Well, hope for a prayer and a notepad because I am going to tell you about a really rushed 1963 horror film by the B-movie king Roger Cormen. Roger Cormen is a man that has made over 300 B-movies in his lifetime; there is a joke that goes “If you gave Roger Cormen a camera, a quarter, and a phone booth, he will make a movie about a man on the phone.” In regards to the way in which this film was made, another movie by Roger Cormen, “The Raven,” wrapped filming two days early. Instead of packing up, Roger decided to shoot a movie using all the sets and costumes that were still available from the previous film, which turned into the boring mess known as “The Terror.” It is actually amazing that this film got made at all, considering the fact that he passed it along to several different directors and didn’t have a script for the film.
At any rate, the plot involves a soldier named Andre, stumbling across a beautiful woman at the beach dressed in robes. He gets caught in an incoming wave and is knocked unconscious. A witch finds him and nurses him back to health. The witch lives with a man named Gustav and a hawk named Helena. Andre leaves the witch and comes to a castle owned by a Baron played by Boris Karloff, whose participation in “The Terror” marks one of his last film roles. From then on, Andre is trying to find out who the woman is and why the Baron lives by himself.
Interestingly enough, this is the very first film in which Jack Nicholson acted; he is the main character, Andre. Not only was this his first time acting, but he actually directed a little bit because Roger couldn’t handle it. Don’t be fooled, however. Just because this was Nicholson’s first time acting doesn’t mean he was good at it. He had the same bland vocal tone throughout the entire film, whether he was being happy or in a fight. Boris Karloff was better, but you can tell that he was getting on in his years because, while he does his best, he doesn’t have a lot to do.
I’m not going to lie; this was a pretty bad film with very subpar acting from most of the cast. The plot is hinted in the beginning, but everything is explained in the last ten minutes. In the middle is Jack Nicholson walking around the castle figuring out who the woman is. If you count how many minutes of the film were spent to his walking around aimlessly, it comes to approximately 35 minutes. Overall, while Boris gives it a good shot and the paintings in the opening credits are fun, this was a very boring film.