Trilogy of Terror is a made for television horror anthology film from 1975. As you can probably assume from the title, it's a collection of three short stories. Karen Black (Five Easy Pieces, Invaders From Mars) plays the lead role (or roles) in each.
The film starts with "Julie". The story of a teacher who is relentlessly pursued by one of her students. After agreeing to one date, Julie is drugged by her student and presumably raped. Using photos from the incident, the student blackmails Julie to continue seeing him. But who is really pulling the strings? This isn't the strongest of the segments. Karen Black does well as the seemingly innocent teacher. But there isn't much else to say.
"Millicent and Therese" is the next story. It follows two sisters after the death of their father. Therese is allegedly evil and satanic. The other, Millicent, is an innocent do-gooder bent on stopping her sister's evil ways. She tries to warn those who become involved with Therese and even asks help from the family doctor. The second story does little to up the ante. Karen Black once again delivers. This time in a duel role of Millicent and Therese. The "twist" ending is obnoxiously easy to predict. If you can't figure this one out early on this is probably your first movie ever.
"Amelia" is the final and best story of the film. The title character purchases a Zuni Fetish Doll for her anthropologist boyfriend. The instructions warn her, that it's golden chain prevents the doll from actually coming to life. Amelia unwittingly breaks the chain and pays the price as she has to fight for her life against the deranged doll. The Zuni Fetish Doll saves the entire film. The struggle between human and doll is extremely entertaining. The final shot is also very creepy in its own right and probably haunted many children watching this is the 70's.
"Amelia" is such a good horror short that one has to wonder how it even got lumped together with the other completely forgettable segments. Karen Black does well portraying all of her characters throughout. But without the final story, even she wouldn't be able to save this from being a forgettable TV film. I'd suggest just skipping ahead if you ever want to watch this.
Side Note: Apparently "Amelia" is available on VHS separately as "Terror Of The Doll".
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