The Terror *** (1963, Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dorothy Neumann, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze) – Classic Movie Review 3873

‘No one will be admitted while the coffin is being opened!’ The Terror (1963) is a semi-celebrated glimpse of the skill and ingenuity of Roger Corman in putting together a project when once again confronted with his usual highly limited resources. It was shot in only three days before the sets (originally built for Corman’s The Raven) were demolished and stars horror icon Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson.

Immediately after finishing The Raven, Corman shot this film using the same sets and the same two lead actors. Though all of the scenes with Karloff were filmed in three days, Corman then sent Francis Ford Coppola to Big Sur for three days to shoot additional footage, and he stayed 11 days. The largely improvised film took nine months to complete, the longest production of Corman’s career.

The simple plot sees Jack Nicholson’s French soldier Lieutenant Andre Duvalier follow a beautiful mysterious young woman, Helene (played by Nicholson’s pregnant then wife Sandra Knight), to the castle of the elderly Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe (Karloff), where all sorts of strange things happen. [Spoiler alert] Helene turns out to be the ghost of Ilsa the Baroness Von Leppe possessed by a witch.

Five others helped Corman out with the direction – Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, Dennis Jacob and multi-skilled Nicholson – making this the most intriguing four-day movie ever. Nicholson directed the climactic flood sequence.

Perhaps it is not actually very good, but who cares when it’s this interesting?

Also in the cast are Dorothy Neumann as Katrina, Dick Miller as Stefan and Jonathan Haze as Gustaf.

Corman paid Leo Gordon $1,600 to write a script, and made a deal with Karloff for three days filming for a small amount of money plus a deferred payment of $15,000 if the film earned more than $150,000. In May 1966 Corman told Karloff he would not get the $15,000 as the film didn’t make $150,000 but he would pay the money if Karloff worked on a future project for Corman. This turned out to be the 1968 Peter Bogdanovich movie Targets, which extensively uses clips from The Terror, and Karloff was paid his deferred fee once he agreed to be in Targets.

The Terror, restored from original 35mm elements, was released widescreen on home video on April 26, 2011.  The film is in the public domain.

Nicholson wears the uniform used by Marlon Brando in Désirée (1954).

Karloff recalled: ‘Corman had the sketchiest outline of a story. I read it and begged him not to do it. He said “That’s alright Boris, I know what I’m going to do. I want you for two days on this.”

‘I was in every shot, of course. Sometimes I was just walking through and then I would change my jacket and walk back. He nearly killed me on the last day. He had me in a tank of cold water for about two hours. After he got me in the can he suspended operations and went off and directed two or three operations to get the money, I suppose.

‘The sets were so magnificent. As they were being pulled down around our ears, Roger was dashing around with me and a camera, two steps ahead of the wreckers. It was very funny.’

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3873
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