Trilogia do Terror

Three short stories in the horror genre: The first about a serial killer. The second about a hair transplant going wrong. The third about a base ball player who receives a questionable eye transplant.

The sad truth is that giving this film as high a rating as I did really comes down to one thing: the endless supply of guest stars from the horror genre (and beyond). Who can dislike a film with Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper and more? That is incredible.

As for the film itself, it is about average. The acting and directing are fine, and the gore really starts to add up in the third segment. But the script was really nothing special, and I am not shocked that Showtime declined to turn this into a regular series (any given episode of "Masters of Horror" is better).

The disc from Scream Factory makes this average film a little something more, with plenty of insight from Stacy Keach, John Carpenter and producer Sandy King. Horror fans may think the movie is average, but you are bound to learn a few things from the commentary.

Three stories courtesy of John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper, sounds like it can't miss, right? The results are mixed, but pretty interesting all the same.

The Gas Station is vintage Carpenter. Here he maximizes the effect from a truly simple premise and creates a genuinely scary story. It's simple, but the final minutes are riddled with tension and general uneasiness. The best of the bunch.

Hair is a truly funny story with a terrific performance by Stacy Keach. It goes way over the top towards the end, but still, it's highly amusing for the most part.

Eye, the weakest of the three, due to it's complete and utter predictability and complete failure of generating any real chills. It's fun to see Hamill and it's pretty gory but that's about it.

One terrific story, one pretty good and one pretty bad, all in all, it's worth watching but it's nothing spectacular.

The first segment "The Gas Station" is the only frightening story in this trilogy. Set at night, apparently in the middle of nowhere, it has a plausibilty that the others lack (similarly to Hitchcock's "Psycho", it is scary because it's not completely beyond the realms of possibility). Plenty of atmosphere, a little gore and enough sudden shocks and suspense to make it worthwhile. The second segment is at times funny, but not at all scary. The third is an improvement on the second, but more fantastical than the first and therefore not as frightening.

The scenes with the man in the morgue, between the segments, are pretty weird. Lots of jokes about corpses. Fine, if you like that sort of thing.

In a morgue, a weird coroner (John Carpenter) presents the cases related to three corpses in body bags, with the participation of Tobe Hooper and Tom Arnold in the last scenes:

1) The Gas Station: On the graveyard shift of the new hire Annie (Alex Datcher), the maniac Bill (Robert Carradine) attacks the gas station where she is working. This tale, directed by John Carpenter, is the most frightening of the three segments, very supported by the atmosphere created by the tense music of John Carpenter. Wes Craven and Sam Raimi have minor participations, being another attraction.

2) Hair: When Richard (Stacy Keach) starts loosing his hair, he becomes obsessed trying to find a cosmetic to stop the balding process. He goes to the clinic of Dr. Lock (David Warner) for a revolutionary transplantation treatment, ignoring the tragic side effects. This is the funniest and silliest tale, also directed by John Carpenter, and with the singer Sheena Easton in the role of Richard's girlfriend Megan.

3) Eye: The baseball player Brent (Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill) has a car accident while driving home in a stormy night. His doctor proposes a new eye transplantation technique, and Brent and his wife Cathy (Twiggy) accept the risky terms. However, the unexpected side effect jeopardizes the safety of Cathy. This segment, directed by Tobe Hooper, is the most macabre of the three, having the participation of Roger Corman in the role of Dr. Bregman. I recently watched a very scare movie ("Jain Gui", of the Pang Brothers - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/usercomments-167), and I believe that its storyline was probably based on this segment.

My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Trilogia do Terror" ("Trilogy of Terror")

Note: On 12 July 2020, I saw this film again.

Director John Carpenter narrates three stories as a walking corpse that must have been a real bad stand-up comic in life. The humour is generally very sophomoric(one scene depicts a rather bosomy lady corpse having troubles being slid in and out of the dead body drawer), but Carpenter actually handles the material very well. Carpenter also directs two of the stories, and Tobe Hooper(The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directs the third(as well as has a small role as a mortician). The stories each are very different in style, mood, and tone, and each has something to offer in terms of entertainment. The first is probably the most derivative in terms of plot, but also for me was the most frightening. Sexy(very sexy) Alex Datcher plays a woman taking a new job at a 24hr open gas station in a town where many women/people have been killed in serial fashion. Carpenter holds no punches as he tries to make us jump from our seats. Although this story is predictable, it has a lot of suspense. The second story was a funny tale about a balding man that goes to a weird place for hair implants only to discover that he is being used in some horrifying way. Pure laughs with this one as Stacy Keach plays the hair-obsessed man with comic aplomb. David Warner also does a great job playing the Hair Doctor. Sexy Sheena Easton and Debbie Harry also help(they are quite good at teasing hair I'm sure!. The third story is the best-written and directed one as it tells the story of Mark Hamil, a baseball player that loses his eye in an auto accident and has it replaced with the eye of a serial killer. Naturally the eye takes over the rest of the body(shades of The Hands of Orlac here). A very eerie, taught piece of storytelling. All three stories are populated with the greats of the horror genre like John Agar, Roger Corman, Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, and a host of other recognizable faces. Great to see Twiggy again! Body Bags is just plain fun fare. There is no statement trying to be made, no overall theme, just some honest laughs mixed with some honest scares amidst the backdrop of a little sex and lots of guts.