Terrorvision

Rating: out of
Released: 1986
Directed by: Ted Nicolaou
Cast: Diane Franklin, Gerrit Graham, Mary Woronov, Chad Allen, Jonathan Gries, Bert Remsen, Randi Brooks

Meet the Puttermans.

They are a very strange, and unlikable family.

Mom and Dad (Mary Woronov and Gerrit Graham) are swingers. They leave the kids at home while they head out to find couples to bring home to their hot tub. The daughter (Diane Franklin) is a typical 80’s girl, dressing like she is out of a Cyndi Lauper video. Their son (Chad Allen) spends his time at home with the grandfather (Bert Remsen), a paranoid military type.

The family gets a new satellite dish. While it is being set up, it gets hit by a ray from outer space, that transports some sort of creature down to earth. What happens then is sort of a cross between INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and E.T.

And it is not a pretty picture.

I last saw TERRORVISION sometime in the early 90’s. I think it was on cable. I don’t remember. The only reason I watched it was because it starred Diane Franklin. Franklin, if you didn’t know, and you should, was one of the big cult movie actresses of the 80’s. Starring in films such as BETTER OFF DEAD, LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, and HOW I GOT INTO THE COLLEGE. She never really had a career beyond the 80’s, unfortunately.

Watching this again, I don’t know how I made it through it the first time.

The film is alternately dull (Franklin disappears for half of the film), obnoxious (is there anyone to even care about in this film? Not really), and laughable. The creature is this oversized puppet, covered in green slime. Very cheaply done.

And the dialogue? Painful.

Here is a sample exchange:

“Did you see the U2s?”

“The band?”

“No, the spy planes.”

The cast are all staples of cult films. But one surprise was Jonathan Gries as OD, Franklin’s boyfriend (sample dialogue from the father about him “OD, is he an Irish boy?”). Gries is actually kind of funny, doing a sort of pre-Keanu Reeves imitation. He is one of those actors who you see in countless films, always like, but never know their name. But, he has played everyone from Lazlo in REAL GENIUS to Uncle Rico in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. This may not be a crown jewel in his resume, but he is good in it.

The film can be summed up in one line of dialogue “There’s always something else on, that’s what’s cool about TV.” If this airs on TV, there is no reason to not change the channel.

SHOULD THIS BE ON DVD: I think that all of Diane Franklin’s films should be on DVD, so I don’t want to keep this from being released. And the film, when shown recently on Showtime, aired in the letterboxed format, with a nice print. So, MGM may have it all set for a release and should releas it. But, for non-Diane Franklin fans, there is no reason to see it.

Reviewed by: Jim Magovern

Feb 03,2007