History Film / TowerOfTerror

Creator/SteveGuttenberg plays a disgraced reporter named Buzzy Crocker, who is stuck doing tabloid stories, after submitting a story, that turned out to be false. He meets an old woman named Abigail, who tells him the story of The Hollywood Tower Hotel, which was closed down, back in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood after lightning struck the elevator, and killed its five passengers.

* EveryGirlIsCuterWithHairDecs: Sally wears a big pink hair bow throughout the film.

This movie has since been the TropeMaker for FilmOfTheRide, a unique twist on something that's usually the other way around.

* AllHallowsEve: Not only the night of the accident, but also Abigail's birthday.

* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Subverted, as Emeline Partridge, nanny to child star Sally Shine, ended up as such, but as it turns out, [[spoiler:she wasn't as malevolent as she seems, when she and the other ghosts proved her innocence, and it was Sally's sister Abigail who put the child star to her demise]].
* DefangedHorrors: Though don't think for a second there isn't any NightmareFuel.

* HeelFaceTurn: Abigail turns to the side of good again after [[spoiler:Sally forgives her]].

* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* HappilyEverAfter: Hey, even at its scariest, Disney is Disney.

* HellHotel: [[CaptainObvious Duh]], though ultimately subverted.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Buzzy and Gilbert.

* NonSequiturThud

* RoleReprisal: Lindsay Ridgeway reprised her role as Sally in the film, a few years after she appeared in the ''Tower of Terror'' ride's pre-show video.[[note]]Ridgeway's character wasn't officially given a name in the original attraction, but has since been retroactively referred to by fans as the same Sally Shine from the film, despite the latter being a more or less an InNameOnly adaptation due to the lack of ''Twilight Zone'' references.[[/note]]

'''Buzzy:''' Yeah, right. (''doors slam by themselves behind him'')

* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The 1939 scenes take place here. Note the "Interbellum" part is actually inaccurate. The 1939 scenes take place in October (on Halloween night, natch) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII started in September of the year, so strictly speaking, the setting is DuringTheWar. There is a mere technicality, of course. Tropewise, the 1939 scenes are played as GenteelInterbellumSetting, and no reference is made to the war. Besides, the setting is American, and the U.S. didn't join the war until 1941.

Steve Guttenberg plays a disgraced reporter named Buzzy Crocker, who is stuck doing tabloid stories, after submitting a story, that turned out to be false. He meets an old woman named Abigail, who tells him the story of The Hollywood Tower Hotel, which was closed down, back in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood after lightning struck the elevator, and killed its five passengers.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Claire Poulet.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Abigail, once she learns the truth.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Abigail]] is responsible for all the danger in the film and Steve figuring out [[spoiler:her curse]] is his main goal.

* BigBad: Abigail cursing [[spoiler:Sally]] and causing [[spoiler:the five passengers to disappear in 1939]] drive most of the film's plot.

* BigBad: Abigail cursing [[spoiler:Sally]] drives much of the film's plot.

* CatchPhrase: Q's "Cha-Ching".

%%* HeelFaceTurn

* HotScoop: Jill Perry. No surprise as she's played by Nia Peeples.

* LikeASonToMe: [[spoiler:{{Gender Flip}}ped with Sally and Emeline. After being accused of being the one who wanted to kill Sally, Emeline is horrified at the mere ''notion,'' and says that she loves Sally. "I couldn't love her more if she were me ''own'' daughter!"]]

* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Suvberted, as Emeline Partridge, nanny to child star Sally Shine, ended up as such, but as it turns out, [[spoiler:she wasn't as malevolent as she seems, when she and the other ghosts proved her innocence, and it was Sally's sister Abigail who put the child star to her demise]].

* LikeASonToMe: [[spoiler:[[GenderFlip Genderflipped]] with Sally and Emeline. After being accused of being the one who wanted to kill Sally, Emeline is horrified at the mere ''notion,'' and says that she loves Sally. "I couldn't love her more if she were me ''own'' daughter!"]]

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: [[spoiler:Buzzy gets Sally to do this to Abigail at the end when she expresses how sorry she is that she never made it to the surprise party she was throwing for her sisters' birthday.]]

* PimpedOutDress: Sally's {{Pink|MeansFeminine}}, frilly, puffy-sleeved dress.

* MotiveRant: [[spoiler: Abigail]] gives one at the end, about [[spoiler: how everyone loved her sister but didn't care about her, and how her perceived ForgottenBirthday was the last straw. Her rant gets derailed when the ghost of her sister, the person who loved her the most, shows up in person]].

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: [[spoiler:Buzzy gets Sally to do this to Abigail at the end.]]

* HotScoop: Jill Perry. No suprise as she's played by Nia Peeples.

* LighterAndSofter: Only by a very slim margin from it's source material. See Defanged Horrors above.

* NextSundayAD: The movie was released in 1997, but took place in 1999. Either that or the characters are rounding up when they refer to 1939 as "sixty years ago".

! This film contains examples of:

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tower-of-terror_2889.jpg]]
->'''Buzzy: ''' Comin'?.\\

If such tropes were to exist, this movie would be the TropeMaker for "The Film of the Ride" or "Theme Park-to-Screen Adaptation"; a unique twist on something that's usually the other way around.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Weird, albeit justified, example. Most of the scenes involving the hotel were filmed at the actual attraction in Disney World, which was the only version of the ride in existence at the time. Thus, although the movie is set and mostly filmed in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, it switches to UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} whenever anyone gets close to the tower. Fortunately, Florida and southern California have a similar climate and the area around the attraction was made up to look like Hollywood anyway. The Florida scenes were filmed first, in case you were wondering.