The Terror [PG]

Upon getting separated from his company Lieutenant Andre Duvalier is led to water and salvation by a mysterious beautiful woman who very quickly disappears. When she continues to haunt his dreams, his search for her leads him to the castle of the reclusive Baron Von Leppe where he discovers that the mysterious woman was the Baroness, who has been dead for many years. Allowed to stay in the castle, the mystery thickens as Andre continues to be haunted by the beautiful woman and he’s not the only one. Is she really the spirit of the Baroness or is some dark magic at use to dish out a little vengeance for a murder long since past? 

One of Jack Nicholson’s early horror movie appearances before he freaked audiences to no-end with “heeeeeres’s Johnny!”, The Terror is a Roger Corman movie that can be taken a bit more seriously as a horror flick than The Little Shop of Horrors, especially since he collaborated with a number of other directors including Francis Ford Coppola. 

Whilst sometimes the story gets a bit too twisted to straighten, this film nevertheless delivers enough levels of suspense, plot twists, and gore to keep it within the realms of reputable horror movie. 

It’s hard to go back and watch these sorts of films that don’t really have a profile within the genre and can be seen as being amateurish or outdated, but at the same time it’s fascinating to see what sort of stories are out there and, who knows, there might be some real underappreciated gems lying unearthed and uncelebrated within the horror canon. I wouldn’t say that this is one of them, but that mindset is always a good one to be in. 

Upon getting separated from his company Lieutenant Andre Duvalier is led to water and salvation by a mysterious beautiful woman who very quickly disappears. When she continues to haunt his dreams, his search for her leads him to the castle of the reclusive Baron Von Leppe where he discovers that the mysterious woman was the Baroness, who has been dead for many years. Allowed to stay in the castle, the mystery thickens as Andre continues to be haunted by the beautiful woman and he’s not the only one. Is she really the spirit of the Baroness or is some dark magic at use to dish out a little vengeance for a murder long since past? 

Jack Nicholson’s character is the typical horror movie hero who accidentally becomes involved within a mystery and I found his performance kind of interesting because he played the part with a certain woodenness and lack of drive. Whether this is just because his heart wasn’t in it or he was satirically taking a stab at this particular generic character is a matter of opinion, personally I like to think it’s the latter. He sort of strides through this movie in an uninteresting sort of way: feeding nothing more than a strong curiosity, as most horror heroes do. However, because he does it with a certain sternness and sometimes almost disinterest, it begs the question are you taking this seriously or just making fun of heroic predecessors? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is something boring and interesting about the way Nicholson makes his way through this movie. 

The gore aspect is actually done rather well, definitely not stomach-churning believable, but it still manages to deliver a bit of an “ew” response: we see a guy get his eyes pecked out, a woman struck by lightning and catch fire, and a face melt; all of it leading to a piqued but sustained sort of climax. 

Starring Boris Karloff, Sandra Knight, Dick miller, Dorothy Neumann, and Jonathan Haze, The Terror is an enthralling little flick in which you can never quite see where it’s going. Filled with romance, suspense, mystery, death, murder, and hauntings of numerous sorts, I rather enjoyed it. It’s no hard-hitting horror classic, but it has its strengths.