Trilogy of Terror (1975)

The “Trilogy of Terror” is the only anthology that doesn’t have a connecting story and it’s the first Made-for-TV movie that I’ve reviewed so far. This movie was developed as a TV series pilot that was later passed over. It stars Karen Black in four different roles and was written by Richard Matheson. The first two stories were mediocre at best with disappointing endings that failed to shock. The third story, on the other hand, is highly regarded as one of the scariest moments ever seen in a Made-for-TV movie and it’s the only reason why I’m reviewing this film instead of John Carpenter’s “Body Bag”….(yawn).

The first story is about a college student that asks his teacher out on a date, drugs her and takes pictures of her, and then blackmails her into doing whatever he wants. But after a few weeks, the teacher tells the student that she has become tired of him and the entire experience was of her design. He’s shocked and dies after drinking a poisoned beverage. She burns down his apartment and makes it all look like an accident.

The second story is about two sisters who are the polar opposite of each other. One day the prudish one decides to kill the sexy one, but the only problem is that they happen to be the same person who is suffering from a split personality syndrome.

The third and by far greatest story of the trilogy is about a young woman who buys her boyfriend a Zuni fetish doll that has a warning to never remove the golden chain that it wears because it keeps the killer spirit that’s trapped within under control. Of course the chain falls off and the Zuni doll comes to life, attacking the woman over and over again. She tries to kill it in various ways but nothing works. Finally, she manages to trap it inside her oven where it burns to death…only to become a cloud of black smoke that she inhales when she opens the oven. The woman becomes possessed with the killer spirit and waits for the next victim to come along.