TerrorVision

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Terrorvision (disambiguation).
TerrorVision
Directed by Ted Nicolaou
Produced by Albert Band
Charles Band
Debra Dion
Written by Charles Band
Ted Nicolaou
Starring
Music by Richard Band
The Fibonaccis
Cinematography Romano Albani
Edited by Thomas Meshelski
Distributed by Empire Pictures
Release dates
  • February 14, 1986 (1986-02-14) (U.S.)
  • April 6, 1986 (1986-04-06) (UK)
  • July 17, 1986 (1986-07-17) (Australia)
Running time
 83 min.
Country United States
Language English
Box office $320,256[1]

TerrorVision is an 1986 American horror comedy film 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, and was released in February 1986.

The story follows an alien creature sent to Earth, which ends up inside a household where three kids must take care of it to prevent it from going into a hungry rampage. While not a critical and commercial success, it later developed as a cult film, particularly a "so bad it's good" film.

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, demanding to be taken to the TV station.

Cast

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::

  1. "TerrorVision" - The Fibonaccis
  2. "The Friends of Crime" - The Fibonaccis
  3. "Sack of Suit Suite" - The Fibonaccis
  4. "Advice to a Mutant" - The Fibonaccis
  5. "He Can't Stop Laughing" - The Fibonaccis
  6. Space Garbage
  7. Norton's Theme
  8. The Monster Materializes
  9. Gramps Bites the Big One
  10. Pluthar and the Kids
  11. Monster Attacks Sherman
  12. Spiro Gets Giacuzzed
  13. Bomb Shelter
  14. Officer Nupky's Bad Timing
  15. Susie and Sherman
  16. 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.[2]

In 2007, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a widescreen version of the film on Showtime.

TerrorVision was available on the Netflix Streaming platform from 2010 until August 2014.

In 2012, Shout! Factory announced that they would be releasing the film on DVD and Blu-ray as part of their Scream Factory lineup. A DVD/Blu-ray double feature of TerrorVision/The Video Dead was released in February 2013.

The film is available to stream on Amazon Prime as of September 2015.

Reception

TerrorVision received a negative reception from critics upon its theatrical release, and it currently holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "TerrorVision". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  2. ↑ "TerrorVision". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  3. ↑ "TerrorVision". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
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