The Terror

For a film calling itself 'The Terror', Roger Corman's unpolished and critically hounded horror film isn't very terrifying. In fact, by the time the credits role there's a good chance that you'll sit there bewildered asking yourself what, exactly, you've just spent the last eighty minutes of your life on. There's a good reason for this, as The Terror is an almost complete waste of time; it offers nothing in the way of intrigue, invention or influence on the genre, nor does the plot have any kind of point and, to be honest, it's not all that interesting anyway. However, The Terror gains points for protruding that lovely Roger Corman style quickie sort of atmosphere, and for excellent performances from classic horror icon, Boris Karloff, and a man that would go on to set the acting world on fire a decade later; the inescapably excellent, Jack Nicholson. The film has an awesome amount of camp and cult value for these two performances, Nicholson especially as it's always fun to see a highly rated actor in an early, and much less highly rated role.

The point of The Terror would appear to be the classic Roger Corman 'point' – "let's make some money!" and the penny-pinching style that Corman perfected over the years is evident in just about every cheap looking scene. The plot follows a French solider (Jack Nicholson) who travels to the castle of the resident baron in search of a girl he met while stranded in the local village. While there he discovers a lot of terror (or not) as we find out that the baron is harbouring a secret. The secret can be guessed within the first half of the film, and that's another area where the film fails, but it's kept alive by a constant stream of ridiculous goings on, and as the film moves closer to it's climax and the lines get more terrible and the plot becomes more ridiculous, you cant help but treat yourself to a good laugh. People that rate films objectively will hate the Terror, but for the cult fans and Roger Corman fanatics; this will fill a gap, and although it's instantly forgettable; there's worse ways to waste your time.

I bought the DVD for the Little Shop of Horrors and was pleasently surprised to find it was a double feature with The Terror. I watched it with no expectations and ended up enjoying the movie. If this were a modern day movie, all involved would be laughed out of the box office. Their attempt to throw in a few catsup filled gore scenes and several lame twists at the end made it comical enough to sit through. And how about that young and dapper Jack Nicholson?! This is one to watch in the middle of the night when you can't sleep, and it's worth watching at least once. I had to know how it would end.

Enjoyment of this film will depend on two things. First how much you like the actors involved. The second is the understand that this film was pieced together from scraps of film shot by various directors to fit in with footage that had been shot of Karloff on left over sets after the original feature had been finished. If you can forgive your favorite actors anything and accept that this is a paste up job, then you'll have yourself an okay time at the movies.

Lets face it this film is a mess. The story of a French soldier following a mysterious woman to a castle is so disjointed that they actually shot a scene where Jack Nicholson grabs one of the characters and asks him whats going on, its at that point all of the loose ends are brought together in a tenuous grip.

Its the sort of movie that shouldn't work on any level but some how does.Its well acted considering that no one probably had any idea what they were starring in. Its also directed well enough that you don't realize that there were actually five directors other than Roger Corman behind the camera.

Currently floating around in the public domain (cheap video copies are to be had) this is a movie worth seeing if you want to see how Jack Nicholson started or how Boris Karloff ended up. Its a just okay thriller with a more interesting production history. Worth a bag of popcorn if you need another movie to fill out a night of Corman Poe movies.

Actally its none too "original" either, being little more than a variation on Edgar Allan Poe's FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER coincidentally made by Corman himself five years earlier. Contrary to popular public opinion, THE TERROR was NOT filmed in four days. The scenes with Karloff were, but the remaining 2/3 of the movie were shot sporadically over a ten week period....with a little help from Corman's inner sanctum of friends, including Francis (Ford) Coppola no less!

Filmed pricipally to capitalise on sets left over from THE RAVEN (yet another Edgar Allan Poe tale - Corman had already filmed THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM as well as THE TELL TALE HEART) this hastily produced little flick was mildy interesting with not a little charisma. Nicholson's performance here gives less than no clue as to the great work that was yet to come in such as ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST, FIVE EASY PIECES and BATMAN. One could be positively uncharitable and say his performance here amounted to little more than disinterested and amateurish acting. But still it remains today early Nicholson and by that token alone offers curiosity value.

In the upshot way better than the sum of its parts...even given the garish Pathe color! The recently re-released DVD version offers surprisingly effective new 6-track surround sound.

This Roger Corman film deals with a young officer (Jack Nicholson) serving during the Napoleon empire . He's stranded in a coast near an eerie castle . There he meets a gorgeous young girl (Sandra Knight, Nicholson's first wife) and discovers that she's haunted . When she spontaneously disappears , he goes to the castle where inhabits a mysterious Baron (Boris Karloff) , his servant (Dick Miller) and the deceased Baroness is the beautiful girl he saw close the beach , then creepy events occur .

This is a well known Corman terror film that was only shot in three days . It's a quickie with lack luster and low Budget . The storyline has holes similarly to Swiss cheese , but thanks to the excellent cast it manages to be at least an agreeable terror movie . The film belongs to the Corman terror period during the 60s with classical horror adaptations on the writers : H.P. Lovecraft (The haunted palace) and Poe . It was realized after the classic Edgar Allan Poe adaptations (Tales of terror , The premature burial , Pit and pendulum , House of Usher) and on the sets and leftover from ¨The raven¨ and in spite of having similar style , isn't a Poe rendition , but an original screenplay by Leo Gordon (a habitual secondary actor : Tobruk) and Jack Hill (a grade Z film director). In the movie there are the Corman's common actors , such as : Jonathan Haze, Dick Miller and a newcomer Nicholson who had previously played ¨Little shop of horrors¨ in a comical interpretation as a sadomasochist who receives an especial dental intervention . Besides , here repeat the main technicians and assistants as the musician Ronald Stein composing a gloomy score , Daniel Haller as production designer , Monte Hellman (The shooting) as auxiliary direction and even Francis Ford Coppola as associate producer . The flick will appeal to Jack Nicholson fans and followers to Corman's long career.