The Terror (1963)
In 1806, a French officer separated from his regiment on the Baltic coast follows an elusive young woman to the crumbling castle of the haunted Baron von Leppe. Pressing to learn who she is, he uncovers a twenty-year-old killing, a vengeful witch, and a corpse that will not stay at rest.
Roger Corman shot the bulk of The Terror in about two days to use up standing sets and the last of Boris Karloff’s contract days left over from The Raven, then had it patched together over the following months by a rotating crew of young collaborators — among them Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, and Jack Nicholson, who also stars. The result is close to incoherent, and its missing copyright notice has kept it a fixture of cut-rate horror collections ever since.
Background
The Terror was made in a hurry to use up sets left over from The Raven and the last days of Boris Karloff’s contract. Corman shot Karloff’s scenes in a couple of days, and then other filmmakers were brought in to complete the rest over several months, among them Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill and Jack Nicholson himself. Nicholson stars as a French lieutenant, and Sandra Knight, his wife at the time, plays the mysterious girl.
What to watch for
The plot is famously hard to follow, and the film is best enjoyed as a curiosity: a gothic horror shot in pieces by future directors. Watch for Karloff’s performance as the Baron, which is dignified in a film that does not always deserve it, and the coastal scenes with their crashing waves. Its missing copyright notice is why it has been in the public domain and on countless budget collections since. It is a fascinating snapshot of Hollywood’s low-budget training ground.
