Terror (1963)

Lady of the Shadows

Cast:

Jack "Where does he get all those wonderful toys?" Nicholoson is Lieutenant Andre Duvalier
Boris "At least, I'm not in an ape suit..." Karloff is Baron Frederick Victor von Leppe
Sandra Knight is Helene
Dick "Walter Paisley from Bucket of Blood" Miller is Stefan
Jonathan Haze is Gustaf

What the box says:

A young officer (Jack Nicholoson) in Napoleon's army finds himself lost along a stretch of beach, where he is seduced by the beautiful Helene (Sandra Knight). His obsession with this woman leads him to the castle of an elderly baron (Boris Karloff) who finds himself tortured by the ghost of his wife. Is Helen the ghost, or is she merely the pawn of a witch intent on having the baron commit suicide? With a creepy score and macabre settings, this chiller will have you on the edge of your seat.

Plot:

On a dark and stormy night, Boris Karloff roams about his castle. The credits roll.

The next day, on a nearby beach, Lt. Andre Duvalier is riding his horse and is lost. The sun keeps beating down on him as he collapses. He awakens a spots a hot chick, asks her for directions, and explains how he got lost from his regiment.

Helena leads him to some fresh water and starts to leave him. Lt. Duvalier is laying the charm. She shows him around as they frolic on the beach. She heads back to the water where Duvalier first spotted her. He tries going after her but is stopped by a bird.

Andre awakens in the cottage of some creepy woman. She is tending to his wounds. Apparently, her bird is the one that attacked Andre. He asks about the girl Helena. The woman introduces her very quiet son, Stefan.

I can do the Bat-tusi. Can you?

Later, Andre sneaks into the forest and finds Helena. Stefan is able to keep Andre from stepping into some quicksand. He is positive that Helena is trying to kill him. Stefan explains that the girl is possessed and went to Baron Von Lepp�s castle.

Andre decides to head to the castle. Creepy woman tries warning him not to go to the castle and forget the girl. Andre continues his quest.

A rockslide ensues as he approaches the castle. Andre spots Helena watching him from a castle window.

Boris Karloff lets Andre in the castle. Some small talk ensues. Andre asks about Helena. Boris is obviously shaken by the revelation of the girl nearby. He shows Andre a picture of Helena from 20 years ago. It is portrait of Boris�s dead wife

That night, his horse gets free. Andre spots Helena. He is locked in his room and unable to get out and hears screaming and wailing. The door suddenly unlocks. Andre starts searching.

A creepy castle search ensues by Lt. Andre.

Where does he get all those wonderful toys? A spring loaded Helena ensues and promptly vanishes.

Boris talks with Stefan about Lt. Andre.

Later, Lt. Andre is questioned by Stefan and gets uppity. He threatens to bring his company and search the castle. Stefan tries convincing Lt. Andre to just leave the castle.

Lt. Andre gets uppity with Boris. He questions the baron about the girl and forces him to discuss how Boris�s wife died. When the Baron answered his country�s call, his wife had her adultery call going. Boris discovered her with another man and killed her. For more than 20 years, he has never left the castle. The ghost has been visiting him for the past 2 years. Boris and Lt. Andre are the only people to have seen the girl.

Gustav, the almost mute guy, talks with the girl and calls her �Elisa�. The old woman brought her from the sea. He tries to warn the girl not to obey. Lt. Andre can help her. She leaves and warns him not to interfere.

Stefan is spying on the old witch woman. The crone is hypnotizing Elisa into Helena to carry out her vengeance. Stefan questions her about living in the cabin for the past 2 years. Katherine, the crone, denies there is a girl. Stefan threatens to kill them if they don�t leave by tomorrow. Apparently, the cabin was owned by Eric, the boyfriend of baroness.

Stefan meets with Boris again. They must eliminate Lt. Andre. No one would know anything. The baron refuses.

Lt. Andre is prowling around and discovers a gun. Hearing Helena�s voice, he searches to find where she is. Hiding in the shadows from the approaching Boris, Andre jumps into the baron�s library after hearing an argument. However, Boris is the only one present. Baron Boris finally gets ma enough to ask Andre to not let the door hit him on the way out.

Stefan brings Andre a new horse to replace his that escaped. It is discovered that Eric was Elisa�s side order of infidelity.

Andre starts riding away. Gustav tries flagging him down from a cliff. Suddenly, a bird attacks the quiet man. He stumbles off the side of the cliff. Andre is able to hear his last words. Andre must save the girl and free her soul.

That night, Andre finds Helena. The swapping of the spit ensues. He vows to stay with her forever. The crypt must be destroyed so she will be free. Andre wants to go with her. However, she vanishes as the thunder crashes.

Andre is let back into the castle. Random searching ensues as creepy music plays.

Boris is talking with his wife�s ghost. The crypt will be flooded. Apparently, he must commit suicide, the mortal sin. Only by damning himself can he free her. Andre rushes in.

Stefan is tending to the baron�s wounds. Andre will go to the chapel. The door is rusted shut. They see the baroness�s room is lit and rush to investigate.

Andre breaks down the door. Boris finds them in the room and orders Andre out of the castle.

Stefan escorts Andre from the castle.

Boris sees Elisa. The only way for them to be together is for him to commit suicide to atone for killing her.

Andre overpowers Stefan. He sees the crone walking away. Andre grabs the crone. Her plan is for Elisa to taunt Boris into committing suicide. She wants him to pay for killing her son, Eric.

Boris overpowers Stefan and heads back to the crypt.

