Night Slaves (1970)

Night Slaves is a 1970 American television science fiction-horror film directed by Ted Post. Based on a novel by science fiction writer Jerry Sohl (best known for writing episodes of The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and as ghostwriter for Charles Beaumont on three episodes of The Twilight Zone), "Night Slaves" aired as part of the "Movie of the Week" series of TV movies produced for the ABC (other TV movies as part of this series was Duel, The Night Stalker, Killdozer)and starred film and TV actor James Franciscus and Lee Grant.

The TV movie features the debut of actress Sharon Gless. The teleplay was co-written by Robert Specht who had contributed to the TV series The Outer Limits and The Immortal.

Jerry Sohl the author of the original novel noted that he was "very pleased with the whole thing...as a matter of fact, it interested me. They did a marvelous job.".

Franciscus had worked with director Ted Post the year before on Beneath the Planet of the Apes the first sequel in the Planet of The Apes film series and had high regard for Franciscus as an actor. Post worked as a director-for-hire on TV series, TV movies and theatrical films but brought more than the usual "director- for- hire" ethos often working on improving scripts or working with actors to refine their performances to meet the needs of the material.

Synopsis

Clay and Marjorie, an estranged married couple, take a vacation together while Clay recuperates from a serious auto accident. They end up in a sleepy little town which seems to be normal, except at night when the townspeople (and Marjorie) turn into zombies, file into trucks and head out of town. They always return by morning, and no one has any memories of the night before. Only Clay is unaffected due to the presence of a metal plate in his head, and no one believes his story.

Actors