Item #: 4866 Category: COPPOLA, FRANCIS FORD Format: VHS MPAA Rating: PG

Woolly Rating: 4/10 (142 votes)

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pierdesade@aol.com

Jul 31, 2002 @ 22:3:20

Terrorbull! Grade D.
The Terror With sets still in place from his film The Raven (which themselves, were the cumulative sets from his past Edgar Allen Poe films), Roger Corman sought to make an additional profit by filming a second film back-to back after The Raven had wrapped. This is no news for Corman devotes, and no new modus operandi for Corman himself. Yet, filming did not go as smoothly as planned. The final result, The Terror, went through considerable rewrites and reshoots. Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, And Francis Coppola all had their names attached to the film at some point. Ultimately, the finished film is a case of too many cooks spoiling the soup, and too much talent gone to waste. The Terror follows abandoned French soldier Lieut. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson) as he attempts to solve a 20-year-old mystery in the castle of Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe (Boris Karloff) .The Baron has locked himself away after his wife’s death and slipped into a dementia akin to Vincent Price’s in Corman’s previous Poe outing Pit and the Pendulum. As castles in horror films generally come with a mystery attached, no new territory is covered here. Indeed, if you’ve seen Pit and the Pendulum, you’ve basically seen a better version of The Terror. Except here, less actually happens. The jump cuts in the film’s scenes and soundtrack are unbecoming of a Roger Corman production. Corman was always a master of the cutaway shot, and was always able to make a small film look big. The Terror is strictly amateur by comparison. The notion of making a film simply to capitalize on the sets from a previous one is somewhat ridiculous. But, The Terror doesn’t even succeed on that level. The castle’s scenery is largely hidden by shadows and via poor cuts. Similarly underused, are the fantastic talents of Nicholson and Karloff. It’s always a pleasure seeing Jack Nicholson’s early films. Young filmmakers should note Nicholson’s truly independent beginnings. Yet, the inherent joy in seeing a young Nicholson at work is negated by seeing an aging Karloff wheeze through his performance. The man was truly past his prime. Film, as they say, is forever. This eternal document of a sickly Karloff is a travesty. The Terror is strictly for Corman completists. There are certain filming techniques the Corman fan will notice, like the director virtually creating his own stock footage cadre. If you remove the footage from previous Corman/Poe films that is presented here, you can easily shave 15 minutes off of The Terror’s running time. Yet, frugality, has always been Corman’s calling card, and is to be respected. The problem with this Corman quickie is its lack of story and the many hands that have touched it. The Terror is a footnote in Corman’s brilliant career. The story of it’s filming in Roger Corman’s autobiography: “How I made a 100 films in Hollywood and never lost a dime”, is more entertaining, and more engaging than the film itself. In the end, The Terror is a flawed film that shows its seams more than Karloff playing Frankenstein’s Monster. ----Terrorbull! Grade D. Andy Kugler Pierdesade@aol.com

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