TerrorVision

Television is evil and an opiate, but it is also great fun. This life truth is manifested in a wacky horror sitcom that is primarily a mockery of American television ideals. The family portrayed in TerrorVision thus combines the naïveté of 1950s ideological melodramas and the paranoia and militarism of sci-fi horror movies from the same era, as well as the opulent style of the 1970s and the youth culture of the 1980s. The individual generations of the central family thus represent archetypes from particular pop-culture phenomena ranging from ’50s horror flicks to ’80s porn and aerobics videos to MTV music videos (all shown in the clips that appear as the characters flip through the channels). Into this meta television reality comes an amorphous space monster, which is itself a parallel of television viewers, who also just mechanically devour whatever catches their eye. The monster typically takes the form of a wild-eyed blob with a claw that sucks the life out of the characters so that the monster can then imitate them. In addition to the aforementioned meta-concept, the film offers a load of situational gags, finely crafted one-liners and slapstick humour, with spectacular overacting and frenetic facial expressions (this is where the great comedic talent Gerrit Graham in the role of the father takes the cake). At the same time, however, TerrorVision is the ultimate Halloween movie, as it contains everything that belongs in a holiday television programme: fun and spectacularly artificial monsters, classic black-and-white trash flicks and an iconic host who can intoxicate the gullible minds of children and the lustful minds of teenagers – not Vampira, but her even more seductive counterpart, Medusa. (23.09.2014)

Relentlessly stupid but self-aware trash, that amusingly reflects the 1980s era of tastelessness and kinky subcultures. A parable about how television sucks people's brains out, brimming with so many (sometimes silly, sometimes clever) meta-humour ideas that it won't let you breathe for a moment. Here, consumers are consumed by a delightfully hideous monster (looking like a deformed Omicron from Futurama) that, with its grotesquely asymmetrical appearance, kind of embodies the crazy, extravagant pop culture of the time. The director, Ted Nicolaou, is said to have made the film to spoil twelve year olds with it. So don't let your kids see it. (14.07.2017)