The Terror

Brian Stuart

Overview

In this horror chiller, an intriguing, beautiful woman (Sandra Knight) keeps re-appearing to early 19th-century Lt. Duvalier (Jack Nicholson), and he is led to a castle where he finds an imposter of Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff). He becomes trapped in the ancient castle and tries to make sense of the eerie situation. Director Roger Corman (with the help of a few other directors, including Francis Ford Coppola) shot most of this within a few days after finishing The Raven--utilizing the same set.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/12/2018
UPC:	0889290005267
Original Release:	1963
Rating:	NR
Source:	Film Detective
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:19:00
Sales rank:	44,311

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Boris Karloff	Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe
Jack Nicholson	Lt. Andre Duvalier
Sandra Knight	Helene
Dick Miller	Stefan
Dorothy Neuman	Katrina, Witch
Jonathan Haze	Gustaf
Leo Gordon	Actor

Technical Credits

Brian Stuart

Roger Corman

Leo Gordon

Brian Stuart	Director,Screenwriter
Jack Nicholson	Director
Dennis Jakob	Director
Roger Corman	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Francis Ford Coppola	Director
Monte Hellman	Director
Jack Hale	Director
Leo Gordon	Screenwriter
Harvey Jacobson	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

As a cinematic experience, The Terror is third-rate at best, a long-winded fable that limps in circles, too haphazard to be great art and not outrageous enough to be great trash. Still, the true student of B-movie mythology may want to spend an hour with it anyway, notorious as the film is for being one of low-budget director Roger Corman's classic rush jobs. After wrapping up his humorous horror free-for-all The Raven early, Corman had two extra days left of Boris Karloff's contract that he was loathe to waste. So, instead of tearing down the sets, Karloff was walked through a series of hastily prepared scenes with co-stars Jack Nicholson and Richard Miller. Corman then subcontracted the direction of remaining exteriors and connecting sequences to various assistants, including Francis Ford Coppola and future cult filmmakers Jack Hill and Monte Hellman, with even Nicholson helming a few shots. With more directors than some omnibus films and no time for a proper script, The Terror was bound to baffle, and its slippery story eventually becomes too sluggish to bother deciphering. While the film is worth little more than an amusing anecdote in Corman's colorful legend, he got lots of mileage out of this patchwork monster. Five years later, Corman again found himself owed two days' work by Karloff, so neophyte director Peter Bogdanovich was offered 20 minutes worth of footage from The Terror to use if he could incorporate it into a new feature for the horror icon. The result was the taut, fascinating Targets, which cast Karloff as an aging horror star whose personal appearance at a drive-in is interrupted by a deranged sniper; of course, The Terror is the program onscreen during the mayhem. Corman productions continued to cannibalize chunks of The Terror in years to come, usually in self-referential spoofs like the silly but enjoyable 1976 comedy Hollywood Boulevard, which featured Richard Miller relaxing at a drive-in and enjoying his own performance from 13 years earlier.