Friday, June 15th 2007
The Terror (1963)
Grade: C-
Synopsis: A young French soldier (Jack Nicholson!) pursues a mysterious woman to a Baron’s (Boris Karloff) castle.
The Terror was made in the middle of director Roger Corman’s series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and borrows stock footage from some of the earlier films. The end result is a throw-away film that lacks both the energy of its predecessors and the polish of its successors.
Karloff, as usual, manages to rise above the low budget, while Nicholson seems to wander through the movie half asleep. The other performers are fine, provided you can get past the accents (or lack thereof).
Bottom Line: Despite the flaws, the movie is watchable if you’re a fan of the genre, especially once you get through the slow first act.
