THE TERROR

MOVIE REVIEW

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE TERROR - 1963 USA Release: May 30, 1933 American International Rating: USA: N/A

The movie opens with a dark and stormy night. Winds blow, lightning flashes, thunder crashes, and the ocean splashes against a massive stone castle. Inside, actor Boris Karloff (FRANKENSTEIN, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE MUMMY, THE BLACK CAT, THE GHOUL, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE RAVEN [1935], SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE BODY SNATCHER, ISLE OF THE DEAD, BEDLAM, THE RAVEN [1963], BLACK SABBATH, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, DIE, MONSTER, DIE!, MAD MONSTER PARTY), who we will soon know as Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe, comes downstairs to pull on a chain to opening a portcullis to another room.

He turns his head!

'Wait! What was that?'

Oh, nothing apparently, He continues pulling the chain until he can enter the next room. Once there, the portcullis closes and he walks down flights of stone stairs to encounter a "BOO!"

That 5 minute gotcha being relatively new in 1963 means audiences - your great grandparents - probably didn't groan when they saw it. But groan they will because the exact same shot of Boris opening that portcullis will be repeated at least three times, and once from a different angle that was clearly shot by a second camera at the same time.

There's a reason for this discrepancy but I'll get to that in a moment.

The movie really starts with actor Jack Nicholson (THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE RAVEN, TOMMY, THE SHINING, THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, BATMAN, WOLF, MARS ATTACKS!) who we will come to know as Lt. Andre Duvalier, riding a horse along the beach. Dressed in the uniform of a soldier of early 19th Century France, he's exhausted and soon falls off his horse. Eventually the tide comes in and the cold Atlantic hits his face, waking him. He's helped by a lovely young woman named Helene (Sandra Knight: FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, TOWER OF LONDON, BLOOD BATH, THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA [1990]).

Helene (pronounced like Elaine) confounds Andre, as she is both beguiling and skittish, forward and shy. His spirit and energy restored a bit by fresh drinking water, Andre first finds himself drawn to Helene, only to be quickly horrified when she runs into the ocean and drowns herself.

Or did she?

Andre runs into the ocean to save her and is immediately attacked by a large hawk that repeatedly dives at his head, all sharp beak and claws.

Nearly drowning from it all himself, Andre wakes up in bed in a hovel, where a kindly (?) middle-age woman named Katrina (Dorothy Neumann: THE UNDEAD, THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW, PRIVATE PARTS) tends to him, encouraging him to rest and drink. Realizing he was saved from certain death, Andre asks if the girl was also saved, but the woman knows of no girl. It's here in the hovel that Andre also meets Gustaf (Jonathan Haze: MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR, DAY THE WORLD ENDED, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, NOT OF THIS EARTH, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, BLOOD BATH) the young man who saved Andre as well as his horse.

Later that night, Andre wakes to the noise of the wind and, finding himself alone, goes for a night walk.

In no time he finds Helene, affectionate and indifferent, mysterious as always. She walks away and when Andre realizes she's not stopping, he goes after her. But as he crashes in the dark through an unfamiliar forest, Helene easily outpaces him. No sooner does he run to catch up than he's abruptly stopped by Gustaf. Gustaf warns him of danger, lifts a large stone from the ground and throws it at the path beyond. The stone quickly sinks and Andre realizes its quicksand. Was Helene trying to lead him to his death?

The mute Gustaf, who can only whisper, tells him that Helene is possessed and only Andre can save her. Gustaf doesn't know everything however, only that there's danger and the answers lie in the castle of Baron Von Leppe.

Andre goes back to get his horse and is soon knocking at the massive wooden doors of the castle. It's here he meets the Baron and the Baron's servant, Stefan (Dick Miller: IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, NOT OF THIS EARTH, THE UNDEAD, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE PREMATURE BURIAL, DEATH RACE 2000, PIRANHA [1978], THE HOWLING, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, GREMLINS, THE TERMINATOR, CHOPPING MALL, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, INNERSPACE, THE 'BURBS, GREMLINS 2, AMITYVILLE 1992, TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT, TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD).

Pushy and arrogant in his pursuit of saving Helene from what or whoever, he describes her to the Baron who, surprised, escorts him to another room. Then Andre is surprised to see a portrait of Helene on the wall. "Before you say anything, look closer at the name of the artist, and the year."

The painting is 20 years old. Andre described the Baron's long dead wife, Ilsa.

WTF Is Going On?

That's what Andre would like to know and now, by golly, we've got a mystery, gang!

Writer, Producer, and Director, Roger Corman (Over 500 movie credits as a Producer alone including, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, THE WASP WOMAN, HOUSE OF USHER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, TALES OF TERROR, THE TOMB OF LIGEIA, DEATH RACE 2000) had two days left on a contract to work with Boris Karloff and he wanted to make the most of it. After all, Boris Karloff was 75 years old and STILL an A-List actor!

Roger was also feeling cocky in 1963 due to the fact that he pulled off a record breaking feature film coup in 1959, when he allegedly shot a full feature film, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, in only two days.

Roger was ready to do that again (by that time, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS went from a modest 1960 success to a 1963 hit) with THE TERROR, but that's not how life worked out. Thinking he could have the movie done in a week, Roger would eventually be stunned to realize that his fast buck turn-around production wouldn't be completed for the next 9 months. During that time Roger couldn't finish directing THE TERROR as he had commitments to other films.

So he hired other directors, who were busy on their own projects - or completely inexperienced - to direct what they could of THE TERROR. These directors included,

5 day director Monte Hellman (BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT 3, TRAPPED ASHES),

4 day director Francis Ford Coppola (BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, DEMENTIA 13, THE CONVERSATION, APOCALYPSE NOW, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, SUPERNOVA, TWIXT),

Many days director Jack Hill, who along with Roger co-wrote the screenplay (BLOOD BATH, DEMENTIA 13, SPIDER BABY, FEAR CHAMBER, ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE, ALIEN TERROR, MACABRE SERENADE, DEATH SHIP). Jack Hill is not to be confused with,

1 day directors Jack Hale and Dennis Jakob (who never directed before or since),

and on the last day of shooting, Jack Nicholson.

More directors kept the writers busy. Besides Roger and Jack Hill there was

Leo Gordon (THE WASP WOMAN, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, TOWER OF LONDON).

Altogether you would think that THE TERROR would turn out to be an incomprehensible mess, but amazingly, no. While often uneven, and going a few too many times to the well with duplicate shots used as filler, THE TERROR still delivers.

In fact, over ten years later in 1979, Stanley Kubrick would reference a scene from THE TERROR in THE SHINING.

You'll know it when you see it. Oh, ho! Ho! Ho!

Three Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2023 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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