‘TerrorVision’ is the most ’80s thing you’ll ever see

The next Halloween cult film we will be looking at is the 1986 sci-fi comedy “TerrorVision.” Our story focuses on a family that must face down with a strange alien creature that gets transported to their planet through their television satellite dish. From there, slime-coated thrills, chills and gory kills commence of inane proportions.

With such a wild premise and a goofy name as “TerrorVision” (complete with a terribly hilarious ’80s synth theme song of the same name), this is clearly not a film attempting to win any Oscars. However, it’s obvious that the movie knows this and it has plenty of fun with its concept.

This is most obvious in how the film satirizes various aspects of the 1980s to create an almost otherworldly state of mind. The wacky production design, strong use of bright colors, ridiculously dated costume design and the over-the-top smuggy performances all help in pushing the bizarre atmosphere.

The characters are all stereotypes of the films of the ’80s and are worth mentioning. The parents act as the mature figures who don’t believe in their children’s claims of seeing monsters. Grampa is an old stubborn curmudgeon who lives for the days of fighting in the war. O.D, the boyfriend, is a heavy metal rocker and Suy, the teen sister, is a loud mouth, music loving, poppy, slang speaking brat who looks like she jumped out of “Jem and the Holograms.”

The young boy character, Sherman, is actually a refreshing take on the child stereotype of the time. Whereas most young boy characters would take over the film with their rambunctious, annoying personalities, Sherman is the most subdued of all the characters and keeps most of the situations in check. At the same time, he still balances out his serious side by still feeling like a kid with his love of guns and late night monster movie marathons.

A lot of the film is fun to watch simply for the TV itself, which almost feels like a character in its own right. It’s almost never off and spotting the various monster movies and homages to ’80s TV is very enjoyable.

As for problems, the ending is pretty iffy. The film builds up to an exciting climax, but takes a drastic and confusing turn before the end credits. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered and an unambiguous finale feels inappropriate for a movie as unsubtly as this.

Overall, “TerrorVision” is a pure fun time. It’s a film that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t waste the time of its audience to get to the good stuff. For people looking for an undemanding watch that will leave you smiling and belly hurt from laughter, then don’t touch that dial and turn on “TerrorVision.”