Trilogia do Terror II

Also made for TV, Trilogy of Terror II tries to capture some of the same creep factor of the original, but its big showstopping sequel to the infamous doll sequence is more or less a lazy remake of the original segment with much less engaging characters.

This isn't actress Lysette Anthony's fault. She plays each role she's given realistically and compellingly from cold trophy wife to grieving mother, but the stories are an uneven bunch and the best one, Bobby, is also a nearly shot for shot remake of Dan Curtis' work in another anthology called Dead of Night, but less effective this time around. The child actor playing the title character is much more hammy than the more realistic performance in the 70's version.

Production values are nice and Anthony is pleasant to watch even if she's not the powerhouse that Karen Black was. It's just unfortunate that the two best segments in the film are basically remakes of other segments from other movies.

Trilogy of Terror II is the obvious sequel to the 70's made for TV film which featured three scary stories. This one has the same number of stories, and each have a satisfying ending to them like the original film. The first story is "The Graveyard Rats" which tells the tale of a woman and her lover who plan to murder her old rich husband for his money. They do the deed, making it look like an accident, but realize that they must dig up his grave in order to any money. Problem is the graveyard is filled with huge rats determined to devour anything in sight. The second tale is called "Bobby". A mother uses voodoo to bring her dead son back, only to discover that by doing so she has unleashed an evil force upon herself. And the final tale (the best one) continues the killer Zulu fetish doll story from the original, this time it attacks a woman alone in a museum who was brought in by police to look at it.

I really enjoyed 'Trilogy of Terror II', I thought it was a very good sequel to a strong film made years prior. The first two stories are scary and creepy, and are actually more creative ideas than the first two tales told in the original 'Trilogy of Terror'. Continuing the Zuni fetish doll story from where we left off with Karen Black in the first film was a brilliant idea! It's basically the day after Karen Black's character killed her mother while possessed by the doll. Good stuff.

Acting all around was brilliant, starting with Lysette Anthony who was the lead in all three tales. There were also some really good stand out performances by the supporting cast particularly in the first story 'The Graveyard Rats' from Matt Clark and Geraint Wyn Davies. Sad to say this has not been released on DVD yet, but it certainly deserves a release! Check this out if you come across it.

8/10

Anyone born before 1980 can't help but remember that video cover that stared up at them from the spooky horror section shelf at the "Video Library." It was the one all the little kids loved to rent...it was also the one all the little kids loved to fast-forward through 80% of to get to the Zuni-doll story.

And about 20 years later, the Trilogy of Terror is back, and the Zuni-Doll once again steals the show....but not entirely. The first story, about giant rats in a graveyeard, is well-written and memorable. The second story, while a bit creepy at the beginning, is for the most part....stupid. But not terrible. The third story (saving the best for last) marks the return of the infamous Zuni-Warrior doll. The sad thing about it is, is that it is really a cheap rehash of the classic original. Entertaining yes, but original? Hardly.

But at least the first two stories were a little more memorable. The first two in the original TRILOGY were very well-written, but easily forgettable.

The beautiful Lysette Anthony does her best in this made-for-TV horror flick. Actually, I was impressed with her acting, considering this film was, in a way, standard USA network fare. She seemed at least somewhat enthusiastic about this gig, and filled Karen Black's shoes nicely.

All in All, TRILOGY OF TERROR 2 is good, clean fun for the whole family. That is of course, sarcasm...but, it IS good clean fun for that son of yours who makes a B-line for the Horror section whenever you visit Blockbuster Video....

6.5 out of 10.

Trilogy of Terror II is a lot like the original film in that they are both decent stories and less exciting ones peppered throughout the runtime. Dan Curtis returns to direct this sequel with somewhat mixed results. For starters, Lysette Anthony, while mostly competent, seems like an odd choice to replace someone like Karen Black, who, love her or hate her, had a unique style that made her incredibly watchable on screen. Anthony's never terribly interesting or quirky enough to carry off some of the lesser stories, but she proves decently capable when she's only required to bug her eyes and scream in fear. I'm guessing that's all her audition called for, so I guess she delivers in that respect.

The first story is a mediocre, but not entirely un-engaging film noir-esque "we should murder my husband and collect his money" story with an ok twist at the end. It's the least exciting of the stories, so at least we get it out of the way.

The next story is based on a similar segment from Curtis' Dead of Night entitled Bobby about a woman who makes a pact with a demonic entity to bring back her dead son with predictably horrifying results. Curtis appears to have stuck very close to the original script (and even some of the shots are almost identical) and it probably works the best out of all the segments. The final reveal, unfortunately, comes across as more laughable than terrifying.

The final story brings back the infamous Zuni fetish doll and picks up right where the original story left off with the doll being taken to a museum to be studied as it terrorizes the night staff. It has its effective moments, but it can't quite compare to the claustrophobic terror of the original story.

Trilogy of Terror II is a merely respectable sequel that's not bad to have on in the background if you're bored.

Made-for-TV sequel to 1975's Trilogy of Terror, which was also made-for-TV. In the original movie, Karen Black starred in three separate stories. Here it's Lysette Anthony. The first story is "The Graveyard Rats." It's about a millionaire's young wife and her lover/cousin (Geraint Wyn Davies), who murder the old guy but find out all the money he had left was in Swiss bank accounts. The passcode for these accounts is on microfilm the old man had buried with him. So they have to go dig him up. But, oh no, what's this? There are giant fake rubber rats that are stealing corpses out of coffins. Good for some laughs, I guess. Anthony isn't a particularly strong actress and Davies is TERRIBLE. But it's got Geoffrey Lewis using an Irish accent so it's not all bad.

The second story is "Bobby," about a mother who uses witchcraft to bring her son (Blake Heron) back from the dead. But he comes back not quite right and soon is trying to murder his mom. This is a forgettable story that starts out one way but quickly devolves into a repetitive slasher story with the kid terrorizing the mom. A very annoying musical score accompanies the kid on his rampage. I screamed for those stupid horns to stop. Weakest story in the movie.

The final story is "He Who Kills." This is a sequel to the most popular segment from the original film, the Zuni fetish doll story. The police drop the doll from the first film off at a museum. It was badly burned so they want Dr. Simpson (Anthony) to examine it right away and tell them what it is. From here, in typical sequel fashion, we get a retread of the first film where the doll comes alive and tries to kill Anthony. Nowhere near as exciting or scary as the original but still the best of this movie. More annoying music.

Made-for-TV movies had decreased in quality quite a bit by the 1990s. This is in large part because in the '70s and '80s, the weekly TV movie was a staple of network television. By the '90s the TV movie became something reduced to crappy cable channels and the occasional network effort like the Amy Fisher crap. They were a higher quality in the old days, for the most part. I'm not saying they were equal to theatrical films but they were a lot better than most of the stuff that's been produced for cable the last 25 years or so. Anyway, this is watchable enough. It helps that Dan Curtis, the director of the original, returned to direct this. It's nothing that will leave an impression but you won't hate yourself for having watched it either.