Andre reveals to Stefan the crone�s plan. Stefan tells the few pieces of the puzzle that make absolutely no sense. When Eric and Boris struggled, Boris was killed. Eric took his place for the past 20 years.

Crone, Andre, and Stefan can�t stop the crypt from flooding.

Stefan is trying to cut the water off.

Andre drags the crone into the chapel. She�s struck by lightning.

Boris is the crypt. They will be united. He opens his wife�s coffin.

Stefan manages to get inside the crypt.

Boris opens the floodgates and sees his wife�s 20 year rotten corpse. Elisa has damned him. She will be free. Boris can�t close the floodgates.

The girl and the baron struggle as the crypt fills with water.

Andre gets into the crypt. Stefan dives in to rescue Boris. Water sports ensue. Get your minds out of the gutters.

Andre is able to rescue Elisa, Helena, or whoever it is. Boris and Stefan drown.

The girl promptly decomposes after Andre gets her ashore.

What I say:

Roger Corman's cheapness is well-known. How cheap can a man be when he uses 20 year old special effects for a remake of one of his movies: Pirahna. Well, with left over sets from the Raven, a few extra days of Boris Karloff under contract, and taking a quickly written script, he started on the Terror. Could you imagine making Harrison Ford do another movie because you have him on contract for 2 extra days? Just ponder that fact for a few seconds, could you imagine Peter Jackson coming up with another movie for Ian McKellan by using the sets for Lord of the Rings as the backgrounds? OK, imagine Albert Pyun doing another movie with Jean Claude Van-Damme with the sets from Cyborg. That would be closer to the Terror.

Roger Corman is credited with directing this movie. Although, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, and and even Jack Nicholson supposedly did some work from the directors chair. The movie doesn't seem to be jumbled together in a number of different styles. It does seem to be kind of dreary. Each few scenes reveals another shocking plot point that make the movie even more muddled.

I've never been a big Jack Nicholson fan. However, I don't see how anyone would by this movie. This movie wouldn't be a good measure to judge his acting ability. This is one of his earlier roles remember the roles Clint Eastwood had when he started. Jack Nicholson's character comes across as petulant and expecting everyone to obey his whims. Why didn't he hold his breath when he his orders were ignored? I never thought a lieutenant could order a Baron around. Military rank apparently trumps nobility. Would anyone really be that interested in following and pitching woo at a girl that has tried to kill him a couple of times?

Boris Karloff has this sullen air about this movie. Well, he does seem like he's been suffering for years as the Baron. It is as if he automatically knew this movie would suck, every scene has him snarling his lines and like he was trapped in some sort of nightmare without a chance of escape. In some of my past reviews, I've mentioned how Boris Karloff maintained a dignified air. The man ruled as the voice of the Grinch. Even with his later movies unlike Bela Lugosi, Mr. Karloff never starred in a movie directed by Ed Wood. It is too easy to make a few snide comments about some of these later movies. No one can always hit a home run. With him in Frankenstein and Black Cat, he could have gone straight into shorts about junior rodeos, and we still should be grateful for what he did.

What do you do if Dick Miller can't improve a movie? You know to gird your loins for the deep hurting will ensue. It is hard to see that such a talented character actor like Dick Miller is unable to elevate a movie. Well, he doesn't have much to help him. The sinister butler isn't exactly a role that has a lot of depth or interest. Normally, he can even make a cameo role like Piranha to be entertaining.

I keep thinking about the similarities between the Terror and Night Tide. It is just funny to see the connections between the movies. I'm sure none of them were intentional. Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper are the military men. Well, one was an enlisted, and the other was a commissioned officer. Each movie has an unearthly woman, too. These women have some strange attraction to the sea. The women seem to have some connection to very creepy witch types. The unearthly women are drawn to the military guys. Night Tide has a strange feel about it. However, the Terror has so mcuh to keep anyone from really getting into it.

The plot seems to be awfully haphazard. I'm going to throw a lot of spoilers in the rest of this paragraph. The girl almost lures Jack Nicholson to his death a couple of times. Most guys wouldn't want anymore to do with a girl that tries to KWEP (KILL WITH EXTREME PREDJUICE) them. He keeps looking for her. Apparently, the girl is the ghost of the Baron's wife that died 20 years earlier. Ok, the old witch hypnotized some girl to avenge the death of her son who was killed by the husband of sonny boy's married girlfriend. The Baron is being taunted to committing suicide, the one unforgiveable sin. However, the Baron was killed 20 years ago. Why would the butler let the guy who killed the Baron impersonate and live as the Baron for 20 years? Boris Karloff is actually the witch's son. Never mind the fact, he is twice as old as the witch. The girl rapidly decomposes as if she weren't human. The best description is this movie has far too many Scooby Doo moments. Most of the parts of the plot make absolutely no sense at all.

The best thing to be said about the Terror is more together even with trying to get a movie done with the few days of Boris Karloff under contract, using sets from another movie, and numerous people directing parts of it. The movie still comes across as more logical than Robo Vampire or Ninja in the Killing Field. Those movies aren't the kind of to really celebrate being more logical. If an 80s ninja movie is the best thing to compare a movie with to make the movie look more profound, the movie really needs a lot of help.

Quotable Dialogue
"It isn't an act of treason to talk to me."
"In the name of the government of France, I order you to open this door."
"You think I'm mad?"
"He often moans during these seizures."
Morals of the Story
Compasses are easily demagnetized.
Military officers will ask hot chicks for directions.
Jack Nicholson will fight crows.
Birds love mice.
Witches don't like going to church.