TerrorVision

1986 "People of Earth: Your planet is about to be destroyed... We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience."
5.5| 1h21m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 February 1986 Released
Producted By: Empire Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Stanley Putterman installs a state-of-the-art satellite dish in his backyard, soon unleashing a strange monster that leaps off the screen and needs to feed on humans for survival.

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Director

Ted Nicolaou

Production Companies

Empire Pictures

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TerrorVision Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Aaron1375 This horror/comedy is excessive and crazy and has its moments. It is not great by any means, but it has a grotesque monster so there is that. It is also a Charles Band film so even if you do not like one of his films, you will not have to suffer long because it is going to be short. I wonder if he does that on purpose. As I said, I see his name in the film, I do not necessarily expect a good film; however, I do know I will be watching a horror film that will be over in under an hour and a half. Every now and then you get an entertaining film too. This one had some moments, but it was kind of stupid at the same time. The main actor in the film is a kid and he is not all that good, not all that bad. He kind of sets the tone for the acting through the movie and that is excessive. The parents are over the top, the grandfather is over the top, the sister is over the top and pretty much everyone is over the top. That being said, I do believe it is on purpose in this one, I just think that is the tone of the film. An over exaggerated over the top mess! Even the monster is an over the top mess, but it looks rather good and much better than the computer generated monsters in B movies today.The story has some icky looking monster inside a containment unit where it is seemingly turned into energy and jettisoned into space. Unfortunately, this energy beam bounces off numerous planets and ends up blasting the Putterman's newly installed satellite dish. Soon the television is picking up an amazing amount of channels including one that has a slimy monster that does not do anything but stare at those watching the television. The son and grandpa soon run afoul of the beast as it has the ability to transmit itself in and out of the television. Chaos abounds as mom and dad come home with another couple as they are swingers, the daughter brings home a heavy metal freak and the local horror host stops by to enjoy the madness! The film is very 80's and I do believe the film purposely goes excessive with the decade. The parents are swingers and their house is decorated in a style that is reminiscent of the family in Beetlejuice if they were more into sexual art. The boyfriend is into heavy metal, the son enjoys hanging out with his grandpa who is into military actions and then there is the daughter who is sporting the multicolored hair and who is very pretty by the way. By far the cutest gal in the film, though the actress playing the horror movie hostess does have the best boobies in the flick.So the film was okay in parts, bad in parts but even when it is bad, I have to think that it was being done purposely. It just seems they way the film plays out is exactly as they wanted it to be and though it is groan inducing at times, I still have to think that this is what they wanted. The film actually looks rather good considering it was released in 1986, I watched another film earlier tonight from 1987 and it looked much older than this one did. The monster is shown a lot in this one and there is stuff going on quite a bit. This film did something though that happens a lot in horror films, they killed off people too quickly. One minute there are lots of people to kill, and in less than five minutes everyone is nearly dead! Still, it was quick paced and it did not last long, sure it is always nice to have the kills spread out, but it does not hurt this film too much. Just hard to rate this one, like I said, it is kind of bad, but once again, I think that was done purposely.
