Day Ten: Trilogy of Terror (1975)
What is it about Karen Black? She’s like one of those horror stories about the houses that contain geometrically impossible angles that drive people mad. Something about her doesn’t fit with other intangible things that I can’t describe. She’s sexy even though she shouldn’t be. She looks clueless and intelligent at the same time. Cross-eyed but focused. Vulnerable but vicious.
In short, she looks tee-totally deranged, whether she’s supposed to be or not. Karen Black has appeared in several legendary films (Five Easy Pieces, Nashville, Easy Rider) as well as films of less prominent status. Few have worked with both Roberts Altman and Zombie, and that’s a testament to the various seemingly disconnected sensibilities of Ms. Black.
I go on about Ms. Black because she’s the sole reason to see the cult TV horror anthology Trilogy of Terror. She’s most certainly the terror of the trilogy, it’s charge. The first two stories (based on work by the great Richard Matheson) are completely forgettable, save the sexuality that Black injects into the material. Her not quite what she appears to be school marm from the first story deserves a swifter vehicle with a better, less predictable punchline. The second story doesn’t even have a character going for it, its humorless, Grade Z Psycho.
The third story is quite famous, and is also taken from a Matheson story, the primal, effective “Prey”. In “Prey”, retitled “Amelia” here so the stories can all be named after their protagonists, Karen Black is terrorized by her gift to her prospective boyfriend, a Zuni Fetish doll, who, she tells her mother, she picked up at a curiosity shop. The doll madness that ensues isn’t bad as that sort of thing goes, but one has to sit through ten minutes of superfluous exposition to get to the good seven minutes that follow. That may sound a bit impatient, but keep in mind that we’ve sat through two underbaked shorts already by this point. The final image, though, is quite creepy, and sets up a story that may have been scarier than any we’ve just watched.
And let it be said that Karen Black sticks a knife in a floor like no one I’ve ever seen. And those teeth…
October 10th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Love the new look of the site, but I’m missing the pictures. If I don’t see pictures of movie stars, I might lose my grip on understanding this is a film review site. I will settle for stick figure drawings of Brad Pitt, however.Regarding Karen Black and what makes her one of the greats, particularly for horror: Empathy. You can see it in her oblivious waitress of Five Easy Pieces and her country music superstar of Nashville . Or, presumably, her z-grade horror perfomaces.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Where to begin…
31 Days of Horror. You know, I look forward to clicking over each morning to see what new horror you’ve got. Will it be something I haven’t seen that I should check out, or will it be some nugget from my past. Good stuff.
Trilogy of Terror. A nugget from my past. Full disclosure, I haven’t seen this since I was a little kid. I have these images and sounds of that f’ing doll burned into my head and I’m afraid if I watch it now it just won’t have the same impact. It’ll be like turning on the light and seeing that the boogeyman is just a pile of clothes in the corner.
Karen Black. Thank your for pointing her out because she’s not an actress that gets a lot of credit anymore, which is too goddamn bad. I think Travis nails part of her appeal, the empathy she stirs up. I’m thinking of her character in Five Easy Pieces especially when I say this, but in other hands Rayette would simply be annoying. With Black, yes she’s annoying but you also feel bad for her and Nicholson comes off as a huge jerk for treating her badly.
Redesign. I like it, but I second the motion for pictures.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Hi Guys,
This is Ben, I do the design stuff, the pics are coming back! Don’t worry!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Thanks for the feedback guys. As Ben says, we’re still hammering out the new design details, in which Ben deserves 100 percent of the praise. I shudder to think of what this site would look like without his guidance.
Nice to hear the love for Karen Black. I agree wholeheartedly with the Five Easy pieces thoughts Craig, and she makes quite an iconic impression in Nashville too. I was disappointed that Zombie couldn’t rope her to return as Mother Firefly in The Devil’s Rejects, Easterbrook was fine, but we’ve already established that there’s only one Karen Black, and Zombie is the kind of guy that understands her appeal.
Craig, I would recommend that you stay away from Trilogy of Terror if you want your childhood demons to remain intact. It doesn’t hold up, the Prey story is by far the best, but the competition isn’t stiff in that regard.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Chuck, I’m really enjoying the 31 Days of Horror and salute your ability to provide consistently terrific content on a daily basis.
In this review, you articulate almost exactly how I feel about Karen Black. I had the same reaction enjoying her kooky sexuality in Family Plot, in which she blows Barbara Harris right off the screen. Not only has Black worked with Robert Altman and Rob Zombie, but Hitchcock as well.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Thanks Joe, I appreciate you stopping by and hope to hear more from you. Also thanks for the Hitchcock reminder, that one had totally slipped my mind, but you’re absolutely right.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Keep up the good work Ben.
Chuck. I will continue to pretend the Trilogy of Terror isn’t easily available for viewing. In the mean time, I’ve got The Descent sitting at home ready to watch. I understand there are two endings. Which one should I see first?
Joe glad to hear someone say something positive about Family Plot for once. Ok, it’s not my all time favorite Hitchcock movie, but there’s some great stuff in it. Black and Dern were great.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:56 am
The Descent endings are interesting because there isn’t a clear “better” one, both endings have their merit and I know people who completely disagree with my preference for the British ending.
That said, I do prefer the British ending, which is the one that’s at the end of the disc I own. I think its sadder, less gimmicky and less about a shallow “jump” at the end.
Let me know what you think.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:00 am
I am declaring the site back at 100% capacity after our upgrades this morning. Thanks for your patience everyone.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Love the new look, Ben, particularly the 31 days of Horror graffic. Regarding the better ending of The Descent: though I like both versions, I prefer the American version. It’s hard to explain why without giving anything away, but I like the implication of the American ending better. Either way, you’re in for a treat: it’s a complete classic. And I’m no horror junkie.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I’m old-school and I have to admit this whole concept of alternate endings continues to throw me a little bit. I mean, I know it’s hardly a new concept, but it’s kind of the ultimate breaking of the fourth wall. It reveals the artificiality of movies. In real life you don’t get multiple endings.
It’s ok later on down the road when I’ve seen a movie a bunch of times to see how it could’ve been different, but for the first time I like it straight, no chaser.
Oh well. Guess I should’ve seen it in the theater with everyone else.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I agree…I like them to tell me what “the” ending is. I’ll take one ambiguous ending over two definitive endings with different outcomes. If I wanted to choose my own adventure…I’d…um…read a choose your own adventure book.
October 11th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Exactly!