The Terror (1963)

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 | Horse | Extramarital Affair

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) (alternative title)
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:

Francis Ford Coppola took eleven days to shoot his second unit footage, only ten minutes of which wound up in the finished film.

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

Andre: That bird! It attacked me!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

With this cast, how can you go wrong?

In one of Roger Corman's many movies about dead people who don't seem to want to stay dead, Lt. Andre Duvalier (a very young Jack Nicholson) meets a young woman (Sandra Knight, Nicholson's wife at the time) along the beach and follows her to a castle inhabited by elderly Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff). Von Leppe's deceased wife looked exactly like the woman on the beach. Sure enough, there's a deadly secret behind all this...something that threatens to destroy everyone.

Obviously, this movie's sure to be a treat for any fan of early '60s camp. But specifically, this stars Karloff and Nicholson, plus Sandra Knight and frequent Corman cast member Dick Miller* as Karloff's servant. It's sort of weird - but neat - seeing Miller's husky face and hearing his New York accent in a Gothic tale. A pretty cool movie.

*More recently, Dick Miller has appeared in every one of Joe Dante's movies. No doubt Dante grew up watching Corman's movies and decided to cast Miller in his own movies.