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Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

From Shar - Hi Pop: In the early 70's there was a mild horror TV movie about some troll like creatures that were terrorizing a house wife. The closing scene will be remembered by anyone who saw the movie. These trolls drugged the housewife and were dragging her towards the fire place. However these trolls were sensitive to light and ingeniously she would chase them off by using the flash of a camera. Unfortunately her flash ran down and they continued to drag her towards the fireplace AND pulled her in and she disappeared down to some hellhole. THAT'S IT! THE END! What was the movie?

Mr. Pop History - According to Sci-Fi/Horror TV-film expert Robert Neill, it's a 1973 TV movie titled "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." The film stars Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, William Demarest and Barbara Anderson. Robert Neill recently spoke with Felix Silla, who portrayed one of the trolls in this movie. Mr. Silla has noticed a distinct pattern with his nationwide personal appearances. "Whenever he (Felix Silla) does appearances on the East Coast, the fans all rave about how scary they thought that movie was. When he does appearances on the West Coast, hardly anyone mentions it."

Also interesting to note - The director of this scary TV movie was John Newland, who hosted the haunting 1959 TV series "One Step Beyond." It amazes me how some of these 1970's TV movies still have an impact.