Over the course of his career, Charles Band made a lot of ridiculous pictures and several good ones, too, and TerrorVision falls somewhere in between. It is an entirely ludicrous piece of celluloid, and yet, there is something about it that makes it charming. For a film that falls comfortably in both the science fiction and horror genres, it ends up being more of a comedy than anything else, though most of that comedy falls completely flat. That being said, it somehow remains eminently watchable and is one of the best and worst curios to be found from the latter half of the Eighties.

Directed by Ted Nicolaou, the filmmaker does a decent job of bringing this crazy spectacle to life, and it helps that he had a very animated cast, including Mary Woronov, John Gries, Gerrit Graham, and Diana Franklin. Said group of people play some of the most colourful characters one could ever find in a movie with a swinging mom and dad, a Debbie Gibson/Tiffany-type daughter whose boyfriend is a hair-metal doofus. Grandpa might have a little PTSD while also being something of a survivalist/conspiracy believer who has taken his grandson under his wing and who, by all appearances, seems pretty normal. The eclectic gathering of family members is quite excited as the film begins, as they have just gotten a new satellite system and all the channels they could ever wish for. Unbeknownst to them, they have also acquired a genuine, true-to-life alien who has made its way to Earth through satellite signals or some similar means. Of course, being a monster, things are not going to turn out well for those who reside in the house.

The best thing about this movie is the creature effects, particularly the big bad, who, despite oozing and having more than enough slime for the Nickelodeon Awards, is sort of lovable, even if he is a giant space monster. In reality, the beast is a space puppy to another race of aliens, one of which makes a cameo. There is a moment in the film where those who are still alive attempt to tame the beast when they discover it responds to voice commands. That being said, though, once it gets triggered, its enormous appetite cannot be sated, and that is when it goes on the hunt for the rest of the family. Most of the people die fairly gruesome deaths as the creature literally sucks the life out of them. Oddly, it is a little reminiscent of those Muppets that would eat other muppets – a large-scale creature with an enormous mouth that looks like it could swallow everyone in the room.

Some things in this movie are great, and like everything in life, some things in this film are awful, and one of those that takes the top spot is the humour, which, as previously stated, simply does not work. Even if the picture was not so dated, it is hard to think that the audience in 1986 would find this funny. The monster itself might be the most amusing thing about it all, and just slightly, so is grandpa, but on the whole, everything here makes a person want to groan, much less laugh. The story itself was decent, and things moved along briskly enough that one did not tend to get too bored by it all, but it was a battle between those good and bad elements that made it a chore to watch at times.

When all is said and done, TerrorVision is not a movie for everybody. Those who love horror may be able to sit through it, and for those who do not, it could very well be torture. All of that being said, there is something to it, an appeal that cannot, for whatever reason, be denied.

2 out of 5