THE TERROR

US, 1963, 81 minutes, Colour.
Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Richard Miller, Dorothy Neumann, Jonathan Haze.
Directed by Roger Corman.

The Terror is one of many mini-budget horror films and dramas filmed by Roger Corman in the first part of the 1960s. After beginning with small-budget films in the 1950s, producing and directing, Corman moved into a series based on the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. They starred Vincent Price and were very successful. He also made variations on these themes with Boris Karloff and a very young Jack Nicholson who had appeared in his Little Shop of Horrors. Sandra Knight was Nicholson’s wife at this time. Regulars in Corman films, Dick Miller (here Richard Miller) and Jonathan Haze also appeared.

The film has a setting in the Napoleonic times with Nicholson playing a young lieutenant who is separated from his regiment and sees a mysterious woman on the seashore. In the meantime, Boris Karloff is a baron in a castle with various servants. The woman is a ghost and can turn into a bird. The baron is an imposter and one of the servants is his mother.

The film is something of a curio and not always coherent – but of historical interest in Corman’s career as well as the careers of Nicholson and Karloff.

1.The work of Roger Corman? Small budget? The Poe stories? The variations on the Poe themes?

2.The title – and its relevance to the film? Whose terror?

3.The small budget, the sets, the castle, the seashore? The special effects? The bird? The musical score?

4.The baron, the opening credits, the suggestion of torture? The old baron, Katrina, Gustaf and Stefan, his servants? His interactions with the lieutenant? His character? The revelation about his wife, the relationship with Helene, his true identity?

5.The lieutenant, the regiment, the times, the seashore, seeing the woman, following her? His questions? Her disappearance, the attack by the bird, losing consciousness? In the castle, with Katrina and the servants? With the baron? His pursuit of the ghost? The explanations? His character and the end?

6.Helene, on the seashore, the bird, attacking the lieutenant? The ghost? Her moving around the castle? The lieutenant in pursuit of her? The final revelation of who she was?

7.The servants, Katrina, like a witch? Her son? The servants and their place in the household, helping the lieutenant?

8.Popular ingredients for a very small-budget tale – interest in itself, historical?