There were few actresses in the 1970s who were as omnipresent as Karen Black.
She worked with Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, Christopher Plummer, Alfred Hitchcock, and Robert Altman. Also, Kris Kristofferson, George Segal, Richard Benjamin, Elliot Gould, Lee Van Cleef, Dennis Hopper, and Fabian. She was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in “Five Easy Pieces” and for a Grammy for her singing and songwriting in “Nashville.”
But to those of a certain age, Karen Black will probably always be linked with a certain Zuni fetish doll.
This week on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner,” October is upon us. Roy Bjellquist and I will kick off a month of tricks and treats with a horrifying discussion of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975). For once, Karen Black really gets to exploit her range, in three creepy, campy segments – as a blackmailed, hypercorrect school marm; as hostile rival sisters (one’s been sucking on lemons, and the other is a free-spirited Satanist); and as the terryclothed target of a possessed anthropological artifact that sounds an awful lot like the Tasmanian Devil.
It may have been a made-for-TV, “ABC Movie of the Week,” and the “twists” may have all subtlety of an anvil, but the stories are by sci-fi, fantasy, and horror legend Richard Matheson, and they’re directed by Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame.
Black is the new black! Help us exorcise ourselves of the loony Zuni. Leave your comments and insights during the Facebook live-stream of Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!
