The Terror (1963)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Leo Gordon (screenplay) and
Jack Hill (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 May 1964 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

There's No Rest For The Wicked...

Plot:

A young officer in Napoleon's army pursues a mysterious woman to the castle of an elderly Baron.

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Sea | Bird | Suicide | Skeleton

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe
Jack Nicholson	...	Lt. Andre Duvalier
Sandra Knight	...	Helene / Ghost of Ilsa The Baroness Von Leppe
Dick Miller	...	Stefan (as Richard Miller)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Katrina, Witch / Eric's Mother
Jonathan Haze	...	Gustaf
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rick Dean

Also Known As:

Lady of the Shadows (USA) (working title)
Roger Corman's The Terror (USA) (uncensored intended title)
Roger Corman's The Terror: Original Uncut Version (USA)
The Castle of Terror
The Haunting (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1964) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-15 (uncut) (2009) | Australia:PG | UK:12 (DVD rating) (2002) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

Filmgroup, The

Trivia:

Having finished The Raven (1963), Roger Corman shot this film in only four days using the same set and the same two lead actors.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the castle floods, some of the stone floats.

Quotes:

Helene: The crypt! It must be destroyed, and with it the dead.
Andre: Don't speak of the dead anymore. You're with me now.
Helene: I am possessed of the dead.
Andre: You're a warm living woman. Who has told you these things?
Helene: The dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: A Bucket of Blood/The Terror (#1.19)" (2007)

Rubbish is rarely this good

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.