I long for the days when an odd, slightly exotic/slightly zonked actress like Karen Black can make it in Hollywood. There was a time in the mid-'70s when--every time you turned around--Karen Black was in a new movie. I'm still discovering early movies she starred or co-starred in that I never knew about ("Cisco Pike", "Portnoy's Complaint", "The Pyx"). She and director Dan Curtis were quite a pair, here masterfully zipping through three short creep-outs in which Karen plays four fascinating women. The last segment, "Amelia", has incredible point-of-view camera-work, seamlessly swooping around corners, which rivals even "The Shining". Karen is very much attuned to the eccentricities of character (in fact, when she played a 'normal' woman, like the lead in "Day Of The Locust", she came off almost colorless),but Dan Curtis winds this toy up and Karen runs with it. The first two segments are psychological suspense studies of ruined-women-turned-triumphant, the third story turns the tables and makes woman the victim. It's a terrific feat, worth talking about even after 26 years.

Not surprisingly, "Trilogy of Terror" is made up of three short horror films (wouldn't it be funny if they made a 'trilogy' with four or five tales!?). Each stars Karen Black and they are of wildly uneven quality--with the final tale being fantastic and the other two of very dubious quality.

The first story finds Black playing an emotionally constricted Literature professor. Despite being very repressed and severely dressed, a male student in her college class is bent on seducing her. In the end, naturally, there is a twist--though the twist, to me, didn't quite work. I'd give this one a 3.

The second is about an even MORE constricted lady (Black once again) who talks on and on about her 'evil sister' following their father's death. As I am sitting here right now watching the film, I think it's very, very easy to predict where the film is going next. My daughter and I assume it's a tale about a case of multiple personality (Dissociative Identity Disorder for you psychologists out there). It's all very, very obvious and Black's characterizations are NOT at all reminiscent of Joanne Woodward's "Three Faces of Eve"! In fact, though it was not intended, I found it very funny--something you DON'T want in a horror film! Her playing a vamp was, sadly, more comical than anything else! Subtle it ain't! I'd give this one a 2--at best. It'!s obvious and dumb!

As for the third, oddly, this one was great and is one of the most memorable made for TV performances ever! In fact, I've seen this sequence twice before today--and only today did I get around to watching the first 2/3 of the film. This finds Black playing the most normal character of the three films (though the lady IS a bit dumb). She is obviously dominated by her neurotic mother, as you hear Black on the phone--trying to appease an apparently difficult lady. Following this tense phone call, Black is getting ready to go to a party--and bring a special gift. She's apparently bought some sort of African idol--a hunting fetish of some type that is small but very scary. When the necklace around its neck falls off, BAD THINGS HAPPEN!! Not only is this episode scary but it's also intentionally funny and full of irony--and has a wonderful ending! The only quibble--Ms. Black's opening the oven near the end. Can anyone be THAT stupid?!?! Still, despite this small complaint, it's a mega-cool part of the film and not to be missed---even if today the special effects look a bit dated. I'd give this one a 9! While it ain't sophisticated, it IS fun! By the way, this third sequence is so iconic and famous that Michael Karol's book "The ABC Movie of the Week Companion" features a picture of this doll on its cover! It was definitely my most vivid recollection of any of the Movies of the Week!

Overall, my suggestion is that you skip the first two stories (they reeeeallly suck) and go right to the good stuff. It's sad, as with a bit of a re-write the entire film could have been terrific!

The first segment deals with date rape, the second with two sisters who couldn't be any more different (strange that they never appear together....) and the third deals with a doll so ugly that even its mother wouldn't love it. That is the most famous sequence, one that has been copied over and over, and itself a copy of the "Talking Tina" episode of "The Twilight Zone". What do all three stories have in common? Cult actress Karen Black just a year before she had to fly the plane after the pilot was killed in "Airport '75".

Each episode starts off subtly and moves to a horrific climax where the twists are not always what you expect. Her introverted college professor becomes the subject of obsession by student Robert Burton, and drugs her so he can take pictures of her in order to blackmail her to continue to see him. Of course, she turns the tables and shows that underneath her long sexless skirts beats the soul of a damaged woman who may or may not be out to destroy all men. That is for the viewer to decide.

The second episode I found to be weak and silly with Black looking nearly as Millie as she did as the college professor. As sister Therese, she looks absolutely ridiculous in her long blonde wig, sort of resembling Kathleen Turner in her wig as China Blue in "Crime of Passion". The subject matter concerns the prim and proper sister trying to convince psychiatrist George Gaynes that her sister is a devil worshiper and a determined spreader of evil. Nothing really happens other than Black ranting throughout, and the viewer has to decide what to believe in regards to the possibility that Millie and Therese are one and the sae person.

Of course the Zuni Fetish Doll sequence is now the most remembered sequence, dealing with the purchase of a hideous looking voodoo doll that somehow comes alive and terrorizes Black in her own apartment. It truly is spooky, getting a higher rating from me (8/10) which is averaged out by the 6/10 for the first sequence and the 4/10 for the second. Black is always a lot of fun to watch because she is so unpredictable, a very unique actress who chose a different path rather than just play conventional pretty roles. This certain;y deserves its cult status, simply for the third episode which definitely influenced the Chuckie movies perhaps more than Talking Tina did.