This movie is pure fun. The entire cast was funny and memorable. Mary Woronov and Gerrit Graham play the swingin' parents, along with Alejandro Rey and Randi Brooks as their wood-be partners. The interaction between these characters makes up a large portion of the movies funniest moments. Diane Franklin is adorable as the 80s-fashion-victim/older sister. Her boyfriend, played by Jon Gries, is an entertainingly moronic metal-head. Bert Remsen plays the grandpa, who is an over-the-top military nut. Chad Allen was OK as the child-protagonist, though the idea of making a kid the main hero was one of my minor gripes. Jennifer Richards brought the laughs (and cleavage) as the Elvira-esque 'Medusa'. The star of the movie is the Monster, who's a gooey mess of eye-balls and fangs, yet somehow still cute. The puppetry, while limited, is well executed, giving said Monster a lot of character. My second gripe was the ending, while 'disappointing' would be too strong a word, 'unexpected' seems more suitable, especially considering my first gripe. Overall, this is an immensely entertaining flick, one that is solely a product of the 80s.

This horror/comedy is excessive and crazy and has its moments. It is not great by any means, but it has a grotesque monster so there is that. It is also a Charles Band film so even if you do not like one of his films, you will not have to suffer long because it is going to be short. I wonder if he does that on purpose. As I said, I see his name in the film, I do not necessarily expect a good film; however, I do know I will be watching a horror film that will be over in under an hour and a half. Every now and then you get an entertaining film too. This one had some moments, but it was kind of stupid at the same time. The main actor in the film is a kid and he is not all that good, not all that bad. He kind of sets the tone for the acting through the movie and that is excessive. The parents are over the top, the grandfather is over the top, the sister is over the top and pretty much everyone is over the top. That being said, I do believe it is on purpose in this one, I just think that is the tone of the film. An over exaggerated over the top mess! Even the monster is an over the top mess, but it looks rather good and much better than the computer generated monsters in B movies today.The story has some icky looking monster inside a containment unit where it is seemingly turned into energy and jettisoned into space. Unfortunately, this energy beam bounces off numerous planets and ends up blasting the Putterman's newly installed satellite dish. Soon the television is picking up an amazing amount of channels including one that has a slimy monster that does not do anything but stare at those watching the television. The son and grandpa soon run afoul of the beast as it has the ability to transmit itself in and out of the television. Chaos abounds as mom and dad come home with another couple as they are swingers, the daughter brings home a heavy metal freak and the local horror host stops by to enjoy the madness! The film is very 80's and I do believe the film purposely goes excessive with the decade. The parents are swingers and their house is decorated in a style that is reminiscent of the family in Beetlejuice if they were more into sexual art. The boyfriend is into heavy metal, the son enjoys hanging out with his grandpa who is into military actions and then there is the daughter who is sporting the multicolored hair and who is very pretty by the way. By far the cutest gal in the film, though the actress playing the horror movie hostess does have the best boobies in the flick.So the film was okay in parts, bad in parts but even when it is bad, I have to think that it was being done purposely. It just seems they way the film plays out is exactly as they wanted it to be and though it is groan inducing at times, I still have to think that this is what they wanted. The film actually looks rather good considering it was released in 1986, I watched another film earlier tonight from 1987 and it looked much older than this one did. The monster is shown a lot in this one and there is stuff going on quite a bit. This film did something though that happens a lot in horror films, they killed off people too quickly. One minute there are lots of people to kill, and in less than five minutes everyone is nearly dead! Still, it was quick paced and it did not last long, sure it is always nice to have the kills spread out, but it does not hurt this film too much. Just hard to rate this one, like I said, it is kind of bad, but once again, I think that was done purposely.

Taking a look at a poll being held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best movies of 1986,I spotted a fellow IMDb'er mention a Horror title on their "would like to watch list" that along with sounding pretty wild,also has a very eye catching poster.Searching round everywhere online for 2-3 weeks,I was thrilled when I at last stumbled upon a version of the movie,which would allow me to tune into the "Terrorvision" TV channel.The plot:Annoyed over his new high-tech satellite failing to work,Stanley Putterman decides to do a bit of DIY work,instead of waiting for the engineer to arrive.Hammering all over the place,the satellite bursts back into life when a strange beam hits it from outer space.Happy over his handy work,Putterman decides to celebrate by taking his wife Suzy to a swingers party.Waving goodbye to their remaining family as they set off for their party,Cherry Putterman leaves the house for a date with her boyfriend O.D.,leaving Grandpa and young Sherman Putterman all on their own.Deciding to take a look at the proud work that Stanley has done,grandpa and Sherman soon discover that instead of receiving extra channels,the TV now contains an alien,who is getting ready to burst out.View on the film:Emphasising the positives and hiding the negatives in the movie's low budget,writer/director Ted Nicolaou builds a delightful live action cartoon Horror world,with Nicolaou closely working with Dario Argento's regular cinematography Romano Albani to spray the primary colours right across any barrier's.Along with the stylish colour design,Nicolaou also shows a real skill in placing some moments of unexpected charm within the movie,with the alien (perfectly voiced by Frank Welker) going from a cheap "special effect" blob,to actually having a real personality!.Perfectly matching his directing style (and backed by a catchy title track from the Alt Rock band The Fibonaccis),the screenplay by Nicolaou makes sure that the film bounces along its running time by making every single character as off-centre as possible,from the parents who act like going to a swingers party is just the end to a typical day,to a grandpa who fears that "the enemy" might return at any time.Along with the off- beat characters,Nicolaou also includes a number of brilliant,deranged Horror moments,from the alien impersonating family members,to the weird blob doing its first ever "moshing",which leads to this channel being one that you will want to record all of the programs off of.

TerrorVision (1986) *** (out of 4)A father (Gerrit Graham) installs a new satellite TV system and before long it crosses paths with some aliens who decide to pay a visit and cause all sort of bodily harm. TERRORVISION comes from Empire Studios, which was the original home name for Charles Band and it actually turned out to be much better than I was expecting. If you're wanting a straight science fiction film then you're going to be highly disappointed because this thing is silly, over-the-top and pretty much pokes fun of the genre. I think what really kept this film so entertaining is that you never know where it was going to go. At times it's just a spoof of the genre that's winking at the viewer and there are other times where it goes so wild with goo that you can't help but really laugh. I thought the monster itself was classic because it seemed like an obese E.T. that has goo coming out of it and some brown stuff that looks like he had way too many refried beans. The creature was so memorable and especially with its deformed eyes, the extra "eye" and of course there's that tongue, which seems to be in a mouth with such bad breathe that you can smell it through your TV screen. Another major plus were the death scenes, which were quite gory. There's really not any blood on display but there's all sorts of slime that comes oozing out of the creature after he gets done eating people. Another good thing going are the characters, which seem to have been an early version of the ones we'd see the following year on 'Married with Children.' I say this because the parents are swingers constantly bringing people back to the house and even old grandpa isn't all there in the head. The daughter (Diane Franklin) has her hair colored just about everything you'd see in the rainbow and even the small brother (Chad Allen) is pretty strange. They're strange but incredibly likable and they certainly add charm to the picture. We even get Sonny Carl Davis who most will remember as the breakfast guy from FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. This film certainly has its tongue planted firmly you know where but this is what makes it so much fun. You even get to see aliens watching stuff like ROBOT MONSTER and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, which is pretty interesting.