James Earl Jones's rambling narration for the beginning of obscure '80s anthology Terrorgram is so meaningless that one can only hope that it was intended as a parody of Rod Serling's introductions for The Twilight Zone.
Jones is only slightly less incomprehensible as he introduces three tales of the macabre, linked by the device of a supernatural delivery man, starting with
Heroine Overdose, which stars Jerry Anderson as Alan Smythee, a director of sexist B-movies who, after receiving a package from the delivery man, finds himself trapped in a nightmare based on his films where he is the 'bimbo'. This story starts off fine form, with a mohawked maniac in a gimp suit terrorising a topless tart with a massive power-drill (to prove how insane he is, the cackling leather-clad loony pushes the drill bit through his own hand! Cool beans!). Unfortunately, this scene turns out to be a 'movie within the movie', one of Smythee's proud productions, and much of what follows is utter tosh, with the misandristic female characters that hound poor Alan being irritating in the extreme. Thankfully, the story concludes with the reappearance of the gimp-killer, who cuts off his own fingers with an electric carving knife.
Tale number two, Pandora, is more enjoyable, although it is rather derivative of the classic Twilight Zone episode, The Hitch-Hiker. In this story, news anchor woman Angela Pandorus (Linda Carol Toner) is involved in a hit and run, her victim a young boy. To her horror, she is delivered the toy he was holding when hit, a Jack-in-a-box, after which she suffers nightmarish visions of her victim's horribly mutilated body. Toner obliges with some welcome gratuitous nudity while an EC-style payoff rounds off matters satisfyingly.
The final tale, Veteran's Day, also seems inspired by a Twilight Zone story-'Time Out' from the 1982 TZ movie (which itself was based on an episode of the TV series). J.T. Wallace plays asshole Eric Keller, who, in 1968, was responsible for getting draft dodger Novotny (Michael Hartson) sent to fight in Vietnam, where he consequently died. Twenty years later, Novotny's journal is delivered to Keller's home, followed by the appearance of the dead soldier himself, who subjects Keller to the horrors of war. This story benefits from some neat makeup FX, with the decomposing Novotny and a slit throat effect being very impressive for such a low budget film.
As with most anthologies, the overall movie is a mixed bag: the first story is a dud, and the lack of originality in the other two does detract slightly from one's enjoyment, but there is still enough to make it worthwhile for fans of the portmanteau format.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
