The Terror (1963)

Director:

Roger Corman
(more)

Writers:

Leo Gordon (screenplay) and
Jack Hill (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

16 May 1964 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

There's No Rest For The Wicked...

Plot:

A young officer in Napoleon's army pursues a mysterious woman to the castle of an elderly Baron.

Plot Keywords:

Baron | Castle | Forest | Death | Painting

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe
Jack Nicholson	...	Lt. Andre Duvalier
Sandra Knight	...	Helene / Ghost of Ilsa The Baroness Von Leppe
Dick Miller	...	Stefan (as Richard Miller)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Katrina, Witch / Eric's Mother
Jonathan Haze	...	Gustaf

Directed by
Roger Corman
Francis Ford Coppola		(uncredited)
Monte Hellman		(uncredited)
Jack Hill		(uncredited)
Jack Nicholson		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Leo Gordon		(screenplay) and
Jack Hill		(screenplay)
Roger Corman		uncredited

Produced by
Francis Ford Coppola	....	associate producer (as Francis Coppola)
Roger Corman	....	producer
Harvey Jacobson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Ronald Stein

Cinematography by
John M. Nickolaus Jr.		(director of photography) (as John Nicholaus)
Floyd Crosby		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Stuart O'Brien

Art Direction by
Daniel Haller

Set Decoration by
Harry Reif		(as Harold Reif)

Costume Design by
Marjorie Corso

Production Management
Jack Bohrer	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Rapp	....	assistant director
Francis Ford Coppola	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Richard M. Rubin	....	property master (as Richard Rubin)

Sound Department
John L. Bury	....	sound (as John Bury)

Stunts
Dennis Jakob	....	stunt double: Boris Karloff (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Donald Shebib	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Ronald Stein	....	conductor
Les Baxter	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Monte Hellman	....	location director
Paul Julian	....	titles

Production Companies

• Filmgroup, The

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1963) (USA) (theatrical)
• Lii-Filmi (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Media Home Entertainment (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• Castle Video (1988) (Finland) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1994) (Finland) (TV)
• Take 2 Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Westlake Entertainment Group (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• World Film Magic (1995) (USA) (DVD)
• DiscoVision (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Essex Entertainment (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Master Movies (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Take 2 Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• UAV Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• United American Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Platinum Disc (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• SlingShot Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Weton Wesgram (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• York Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2004) (UK) (TV) (BBC2)
• Kabaya Foods (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Passport Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sinister Cinema (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Finnkino (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• E1 Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (4 film set)
• Front Row Entertainment (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• GoodTimes Home Video (1980s) (USA) (VHS)
• LS Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Network Enterprises (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Prism Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Troy Gold (1963) (USA) (VHS) (NTSC)
• Video Treasures (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Videocast (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Vídeo Arte (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Roger Corman's The Terror" - USA (uncensored intended title)
"Roger Corman's The Terror: Original Uncut Version" - USA (complete title)
"The Haunting" - USA (TV title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:12 (DVD rating) (2002) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1964) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-15 (uncut) (2009)

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

Filmgroup, The

Trivia:

Roger Corman decided on a major change for this film. Instead of a fire, the usual finale for a Corman film of the period, he had the castle flooded instead. Corman's crew had come to look forward to "fire day".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The baron wears a tuxedo and a bow tie, in a style more appropriate to the twentieth century, rather than that of a baron at the start of the nineteenth century.

Quotes:

Andre:That bird! It attacked me!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

Don't judge this by the available videos...

... which are mostly crap, copied from old nth generation prints full of dirt and splices and bad sound. I never saw THE TERROR when it was originally released but I did see TARGETS, which incorporated footage from the earlier film a few years later. The footage from TERROR was crisp, sharp, and beautifully photographed. Seeing it when it was new must have been an entirely different experience. On the other hand, audiences then didn't have the advantage of hindsight. They didn't know that the young lead would go on to become possibly the most successful actor of his time. And they certainly wouldn't have suspected it from THE TERROR. Jack Nicholson is handily out-acted by virtually everyone else on the screen, including his then buddy Dick Miller. Karloff shines, bringing the same sly relish to his wittier lines that he brought to THE BODY SNATCHER many years before. The guy was the king of horror movies, no question about it. Everyone knows the backstory: shot on leftover sets from THE RAVEN (and possibly, if I'm not mistaken, THE HAUNTED CASTLE) with plenty of stock footage from PIT AND THE PENDULUM and HOUSE OF USHER. Most amusing (to me) was the way no one could agree on how to pronounce the name Gustav, whom Nicholson at one point addresses as "Gust-off" (although he comes closer in a later scene). If you're a fan of classic horror (or B-movie lore) you should give THE TERROR a look. Its creaky atmosphere is oddly charming.