David Massey We're introduced to a family brimming with all the worst trappings of the 1980's; the clichés have been elevated to the absurd and it's to the director, Ted Nicolaou's, credit that, in 1986, he was able to poke so much fun at the decade without the benefit of hindsight. The result is an off-the-wall comedy that feels like a 1950's monster movie, staring 'Leave it to Beaver', as filtered through 'Adult Swim'.The daughter, Suzy, played by Diane Frankin ('Better Off Dead' / 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'), has the hair and make-up of an animated Cindy Lauper and an over-the-top valley-girl gab. A very young Chad Allen (you'll recognize him from nearly every family TV show of the late 80's and early 90's), is the war-game-obsessed son. The mother, played by the always fantastic Mary Woronov (Roger Corman's poster girl and star of 'Eating Raoul'), is a distant, self-involved socialite more interested in her exercise videos than her kids. Gerrit Graham ('Phantom of the Paradise' / 'Demon Seed'), hams it up as the swinging (literally) father always on the lookout for the next big thing. Rounding out the family is Grampa, the paranoid vet with a bomb shelter in the basement (Bert Remsen – 'Nashville' / 'Places in the Heart') and Suzy's boyfriend, 'O.D.', the tweaked metal-head dropout played buy 1980's staple, Jon Gries ('Real Genius' / 'Running Scared'). Together, this group inhabits a home that looks like a cross between a sex spa and a Patrick Nagel exhibition on ecstasy.Wacky from minute one (the theme song being one of the film's high points), the family has just hooked up their new satellite dish while, simultaneously, far across the cosmos, a creature that can only be described as a booger with eyes, is being transported in exile by a humanoid-lizard alien that we don't learn much more about until the film's climax. The monster is mistakenly transmitted to the family's satellite dish and has the ability to escape at will from their TV sets. Nonsense ensues as the monster is able, by transforming its tongue, to impersonate the face and voice of anyone it kills.The film never really crosses into any straight genre and manages to hover, quite proudly, over 'wonderfully weird'. If all of Hollywood had ostracized, instead of embraced, Tim Burton, this is the kind of live-action cartoon he'd be making.
Scott LeBrun Enjoyment of this ultra-cheesy sci-fi / horror / comedy depends on one's tolerance for complete and total silliness, shamelessly hammy performances, and an aggressively tacky visual approach. This is indeed utter garbage, but it may prove to be irresistible to some B movie fanatics. After all, everything about it just screams the 1980s. The special effects are very, very crude but very, very amusing, and there's absolutely no shortage of slime as this daft story plays out. It gets off to a good start with a catchy title tune performed by The Fibonaccis, then proceeds to descend into cartoonish lunacy.A great big gross creature - looking like a cross between a bulldog and a toad - is disposed of by aliens on a distant planet and is beamed down to Earth by the satellite dish of goof ball swinger Stanley Putterman (Gerrit Graham, who takes the overacting honours). The movie mostly deals with the reactions of Stanley's family and assorted others as the creature goes about its business of gobbling up everything in sight.Certainly this has got a fine B movie cast going for it. The always welcome cult icon Mary Woronov plays Stanley's wife Raquel, Chad Allen and the delightful, foxy Diane Franklin are their kids Sherman and Suzy, Jon Gries is dorky metal head O.D., Bert Remsen is the nutty Grampa who swears by lizard tails, Alejandro Rey and Randi Brooks are swinging couple Spiro and Cherry, Sonny Carl Davis is the hapless Norton, Ian Patrick Williams pops by briefly as police officer Nutky, and the ubiquitous Frank Welker does the voice of the monster.In addition to the aforementioned song, there's a decent score by Richard Band, impressive production design and set decoration, and lots of effects; the creature itself is the work of John Carl Buechler and his crew at MMI.Objectively speaking, it's not exactly a "good" movie, but it is fun, and may serve as a real blast from the past for people who just ate up stuff like this when it was new.Six out of 10.
FlashCallahan A civilisation on a distant planet has found a way to solve its garbage problem: turning it into energy and beaming it into outer space. A flaw in this system is found when the signal is accidentally picked up on Earth by the Putterman Family's home satellite dish. While this would ordinarily be just another mess, this particular transmission contains a hungry trash monster who quickly begins snacking on the Puttermans and their guests. Only young Sherman Putterman has any clue what is going on, but nobody will believe him. Is there any hope for the Earth.....Well one thing that is amazing about this film is the house, its amazing to look at and the film does spend ninety nine percent of the time in here, so you are literally awe inspired nearly every frame of the film, luckily taking you away from the clunky narrative and not very good story.It's more of a sitcom than a real sci fi horror, I could have seen this being made into a thirty minute comedy series around this time, and it would have been great, the two kids hiding the monster, and the creature eating a special guest star every week.The acting is over the top but intentional, and all in all its a hoot from beginning to end.