Terror

The Terror (1963)

Andre Duvalier is an officer in Napoleon’s army. He becomes separated from his unit and while looking for them stumbles upon a beautiful young woman by the sea. He becomes a bit obsessed with finding her after she disappears and this leads him to a nearby castle. The only occupants are a Baron and his servant, who insist that no young woman lives there. Though Andre keeps seeing her. Eventually he unravels the mystery of the woman as well as the secrets the Baron has been keeping from the world. But will it be in time to save himself and the woman that he is enamored with?

The Terror is a very simple movie with a few twists. At it’s core it is a ghost story set in an old creepy castle. There are many scenes with our protagonist, Andre, creeping around the corridors chasing down voices and strange noises. The ghost of the woman pops up here and there providing at least one decent jump scare. We even get a witch running around up to no good adding to the fun. Toss in a creepy local and a killer bird for a movie that is trying very hard to give the audience a little bit of everything.

Now we need to talk about the cast and crew. For a low budget movie shot for the drive-in market there is a lot of talent here. At the time the big draw was obviously an aging, but still effective Boris Karloff as the Baron. Holding his own is Corman regular and really underappreciated Dick Miller. Then you toss in young talents like Jack Nicholson (who plays Andre), Jack Hill (wrote and directed some scenes), and Francis Ford Coppola (produced and directed some as well) to the mix for a movie that is way better then it should be. Sure many of these guys were still very young and early in their career, but talent always shines thru.

So far in my review I’ve been very positive about The Terror. That said I do have some issues with it. There were many directors and writers involved in the movie, which was shot on available sets and with actors that had a couple of days left on their contracts. This might be why the movie feels “choppy” at times. You can tell that the styles in both the way the movie was shot and written change from scene to scene. Also as I’ve already mentioned there is quite a bit going on with the story. This is good because something interesting is always happening on screen. But at the same time I get the feeling that they are throwing a lot at the audience hoping something will “stick”. If I were to use a single word to try and get across my point it would be uneven.

Like many of you I grew up watching the Terror on the late night movie shows and of course it was a staple of the VHS market along with movies like Night of the Living Dead and Nightmare Castle (and any number of other public domain movies…). A while ago I wrote a review of the Terror for another website and I really didn’t like it (I think the reasons listed above really bugged me). Now a few years later I’ve changed my opinion some. I don’t know if I’m in a better mood, being nostalgic, or if in the intervening time I’ve seen so many bad movies that I have an entirely different set of standards. I’m thinking it is the latter. Either way I have a new appreciation for this movie and think that it is worth checking out. And of course the very best way to watch it is on the new Blu-Ray from HD Cinema Classics. Check out there website at http://www.hdcinemaclassics.com/ for more information on this and their other releases.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer