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TRILOGY OF TERROR
A classic made-for-TV three-parter that’s best remembered for its concluding segment, in which actress Karen Black is menaced by an evil doll. Of the other two episodes I tend not to hear much, and there’s a good reason for that.
The Package
TRILOGY OF TERROR was initially broadcast on ABC back in 1974. The source
material was three stories by the great
Richard Matheson: “The Likeness of
Julie”, which became “Julie”; “Therese”, a two-page sketch that became
“Millicent and Therese”; and “Prey”, which became the immortal “Amelia”.
Matheson himself adapted “Prey”, rightly deeming it the most powerful of the
three tales, and gave his friend and fellow fiction scribe William F. Nolan the
unenviable job of scripting the other two parts.
The producer/director was the late Dan Curtis, who’d already shown an
affinity for horror as executive producer of the legendary DARK SHADOWS TV
series and director of feature films like BURNT OFFERINGS (1976; scripted by
TRILOGY OF TERROR’S William F. Nolan) and DEAD OF NIGHT (1977). For TRILOGY he
procured the services of Karen Black, who was already an established feature
film star (in DRIVE, HE SAID and AIRPORT 1975) and multi-Golden Globe winner
(for FIVE EASY PIECES and THE GREAT GATSBY).
The Story
“Julie”: A horny college student finds himself strangely attracted to his
frumpy English professor Julie. He convinces her to accompany him to a drive-in
movie and there drugs her. Later he takes her back to his house, lays her out
on his bed in various compromising positions and takes pictures of her, which he
later uses to blackmail Julie into grating sexual favors. But the joke’s really
on him, as Julie is not the shy, virginal woman she seems but a sexually
aggressive murderess who has carefully orchestrated the seduction from the
start...and now, it seems, she’s ready to move on, by killing the guy and
seducing another.
“Millicent and Therese”: An aging psychologist becomes torn between the
repressed Millicent and the sexually uninhibited Therese, both of whom detest
one another. As their rivalry stretches on each becomes obsessed with killing
the other. Millicent is the one who finally takes the plunge, creating a voodoo
doll of Therese that she stabs in the torso. Yet the next day Millicent is
found dead, the victim of an apparent heart attack--it seems she suffered from a
severe case of multiple personality disorder, and so in killing Therese also did
away with herself.
“Amelia”: The last and best episode finds a quiet young woman named Amelia
dealing with her controlling mother, who always insists on phoning her late at
night. Tonight, a Friday, is no different, with Amelia fielding an angry call
from her mom. She’s thus forced to cancel a date with her boyfriend, who she’d
planned on giving a Zuni Fetish doll she purchased earlier. The doll is an
impressive specimen, complete with instructions warning of a warrior’s soul
trapped inside that will spring to life if the chain is removed from its neck.
Guess what? The doll is inadvertently knocked over and the chain falls to the
ground...and the thing comes to life! What follows is an all-out fight to the
death between Amelia and the doll, during which the lines between aggressor and
victim become hopelessly blurred.
The Direction
As I’ve already mentioned, it’s the last part of this film, “Amelia”, which
makes it so effective. As for “Julie” and “Millicent and Therese”, there’s not
much worth discussing. They’re not particularly shocking or surprising, and
time has been kind to neither; I’d be surprised if anyone our there couldn’t
guess the “twist” endings, as both are immediately obvious. (It is fun, though,
seeing a young Karen Black slinking around in revealing outfits, as she does in
“Millicent and Therese”.)
It’s the “Amelia” segment that everyone remembers, and which provides the
cover art for all of TRILOGY OF TERROR’S home video incarnations (including the
latest, Dark Sky Films’ 2006 special edition DVD). Director Dan Curtis was
quite inspired for this one: the visuals really stand out (Curtis’ trademark low
angle camera set-ups work wonders here), as does the surprisingly innovative use
of sound: in the early scenes Curtis manages to subtly unnerve through the
unexpected use of silence. The living, fighting doll that attacks the
heroine makes for an unforgettable sight (it has a giant mouth and long, pointy
teeth) and Black’s committed performance goes a long way toward making an
outlandish tale into a horrifically convincing smack-down. Note the way the
doll-Black confrontation grows increasingly brutal, and how Black becomes ever
more animalistic in fighting off her tiny attacker.
I know many of you were scarred for life after viewing “Amelia” on TV back
in 1975. I missed out on that experience, as it premiered a little before my
time, but viewing it all these years later I completely understand what all the
shouting was about.
Vital Statistics
TRILOGY OF TERROR
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Director: Dan
Curtis
Producer: Dan Curtis
Screenplay: William
F. Nolan, Richard Matheson
(Based on stories by Richard Matheson)
Cinematography: Paul Lohmann
Editing: Les Green
Cast: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Gregory
Harrison, Kathryn Reynolds