#49 TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975)
ATTACK OF THE
ZUNI FETISH DOLL
In
1975, an ABC Movie of The Week called TRILOGY OF TERROR aired
featuring 3 different short horror themed stories. All of them
starred Karen Black. Though the first two were as entertaining as
you'd expect a made for TV spooky story to be, the third story ranks
up there as one of the scariest TV broadcasts ever made.
Long
long before CHUCKY or PUPPETMASTER was the ZUNI FETISH DOLL, and it's
appearance in that 3rd segment was mindbending. Black's character
buys the doll to give to her boyfriend. Unfortunately, a tag is
around the neck of the creepy looking toy warning of the doom the
owner faces if it the tag ever falls off.
Of
course, it would be a pretty lame segment if the tag remained intact,
so after it falls off, the freaky little dude comes to life and
chases Black around her apartment with his tiny little knife like a
gremlin. He stabs at her feet, and whizzes around while he growls
and gnashes his teeth like a Tasmanian Devil. Though she manages to
trap the dude in a suitcase, he cuts his way out before she finally
tricks him into jumping inside the oven.
Think
it's over there? NO FUCKING WAY! As she cooks him alive, his spirit
comes out and possesses her, making her a psycho freak ready for
anyone who's stupid enough to open the door of her apartment.
Though
the animation and camera tricks that brought the ZUNI FETISH DOLL to
life are a bit silly by today's standards, it certainly did its share
to scare kids of the day back then. What sane kid could look at
their action figures in the dark and not wonder if they'd befall a
similar fate?
Dan
Curtis, who directed the first movie, made a sequel a few years back
TRILOGY OF TERROR II, and of course, brought back the ZUNI FETISH
DOLL for another round of ankle-stabbing action.
THE
SIMPSONS even parodied the doll in a special Halloween episode where
a Krusty Doll goes bad.
