Trilogy of Terror (1975)

22 Mar 2023

Rating: 3/5

Three stories, all staring Karen Black as the lead role(s). Shes the only reason any of this is worth watching

Story 1: Julie *** Boys don’t like girls, boys like the idea of possessing them — notches on the bedposts, stories to tell, points to prove. Anyone who doesn’t feel worth the effort is “a dog”. Anyone who is can be stalked, drugged, photographed… any “no’s” set aside until a better plan formed

Unless, of course, the story is desperate for a twist, where girl compels the boy to do all this by, I don’t know, magic or something… so that she can be photographed and raped in her sleep? Or maybe the pleasure is in ridding the world of these boys?

Trying to act like these 40-year-old men are high school students

When she tries to tape the news story that’s way too big for her scrapbook, and she just waits for the next acting queue so she can stop messing with it

Story 2: Millicent and Therese *** Two sisters: the “prude” and the “slut”, the latter accused of voodoo and dark magic to seduce men to their doom, including the seduction of their now-deceased father

It’s immediately clear that the same actress is playing both roles. We’ve seen this before, we know this a multiple personality thing. One decides they will kill the other

I love how much effort movie multiple personalities put into changing their hair and clothes. Even Split committed to the bit

Love a book on my shelf labeled “Voodoo Rites & Satanism”

Story 3: Amelia ** This is the story that gets talked about the most in this anthology, and for good reason. The quality of the Richard Matheson script shines. It also helps that this one is actually tense — I jumped

She buys a problematic Zuni fetish doll that contains a hunter’s spirit that stays contained so long as the gold chain stays attached. And wouldn’t you know it, the darn gold chain falls off!

This is Karen Black’s best performance out of the three, having to do all of her dialogue over the phone with no cutaways to that other person on the line, or to an inanimate object… or is it!?!?!?

I wanna see on the other side of the door when that little dude is unlocking and opening it


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