No matter how many years pass by, or how many trends come and go, Richard Matheson never seems dated. In spite of the latest adaptions of I am Legend or whatever crappy star vehicle Hollywood sours a piece of his, Matheson is always relevant. Even if you go further back to an episode of Alfred Hitchcock hour that is from a story of his, or a Twilight Zone episode, Matheson’s work somehow seems current.
How did Matheson stay apart of the public consciousness? He wrote about real people with real problems that never go away. Whether being harassed by a semi or a married couple stuck in a town or restaurant because one of them is too superstitious to leave. Only the plot devices are farfetched. That’s how a writer can stay relevant.
In 1975, a little TV movie adapted three of his shorts called TRILOGY OF TERROR. Directed by the great Dan Curtis (Dark shadows, Night stalker TV movies), It was a star vehicle for actress Karen Black (You’re a big boy now, Easy Rider, and the brilliant Five easy pieces), but it didn’t start out that way. Actually, Black turned down the movie. She reconsidered this when her then husband Robert Burton (Coma, Vega$) was cast. All three stories star Black as different characters, and to be honest, you only see a shred of Black in all of them. She definitely had range.
All three stories are titled after the lead characters. Here they are:
“JULIE”: Julie is a lonely, plain spinster who teaches at a college where Eddie (Played by Burton) and his friend lust after the ladies and ogles them, looking for fresh meat. While at one of these sessions, Eddie and his friend see Julie walk to the college, and Eddie has a strange thought pop into his head: What would she look like under all of those clothes? His friend thinks he’s nuts. Eddie chats up Julie, and at first turns him down for a date for several reasons, the main one is she could lose her teaching position. Eventually, she gives in. He takes Julie to a drive in movie, which is supposed to be a French vampire film. In reality the film are scenes from the first Night Stalker film (which Matheson wrote the script for, and Curtis directed). At the movie, Eddie drugs Julie’s root beer. She passes out and he takes her to a motel room where he has his way with her and also takes pictures of her in lewd poses. He uses the pictures to blackmail Julie into a sexual relationship.
But, of course, as with a lot of Matheson’s work, there’s a twist at the end. It’s a damn good twist, too. This segment, as with the next one, was adapted by William F. Nolan.
“MILLICENT AND THERESE”:
Sibling rivalry taken to extremes.
Black plays both characters. Millicent tells her side of things, where her overtly sexual twin has killed their father and uses black magic and Satanism to get what she wants. She even tells this to her analyst and Therese’s boyfriend, neither of which believe her. So Millicent decides to give Therese a taste of her own medicine by using voodoo. Great shock ending. The strongest of Black’s performance in this film. Like I said, only a shred of Black’s personality is in these characters. Karen Black seems to play spinsters and plain women very well. And if the viewer catches her in Five easy pieces, they can see how well she uses a deep southern accent, even if that is played a little for laughs.
Now for the most famous segment.
“Amelia”:
Written solely by Matheson himself, it was based on his classic short story “Prey”. Amelia has so much emotional depth in the first ten minutes of the segment. Amelia is having “Mother issues”. Her mother wants her to come visit but she has started dating a man and wants to spend time with him on his birthday. Trying to explain it to her mother on the phone is not only painful for the viewer to watch but the way Black conveys her frustration into a dead phone line is pure brilliance.
Amelia has purchased a special gift for her birthday. An African Zuni fetish doll. Seeing that thing is frightening enough, but when it comes to life, it’s double that! I’m sure by today’s audiences; a good amount would say the doll isn’t terrifying at all. Then again, the story itself helps with suspension of disbelief that overpowers any SFX.
Dan Curtis turned out a wonderful piece of artwork, with camera work that sometimes looked above its TV movie standards. Curtis was known mostly from the soap DARK SHADOWS and you can see he learned from many technical mistakes (famously for having the microphone in the shot), and must have been a great training ground. According to Wikipedia, Karen Black said she was typecast in horror movies after this. Doing your best can be a double edged sword, especially in tinseltown.
MPI released a special addition DVD of Trilogy of Terror, with additional material, commentaries by Black and William F. Nolan. Two featurettes about Matheson and Karen Black, called three colors of Black. In spite of what Karen Black may have thought, it’s safe to say it was one of her best performances. She is no longer with us (she passed August 8th, 2013) but I’ll always remember her for this nugget of a film and the little guy who chased her around with a tiny spear.
Mark Slade, HMS
Read the previous installment.