TRILOGY OF TERROR II

The Graveyard Rats. An exhausted woman, tired of the abuses of her elderly and wealthy paraplegic husband, devises a plan with her lover to get rid of the old man. The plan succeeds and the man dies in what appears to be an accident. But when the will is opened, the woman realizes that a code is needed to access all her husband's assets, a code the man kept hidden on himself at the time of his death. Bobby. A grieving mother, afflicted by the death of her son, who drowned in the sea by their villa, practices a formula to bring the boy back to life. Bobby comes back to life, but he won't be the same as before. He Who Kills. At the scene of a double and mysterious murder, a statuette of African origin is found in the oven. The police immediately take the artifact to the museum for an anthropologist to analyze it. During the night, the woman will have to deal with the spirit of a fierce Zuni warrior who animates the statuette/fetish that was delivered to her. Over the years, that small TV movie titled "Trilogy of Terror," dated 1975 and directed by Dan Curtis, has become a cult among horror enthusiasts. All thanks to the Zuni fetish, of course, the little monster protagonist of the beautiful third episode of that anthology film. Given the posthumous cult status of the film, Curtis in 1996 decides to refresh the title and formula and directs a "Trilogy of Terror II," always for TV and always structured in three self-contained episodes connected by the presence of the same leading actress. The result of this operation, which we could almost consider nostalgic, is definitely good: three fairly well-made episodes (with ups and downs, of course), three well-told stories, and a great return by that icon of the '70s that is the Zuni fetish. We could say that if taken as a whole, the stories that make up this second film are even better than those of the original film. There were two very weak stories and one magnificent one, but here the first two stories are not bad at all, certainly superior to the epigones of the first film. However, in this case as well, the third one stands out, which brings back the fierce African fetish. The problem is that then there was the "factor of surprise," the novelty of seeing a monstrous statuette with a life of its own move on the screen. Today, instead, in addition to the overused scenario of killer puppets, we find ourselves witnessing a situation that faithfully recreates the original. The beautiful thing is that "He Who Kills" is presented as a real sequel to the story "Amelia" from the first film: it starts right where the previous one ended and brings the fetish back to life, making it move this time in a museum but recreating the structure of the other film. Everything works, maybe not as well as before, but it works, and finding the Zuni fetish just as we remembered it, angry and bloodthirsty, is always a nice surprise. The other two stories are inferior but still enjoyable. "The Graveyard Rats," the first, is based on a story by Henry Kuttner and immediately immerses us in a "Tales from the Crypt" situation: the love triangle, the crime, and the punishment. In this case, the "noir" part is perhaps a bit too drawn out (with an explicit reference to "Kiss of Death"), reserving the horror for the last minutes, represented by a cemetery, an exhumation, and a horde of giant, ravenous rats that inhabit the cemetery's underground. The rats are made in a very artisanal way, but they work, and in the final twist, this first story takes on a horrifying power that won't be forgotten. A bit less effective because it's too predictable is the second story, "Bobby," based on a story by Richard Matheson (also the creator of the Zuni fetish) and already brought to the screen in 1976 by Curtis in another anthology film, "Dead of Night." The situation is well-known; the hide-and-seek game between the mother/guilty party and the resurrected son/victim immediately turns into the classic cat-and-mouse chase with a very predictable conclusion. The episode is still very fast-paced, gets straight to the point, and reserves at least one scene of great tension (the phone call). Lysette Anthony ("Dracula Dead and Loving It") does not make us miss the Karen Black of the prototype and holds the entire film on her shoulders with professionalism. "Trilogy of Terror II" is a good anthology film, respectful of the tradition to which it belongs and with three satisfying stories. The Zuni fetish reigns supreme but scratches less than in the past.