Tubular Terrors: ‘All the Kind Strangers’

By Michael Grasso / October 27, 2026 All the Kind Strangers Directed by Burt Kennedy ABC (1974) A square-jawed man in a Hawaiian shirt drives his brand new convertible into a small town on his way cross-country. He comes across a young towheaded country lad carrying some heavy groceries on a multi-mile walk home and offers him a ride. In the 1970s, era of hitchhiker murders and serial killers, it’s safe to say the opening scene of November 1974 ABC Movie of the Week All the Kind Strangers carries with it some unpleasant undercurrents, but it’s actually amiable photojournalist Jimmy Wheeler (Stacy Keach) who’s going to end up trapped in a backwoods hell after being enticed to the home of young Gilbert (Tim Parkison). Wheeler meets Gilbert’s family—or, more accurately, siblings—and soon discovers a heavy layer of creepiness surrounding the family farm and its inhabitants, which include seven children and several threatening guard dogs. Eldest son Peter (John Savage, who would go on to…