We are nearing the end of the first week of October and many flicks are celebrating anniversaries this month including one of my favorite anthologies, The Trilogy of Terror. Starring the late great Karen Black in three roles and written for TV by Richard Matheson and William F. Nolan, Black plays three very different all intertwined in some horrific situation.
Originally Black didn’t want to do the role but agreed when her then husband Robert Burton was cast in the first segment, “Julie”. Julie is a homely college teacher who never goes out or has any fun until one of her student, Burton, takes an interest in her. His interest isn’t inherently kind in nature and we soon find out he intends to blackmail Julie into carrying on an affair with him. However, it would seem his attraction to her was not his own but really Julie putting a spell on him.
In the second story, “Milicent and Terese” Black plays two roles as sisters. Milicent is a bookish goodie while her sister Terese, sporting a hilariously fake blonde wig, is a wild card with a violent temper. I’d say this is my least favorite segment and the twist is pretty obvious but regardless, it’s fun to see Black at odds with herself.
The final segment, “Amelia” is the best remembered and my favorite. Amelia picks out the perfect gift for her anthropology beau, a Zuni Fetish Doll that is said to contain a savage spirit that can only be locked inside by the gold chain around it’s body. After arguing with her overprotective mother about dinner plans she decides to unwind, little does she know the chain has fallen off and the doll is alive. This segment still freaks me out, I can’t get enough of the doll running at top speed jabbing poor Karen Black bloody. The iconic end scene with Black having been taken over by the doll’s spirit and sporting some gnarly teeth is forever burned into my retinas. Even Matheson, who’s ending was far less diabolical, found it to be a superior ending according to the DVDs interview with him.
I think Trilogy of Terror remains so relevant because it deals with themes involving issues many women have suffered. Each segment zeros in whether it’s on the pressure of being proper but also trying to conceal one’s sexual desires. All of the women portrayed fall under a category of everyday pressure and that’s something Black came to realize. So thank you Richard Matheson and Karen Black for bringing real life to a genuinely fun flick.