Sadly Over-hyped

It is a performances centric movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

RELEASED IN 1963 and directed by Roger Corman & Francis Ford Coppola (with the help of a few others), "The Terror" stars Jack Nicholson as a young officer in Napoleon's Army who is infatuated by an intriguing woman (Sandra Knight) he meets on the coast of the Confederation of the Rhine. After a run-in with a witch (Dorothy Neumann) he tracks the mysterious girl to the castle of an elderly Baron riddled with guilt (Boris Karloff). INTERESTING BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO: After the shooting for Corman's "The Raven" was completed, the castle sets were still available for a few days before demolition. Corman acted quickly to concoct a script via Leo Gordon and enlisted 75 year-old Karloff, who costarred in "The Raven." Boris later said it was amusing the way Roger dashed around with him & the other principles filming scenes just two steps ahead of the wreckers. After a few days of shooting, Corman couldn't film the rest of the movie himself due to union legalities, so he enlisted several young filmmakers to assist, including sending Coppola up to the Big Sur area for eleven days. Sets from other AIP movies were also used, notably "The Haunted Palace" with Vincent Price.COMMENTARY: I've heard people complain about the story supposedly not making sense, but I found the plot easy to follow and even had it figured out by the halfway point, not including the dubious curveball thrown-in at the end (you'll know what I mean). As my title blurb points out, "The Terror" is very Hammer-esque, albeit made in California and on a lower budget than the typical Hammer flick (which weren't expensive films by any means). So if you like haunting Gothic horror with mysterious castles, ghosts and witches in the mold of Hammer flicks you'll probably like "The Terror." It's particularly reminiscent of "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" (1966), which came out three years later. As far as 60's spooky MOOD goes, this movie's superb, which includes the Gothic score (Ronald Stein). Unfortunately, Nicholson's voice is noticeably incongruous and his lines are sometimes delivered in a stilted manner, but that's a minor quibble. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hours & 21 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles (studio), Santa Monica, Point Lobos & Palos Verdes Peninsula, California. WRITERS: Gordon and Jack Hill. ADDITIONAL CAST: Dick Miller (Stefan) and Jonathan Haze (Gustaf). GRADE: B/B-

Jack Nicholson plays Andre Duvalier, a young officer in Napoleons' army in the early 19th century. Separated from his regiment, he chances to encounter a very beautiful but mysterious young woman, Helene (Sandra Knight, a.k.a. the real-life Mrs. Nicholson at the time). He becomes determined to find out this womans' story, and journeys to the nearby castle of the elderly Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff). Andre persists in his inquiries, receiving exposition from the Baron, his devoted butler Stefan (Dick Miller), and local witch Katrina (Dorothy Neumann).Considering the history of "The Terror", it's more entertaining than it may have had any right to be. Corman firmly establishes a solid Gothic atmosphere. "The Terror" may *not* be on the level of his highly regarded Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, but it's not bad at all either. He completed principal photography in just a few days, in his usual economic style, using the sets from "The Raven" while they were being torn down! Cormans' young associates, including Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, and Francis Ford Coppola (even Nicholson directed a few scenes) spent the next several months doing the second unit work. Overall they achieve a pretty good unity of vision. The screenplay, credited to Hill and actor Leo Gordon, is a little convoluted but is generally amusing, with doses of romance and tragedy. The cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr. and an uncredited Floyd Crosby is excellent, as is the music by the ever reliable Ronald Stein. The actors are all quite enjoyable to watch, especially Karloff, and Nicholson holds his own quite well opposite his veteran co-star. Corman stock company player Jonathan Haze plays the supporting role of Gustaf.A drive-in favourite, late show perennial, and frequent inclusion on public domain movie collections, "The Terror" is decent entertainment for old school horror fans.Six out of 10.

I voted 5 because I have no idea. Allow me to build some context:I was young and had just moved to Barcelona. I was sharing a flat with an old NY university roommate and friend in the rundown but exciting barrio Raval. We were both sick and sleeping on couches in the living room at random hours, be it day or night, with the television constantly burning.I awoke sometime around 3am and this movie was just beginning. And it wasn't dubbed into Spanish! I threw a boot at my friend and made him watch it with me. For an hour and a bit we were cackling like fevered demons. Watch this when sick, in a foreign land, in the middle of the night. You'll better appreciate the broody darkness of it then. Otherwise I strongly suspect it stinks.

In what amounts to a film made to kill time and use up the remaining days on Boris Karloff's contract, The Terror, crafted by Roger Corman and perhaps four other directors, is hardly good but still not as bad as it arguably should be? Plot simply follows a French soldier, Andre (Jack Nicholson), in 1806 who gets detached from his regiment and meets a mysterious young woman named Helene (Sandra Knight). Trying to unravel the mystery that surrounds her, Andre is led to the castle of Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe (Karloff), from where it becomes apparent that Helene could be Ilsa, the Baron's wife who died twenty years earlier!In typically Corman style the film has decent atmosphere and the recycled sets from concurrent productions (The Haunted Palace/The Raven) form a good Gothic backdrop. With a number of hands involved in directing and the slim time frame for the production, the plotting is understandably skew-whiff, with some scenes actually serving no purpose, while dialogue is stilted and the delivery of such is sometimes laughable (Nicholson looks like he is reading from auto-cue at times). Yet it's pretty harmless as entertainment, if a touch boring, but Karloff is good value and the theme of past deeds haunting the present gives the film a doom laden edge. 5/10