"Right then, that's a goal. I say, Steve, I need to borrow your cell phone. Dark Sky Film's Special Edition DVD of Trilogy of Terror is being released today, and I need to get my review in."
Steve Brown handed his cell phone to me. I quickly relayed my review to my long suffering and insufferable editor. "While I'm chatting, you may want to look for a way into the tower. Go on, then, make yourselves busy," I said. Trilogy of Terror Review as Relayed by Iloz Zoc
The year 1975 was a banner year for horrorheads. Stephen King's Salem's Lot was chewing up the bookstalls, a hungry and demonic shark was chewing up anything that moved in Jaws, and the gender-bender Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Meat Loaf, was chewing on some tasty morsels of iconic horror like a bat out of rock and roll hell.
And on television, horror and terror were being introduced to a new generation of viewers by producer and director Dan Curtis.
In 1967 he thought long and hard on his failing soap opera, Dark Shadows, and out of desperation tossed in a vampire to shake things up. Sure, when all else fails, call in the monsters. It worked. Dark Shadows, with the help of passionate and pathetic vampire, Barnabas Collins, grabbed the ratings like a banshee screaming in the wind.
Like many boys in 1975, I became hooked with the goings-on at the decaying Collinwood Mansion, and I hurried home from school to watch each episode. I even took Barnabas as my Confirmation name. And while the priests thought I took the name of Saint Barnabas, one of the first prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch, I knew the truth. Dan Curtis' horror express sped into high gear after that, and the stops along the way produced some of the best terrorific television series and movies the genre has seen, heavily inspiring future fright meisters and their cinematic and literary creations.
He also had the good sense to work with one of the best writers in the field--Richard Matheson. Together they brought Trilogy of Terror to the small screens of millions of viewers in 1975, and created a diminutive image of horror that still brings chills and thrills years later. Originally conceived as a pilot for a television series, Trilogy of Terror takes three of Matheson's stories, adds the talented Karen Black in numerous roles, and for an extra dollop of terror, peppers in a little Zuni Fetish Warrior doll with a hideous grimace of pointy teeth and a penchant for bloody mayhem. Throughout the three stories, there is also the quintessential Robert Cobert music, so much associated with Dan Curtis' gloomy cinematography.
Article comments
1 - Brad Schader
That damn Zuni fetish doll scared the crap out of me as a kid...for years. My brother would hide and jump out at me screaming "aye-ya-ya-ya-ya" with his teeth showing more than once. That movie is part of my youth. I gotta get it. Great review.
2 - ILoz Zoc
Thanks Brad,
It's amazing how effective that little bugger can be in scaring big people. Karen Black did a great job in selling the terror and that parting shot as she waits for her mom is great. I love the "action figure" that Majestic Toys made. The thing is hideous, and appears to be life-size. NO way am I fooling with the chain. Not going there, no way.
3 - brad schader
While it would be awesome to have one, there is no way I will ever buy it. I really do not need to see that thing at 3am.
4 - Mat Brewster
My night has been made thinking of little Iloz choosing a confirmation named based on horror TV.
5 - Iloz Zoc
Yes Mat, I was a little IL back then...