Trilogy of Terror

(1975) ***

I didn't mean to jump on I'mnotMarc's anthology train, but I was at my old (cheaper) video store looking for a couple of random selections. This movie, specifically the last segment, is probably responsible for more time spent creeping me out than any other. For a whole month I would go to sleep in the extreme center of my bed, so I'd have the maximum distance available in case a Zuni warrior statue climbed up the side to get me. I'm telling you, this one scared me bad. And how does it hold up? Read on.

All three stories star the weird-looking Karen Black. In "Julie," she plays Julie, a mousy lit professor at a college attended by thirty-year-olds. One such young ladykiller convinces her to see a drive-in movie, drugs her, and takes pictures that he develops in a home darkroom. This guy's blackmail schedule was fairly impressive. Date Friday night, take some snaps, drop her off, develop the pictures, and Saturday morning when she's still dealing with her roofy hangover you deliver the good news. The weekend's still young! Buuuut, soon Julie lets Chad know there's more to keeping her than a big head of hair.

In "Millicent and Therese," Ms. Black sports a dual role as two sisters, the wanton, evil Therese and the uptight Millicent. They hate each other, and a visit from the Commendant from Police Academy (their shrink) doesn't manage to help. Oh man, I don't even know how to write about this one, you can see the ending from so far off. You can probably work it out just from what I've written here.

In "Amelia," a young woman living in the city brings home an African warrior statue that, according to tradition, contains the trapped spirit of a fierce Zuni warrior. After an upsetting phone call with her mother, she slams the thing down on the coffee table and the gold spirit-trapping chain falls from its waist. Then the little bugger comes to life, and after stalking her for a bit, goes TOTALLY BALLISTIC on her and terrorizes her all over the apartment.

I saw this movie one Halloween, actually. I'm not sure how old I was, but it was old enough to go trick-or-treating without my parents. I came home and my Dad was watching it on TV, and we stayed up in the dark together and I had the bejesus scared out of me. The little bastard is just so relentless. Once he attacks it's just stabstabstab and she throws him off and he tears back stabstabstab, and she shuts herself in the bedroom and he's stabstabstabbing under the door, screaming with incoherent rage all the while. And from the very first stab Karen Black sells it completely; you have no doubts that this women is being savaged by a little whirlwind of wrath.

It's amazing how well the editing and Zuni p.o.v. shots convey the action and emotion of these scenes, given the limitations of the puppet. There are lots of shots that are sped up, or blurry cuz the little fucker's zipping by the camera too fast. Most of the close-ups are in front of an all black background, as if only their b-roll footage looked good enough. If you don't manage that crucial nugget of disbelief, the whole affair -- the movements, the sounds -- will seem funny instead of scary. I feel I can say this because I'mnotMarc was on the couch next to me LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF while I watched this. Here's this thing I've held up as the scariest of the scary, and he's got tears of laughter running down his face. Oh well. How can I blame him? Pissed-off puppets are funny.

I still recommend this vicious little story, with the condition that you probably want to watch it by yourself, in the dark. Unpredictable audience reaction can kill the mood.