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The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.
For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Terror can be found here.
No. The Terror is based on a screenplay co-written by American screenwriters Leo Gordon and Jack Hill along with co-director Roger Corman.
Yes. The Terror is in public domain and can be viewed online at Google Videos, Veoh.com, and the Internet Archive.
Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson), a French soldier separated from his troop and on the verge of exhaustion, is helped by the mysterious Helene (Sandra Knight), a beautiful girl he meets while wandering along the seashore. After he recovers, Andre tries to find his savior but is told that she does not exist until he is told that she is possessed and being held at the castle of Baron Victor Von Leppe (Boris Karloff). Von Leppe also denies that she exists, but Duvalier cannot help but notice the striking resemblence between Helene and a portrait of Von Leppe's dead wife Ilsa.
1806, evidenced when Andre looks at a portrait of Baroness Ilsa Von Leppe, notices the date as 1786, and remarks, "That was 20 years ago."
After rescuing Andre from the surf and carrying him to Katrina (Dorothy Neumann)'s house, Gustaf (Jonathan Haze) watches as Katrina tries to convince Andre that there is no woman named Helene. When Katrina isn't looking, Gustaf places his first two fingers of both hands near the corners of his eyes as though trying to tell Andre something. It's uncertain what the gesture actually was supposed to mean, but viewers have suggested that Gustav was attempting to warn Andre about Katrina being either a witch or giving him the evil eye.
Her husband, the Baron Von Leppe, killed her. He explains to Andre that he fell in love with Ilsa, a young peasant girl from the village, and eventually married her. Almost immediately after their marriage, however, he was called away for military service. When he returned, he found that his bride was not alone in her bed. "With my bare hands, I killed her," Von Leppe says remorsefully. His servant Stefan (Dick Miller) took care of Ilsa's lover, Eric.
Ilsa finally convinces Baron Von Leppe to kill himself so that they can be together forever. Von Leppe throws Andre out of the castle. Andre meets up with Katrina, who reveals that it is she who, by her witchcraft, controls Ilsa/Helene in order to get Von Leppe to commit suicide and avenge the murder of her son, Eric. Stefan tries to stop him, but the baron locks himself in the crypt. Andre, with Katrina in tow, returns to the castle to stop the baron from killing himself, but Stefan finally reveals the truth -- that it was Eric who killed the baron 20 years ago and has taken the baron's place all these years. Katrina is struck by lightning outside of the chapel and burned to a crisp. Andre and Stefan break into the crypt, but it is too late. The baron has opened the duct, and the sea water is spilling in, flooding the crypt. The baron and Stefan drown, but Andre saves Helene and carries her outside. "You're free now," he says and kisses her. When he looks at her face again, he is horrified to see that she is melting.
Nicholson was born 22 April 1937, so he was about 26 years old when The Terror was made.
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