychological science-fiction mystery involving an increasingly unnatural pregnancy.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) — A woman discovers that something terrifying has been sealed away inside her inherited home.

Mark brings his own Halloween discoveries to the conversation, including Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Gate, and The Monster Squad. After revisiting these movies with his ten-year-old nephew, he finds himself experiencing the 1980s through two completely different perspectives: remembering what the world looked like when he was a kid while watching a new generation discover those same stories for the first time.

Along the way, they explore the surprisingly strong storytelling hidden beneath dated special effects, why so many older horror movies revolve around inherited houses and isolated families, and how the original films often created more tension by showing audiences less.

But the conversation eventually becomes about something bigger than horror movies.

Mark and Connie reflect on growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, when television wasn't just entertainment—it was a window into the world. From late-night monster movies and UHF channels to MTV before school, Thanksgiving specials, the Sears Wish Book, and the magic of finding a KISS album under the Christmas tree, they celebrate the strange little cultural experiences that shaped an entire generation.

It's a funny, nostalgic, occasionally inappropriate trip through forgotten television, childhood memories, classic horror, and the magic of being a kid when the scariest thing in the world might have been whatever happened to be playing on TV after your parents went to bed.

Turn off your phone, dim the lights, and prepare to be raised by television all over again.