TerrorVision (1986)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Ted Nicolaou

Writer:

Ted Nicolaou (written by)

Release Date:

14 February 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

People of Earth, your planet is about to be destroyed... We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

Plot:

A family's new satellite TV system starts receiving signals from another planet, and soon it becomes the passageway to an alien world.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Monster | Satellite Dish | Lizard | Man Eating Monster

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Diane Franklin	...	Suzy
Gerrit Graham	...	Stanley
Mary Woronov	...	Raquel
Chad Allen	...	Sherman
Jon Gries	...	OD (as Jonathan Gries)
Bert Remsen	...	Grampa
Alejandro Rey	...	Spiro
Randi Brooks	...	Cherry
Jennifer Richards	...	Medusa
Sonny Carl Davis	...	Norton
Ian Patrick Williams	...	Nutky
William Paulson	...	Pluthar
John Leamer	...	Chauffeur

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Belgium:16 (video rating) | Italy:VM14 (VHS rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Norway:18 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Altair Productions

Trivia:

The brief MTV clip shown is of a WASP song called Tormentor and the character O.D. Riley wears a WASP t-shirt.

Quotes:

Cherry: [talking about the Jacuzzi] Is it cool if I get in there?
Stanley Putterman: Cool? Babe, it's a perfect 98.6. It's like floating in your mother's womb!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Deadly Weapon (1989)

Soundtrack:

TerrorVision

Good Parody, the "R" Rating is Not Justified

If it were possible for a complete parody to be called original, "Terrorvision" (1986) would be the first to qualify. This is another cheap Albert and Charles Band (Empire Studios) production, but is not as mindless as something like "Redneck Zombies" and even has a bit of lyrical (yet very silly) charm. Everyone involved is obviously having a good time and the creature is much like something Richard Carlson would have encountered in a 1950's sci-fi film, but with much more slime. Not until "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" would there be a more self-aware genre parody. Although rated "R" because of some off-color humor, it would not be worth denying middle schoolers the pleasure of viewing this film because the overall style and effect is best appreciated by that age group.

Sherman Putterman is your standard alien monster film kid who has seen a monster but can't get anyone else to believe him. His grandpa (Bert Remsen in the film's best performance) is a survivalist promoting his lizard tail jerky product (the perfect food because lizards' tails grow back and you can eat it again) and hiding out in his well-stocked fallout shelter.

Sherman's swinging parents are Gerrit Graham (who played superstitious car salesman Jeff in "Used Cars") and Mary Woronov ("Eating Raoul").

1980's teen queen Diane Franklin plays Sherman's sister Suzy and Jon Gries (of "Pretender" fame) is her boyfriend "O.D." who is really into heavy metal music. Franklin is almost unrecognizable in her mid-1980's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" look.

Although the parody is primarily directed at the excessive cuteness of "ET", "Terrorvision" also goes after Elvira and Vampira with a similar late night horror show hostess called Medusa who wears a wig of snakes, has two enormous talents, and manages a host(ess) of semi-explicit puns.

The real star is an alien house pet whose mutation into a hungry beast forced its owners to send its atoms out into space. The film begins on a distant planet where this mutated pet is being processed at the mutated creature facility. A stray planet causes the creatures atoms to deflect through space until it finally is sucked down to earth by Sherman's father's new satellite dish.

By the middle of the film the monster has chewed and sucked its way through most of the family and their friends when Sherman, Suzy, and OD have an "ET" moment with it. The monster can mimic anyone it has eaten so the other cast members have a couple of post- demise scenes.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.