Tubular Terrors: ‘A Cold Night’s Death’

By J.E. Anckorn / October 30, 2026 A Cold Night’s Death Directed by Jerrold Freedman ABC (1973) When their predecessor Dr. Vogel is found frozen to death in an unlocked room of the Tower Mountain research station, scientists Robert Jones (Robert Culp) and Frank Enari (Eli Wallach) are dispatched to take over the research. Oh, and they have a chimp with them. This will become increasingly important in what is a movie of two deliciously bizarre halves. We start off with an air of brooding claustrophobia. The Tower Mountain research station is well equipped to keep the scientists and their primate test subjects alive in the sub-zero storms, but it’s impressed upon us that they’re never more than a few hours from catastrophe. Drinking water comes from snow melt that must be collected in the deadly cold, and the generators that power the station seem to mysteriously fail of their own accord. Initially, Robert and Frank get on well, dividing the base’s chores and performing the experiments…