TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies IV: Trilogy of Terror

Another example of classic 1970s TV movie-of-the-week was Trilogy of Terror, which aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on March 4, 1975. It features three segments, each based on unrelated short stories by Richard Matheson and all directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis. Karen Black stars in all three, playing four different roles. Black initially turned down the project, but reconsidered when her then-husband, Robert Burton, was cast in the first segment. However, she also sort of regretted the doing it later on, saying the film led to her being typecasting in a genre that forced her to accept roles in B-grade horror films. "I think this little movie took my life and put it on a path that it didn't even belong in.” 

The first, Julie, is a story follows a college professor who seeks excitement with her students; the second, Millicent and Therese, is about twin sisters who have a bizarre relationship. These two segments were adapted by William F. Nolan (a prolific science fiction novelist and writer). The third -and most remembered- is called Amelia and was adapted by Matheson himself, and focuses on a woman terrorized by a Zuni fetish doll in her apartment. 

To be honest, the other tales have their own charms, and the movie probably works because having Black star in all three gives the film cohesion that other anthologies sort of lack, but they can be easily skipped. But it’s Amelia that scared the crap out of twelve year-old me back in 1975. This was truly a gem of TV-horror, with a ferocious, realistic monster not very seen often during that era. It’s an iconic design that can do so much, and it’s pretty easy to see why it has such a lasting appeal. 

Funny, years later, when I was older, I realized what a simple story it is, but it retains its creepiness, as well as its nifty ending. As far as TV-horror goes, this is as good as it gets.