TerrorVision
| TerrorVision | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ted Nicolaou |
| Written by | Charles Band Ted Nicolaou |
| Produced by | Albert Band Charles Band Debra Dion |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Romano Albani |
| Edited by | Thomas Meshelski |
| Music by | Richard Band The Fibonaccis |
| Distributed by | Empire Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 83 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
TerrorVision is an American horror-comedy film released in 1986.
The film was directed by Ted Nicolaou, produced and written by Albert and Charles Band and composed by Richard Band, all of whom would go on to found and work with Full Moon Features in 1989. TerrorVision was made by Empire International Pictures, the production company owned by Charles Band prior to Full Moon.
Plot
On an alien planet named Pluton, an alien garbage disposal converts a monstrous mutant called a Hungry Beast into energy and beams it into space. Meanwhile on Earth, the Putterman family is getting satellite television, courtesy of a temperamental DIY antenna. The reception is poor at first, but suddenly strengthens when a bolt of the alien energy hits the dish.
The little boy Sherman Putterman and his ex-military, survivalist grandfather enjoy a night of horror films hosted by the buxom Medusa, while Sherman's parents go out to meet some swingers and his sister goes to see her boyfriend, named O.D. Sherman and his grandfather eventually fall asleep, but are woken when the Hungry Beast materializes out of the TV and eats the grandfather. Sherman's parents arrive at this point with swingers Cherry and Spiro, and lock up Sherman in his grandfather's bunker. There, the Beast imitates the old man in order to fool the boy's mother into thinking it safe.
Sherman tries calling the police, but they take him to be a prank caller. He also calls Medusa, but she dismisses him as a psychotic. Later, the Beast travels through the television into the house's sex-themed "Pleasure Dome", eats Cherry, and imitates her to lure Spiro. Sherman's parents also get eaten after they discover the remains of the swingers. Sherman uses some plastic explosive to break out of the bunker as O.D. and his sister arrive.
Sherman's sister doesn't believe his story about a monster, and when they check their parents' room, they find imitations of them, their grandfather and the swingers. Soon after though, they encounter the Beast in another room. It chases after them, but relents at the sight of O.D.'s heavy metal paraphernelia, which he finds appealing. They then discover that they can subdue the Beast with food and television, and teach it a few words such as "TV", "music" and their names. They consider using the Beast for profit, and call Medusa in the hope of securing a TV appearance. She is initially dismissive, but shows interest when they promise to hold a party.
However, the Beast becomes enraged and eats O.D. when its alien captor appears on the TV to warn the earthlings that they must destroy their television equipment to prevent the Beast from spreading. A police officer arrives to arrest Sherman for the prank calls, and he gets eaten. Sherman breaks all the TVs he can find, and eventually the Pluthon alien captor appears through the television to exterminate the Beast. However, Medusa arrives right afterwards and, taking him to be the monster, kills him by breaking his pressurized helmet. When the real monster arrives, it sucks the group of three into its mouth with a powerful gust of air.
The next morning, Medusa's chauffeur is woken up by a crude imitation of his employer hiding in the back seat of his car.
Cast
- Chad Allen as Sherman Putterman
- Diane Franklin as Suzy Putterman
- Mary Woronov as Raquel Putterman
- Gerrit Graham as Stanley Putterman
- Bert Remsen as Grampa Putterman
- Jon Gries as O.D.
- Jennifer Richards as Medusa
- Alejandro Rey as Spiro
- Randi Brooks as Cherry
- Frank Welker as Hungry Beast Alien (voice)
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was released on Restless Records in 1986.
In addition to Richard Band's original score, several songs (including the movie's theme) were contributed by Los Angeles art rock band The Fibonaccis. TerrorVision was hoped to bring more attention to the group, but the movie (and ultimately the soundtrack) failed. Now out of print, a copy of the soundtrack is considered to be slightly valuable.
The track listing was as follows::
- "TerrorVision" - The Fibonaccis
- "The Friends of Crime" - The Fibonaccis
- "Sack of Suit Suite" - The Fibonaccis
- "Advice to a Mutant" - The Fibonaccis
- "He Can't Stop Laughing" - The Fibonaccis
- Space Garbage
- Norton's Theme
- The Monster Materializes
- Gramps Bites the Big One
- Pluthar and the Kids
- Monster Attacks Sherman
- Spiro Gets Giacuzzed
- Bomb Shelter
- Officer Nupky's Bad Timing
- Susie and Sherman
- Good Morning All
Release
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by Empire Pictures in February 1986. It grossed $320,256 at the box office.[1] The film received extremely negative reviews from critics, upon theatrical release. It currently holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In 2007, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a widescreen version of the film on Showtime.
As of December 10, 2010, the movie is available on the Netflix Streaming platform.
As of August 02, 2014, the movie has since been removed from the Netflix Streaming platform.
Despite the connections to distributor Full Moon Features, TerrorVision will not be released on DVD until 2013, 27 years after its theatrical release. On September 14, 2012, Shout Factory announced on Facebook that they would be releasing the film on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2013, as part of their Scream Factory lineup. A DVD/Blu-Ray double feature of Terrorvision/The Video Dead was released 02/19/2013.
TerrorVision was released on DVD with The Video Dead double feature.
References
- ^ "Terrorvision". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.