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Released by: Film Chest
Released on: 4/26/2011
Director: Roger Corman
Cast: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson
Year: 1964
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The Movie:
Directed by Roger Corman with uncredited assists from Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Nicholson and Jack Hill, The Terror stars a young Nicolson in the lead role of a 19th century French soldier named Lieutenant Andre Duvalier who, when the film begins, has been separated from the rest of his company. Unsure how he got there, he wakes up on a distant beach where he sees a mysterious and beautiful woman (Sandra Knight) and, being understandably curious, he follows her only to wind up at a massive old castle lived in by Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff) and his assistant (Dick Miller of all people).
Von Leppe lets him in but Duvalier is more interested in finding out what happened to the beautiful woman he saw and figuring out who she is. Von Leppe, however, tells him that no such woman is living in the area, though Duvalier continues to see her out the window and around the castle. Complicating the issue further is a painting in the Baron's castle of a woman who looks eerily similar to the one Duvalier is after. Unsure what's going on, the old witch woman who lives nearby (Dorothy Neumann) might know more than she's letting on - but what's really happening here? Is Duvalier imagining things or is the Baron up to something?
Shot directly after The Raven (which is how Karloff wound up in the film - Corman simply through more money at him to keep him onboard once The Raven wrapped), The Terror is a pretty impressive little low budget gothic horror film. While it's not always easy to Nicholson seriously in the role of a Napoleonic era French officer, as he neither looks nor sounds the part, Karloff is as reliably creepy as always and Knight makes for a great mysterious ghost woman. The sets, left over from The Raven as well, look excellent and the lighting and use of primary colors throughout the film is consistently impressive and gives the film a weird atmosphere.
Featuring a really strong build up to a creepy conclusion that takes place in a perfectly morbid location complete with graves and fog and giant spooky trees, making it easy to overlook the fact that the story doesn't really go anywhere for much of its running time and when it does it's relying very heavily on clichés and genre standards. Not a particularly original film, it's nevertheless quite an entertaining one and certainly a very nicely shot one. Flawed or not, it gives Karloff plenty of time to strut his stuff and it's got enough going on that works that you won't mind its obvious missteps.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encode 1.78.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer for The Terror is pretty good. There is some softness here and there but colors are well represented and black levels as well. Skin tones show some evidence of noise reduction but nothing too severe. Detail is definitely improved over previous DVD releases in a big way and seeing it in widescreen helps you to appreciate just how good certain sections of this film look.
Audio options are provided in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or Mono with optional Spanish subtitles. There's no lossless option here, unfortunately, but regardless the quality is fine if periodically a little flat. There are no problems understanding the dialogue and the score is well balanced.
Extras are light but there's a trailer and a quick, two minute restoration demo included on the disc, both in high definition. The package also includes a DVD of the film with the same extras and a postcard insert inside the keepcase.
The Final Word:
While not a perfect film, The Terror holds up rather well particularly now that it has been given a pretty decent home video presentation. The HD transfer is a noticeable improvement over previous DVD releases and the movie itself holds up well.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
