The Terror

Boring and nonsensical. The ending came out of nowhere though and did genuinely take me by surprise. It's nice to see Nicholson so young and Karloff so old together.

Wonderful face-melting ending.

Can't hate a movie with Jacko, Karloff AND Dick Miller.

A good twist ending doesn't save an otherwise boring film.

It really has it's moments, and it's incoherency is pretty novel until it becomes straining.

This film teases but never delivers in a meaningful way until the very end and even then it is a let down, making for a mostly unsatisfying viewing experience. However, it is hard to resist the charm of Nicholson in full Napoleonic military attire and one does feel genuine sympathy for Karlof as the mourning husband/lover. And there is something very likeable about Dick Miller's portrayal of the loyal servant. But the rest of the cast is found wanting.

50.

Roger Corman #8

Jack Nicholson... as a Frenchman?

An old gothic classic with everything necessary: a handsome hero, a beautiful young girl, an old witch woman and an old baron with a servent the only companion in an old dusty castle with the crypt. What else you need? Jack Nicholson, Boris Karloff and Roger Corman. Okay, I was not that attentive for the entire movie...

Its plot twist will make your head explode. Seriously. Whatever you may think it is, you're way off. Karloff, the constant professional, gave a great performance. Nicholson on the other hand was wooden and gave quite probably his worst performance. Corman laid on the Gothic atmosphere real thick but no amount of spooky layers could save this.

Great classic film. Although it's not up to par with modern filmaking and writing standards, it's very well acted and staged for it's time. Interesting view into yesteryear's culture.

Pretty bad....but, it has Boris Karloff, so it isn't ALL bad.

I think it was impossible to sit through this whole thing in 1963, too...

Nicholson shines in this. Disjointed probably because of there being so many directors

Kind of interesting in that there were many different directors running around grabbing footage for this (often the dialogue doesn't even remotely match the lip movements of the actors) in their very tight shooting schedule. Then Corman and the boys assembled and said, "OK, what the hell do we DO with all this crap that we've filmed?" What a mess

This is exactly what an old-fashioned gothic horror movie should be, from the sets to the score to the dialogue to the presence of Boris Karloff. Campy and fun, although perhaps a bit slow-moving.

Jack Nicholson doing his Pinocchio impersonation.

Engaging chiller nonsense.

Remembered by Nicholson as the only movie he ever made without a plot (a debatable point), this infamous quickie was improvised to make use of the castle set from _The Raven_ and two days owed on Karloff's contract, with the rest of the film finished on weekends with everyone from Francis Ford Coppola to Monte Hellman contributing to the shooting. Jack is profoundly miscast. Despite almost total confusion, a few of the scenes have a nice spooky quality to them, and the ending is a shocker.

Jack Nicholson is the only reason I gave it a 12. And I'm being generous.

This is a fun low budget horror film. The film is not scary but amusing. Jack Nicholson and Boris Karloff are very interesting to watch. If you like fun B movies then check this one out.

In no way a good movie, but strangely somewhat enjoyable if you know the stories of how it was made. Also really weird to see Nicholson acting this badly, but everyone had to start somewhere.