For a film calling itself 'The Terror', Roger Corman's unpolished and critically hounded horror film isn't very terrifying. In fact, by the time the credits role there's a good chance that you'll sit there bewildered asking yourself what, exactly, you've just spent the last eighty minutes of your life on. There's a good reason for this, as The Terror is an almost complete waste of time; it offers nothing in the way of intrigue, invention or influence on the genre, nor does the plot have any kind of point and, to be honest, it's not all that interesting anyway. However, The Terror gains points for protruding that lovely Roger Corman style quickie sort of atmosphere, and for excellent performances from classic horror icon, Boris Karloff, and a man that would go on to set the acting world on fire a decade later; the inescapably excellent, Jack Nicholson. The film has an awesome amount of camp and cult value for these two performances, Nicholson especially as it's always fun to see a highly rated actor in an early, and much less highly rated role.
The point of The Terror would appear to be the classic Roger Corman 'point' "let's make some money!" and the penny-pinching style that Corman perfected over the years is evident in just about every cheap looking scene. The plot follows a French solider (Jack Nicholson) who travels to the castle of the resident baron in search of a girl he met while stranded in the local village. While there he discovers a lot of terror (or not) as we find out that the baron is harbouring a secret. The secret can be guessed within the first half of the film, and that's another area where the film fails, but it's kept alive by a constant stream of ridiculous goings on, and as the film moves closer to it's climax and the lines get more terrible and the plot becomes more ridiculous, you cant help but treat yourself to a good laugh. People that rate films objectively will hate the Terror, but for the cult fans and Roger Corman fanatics; this will fill a gap, and although it's instantly forgettable; there's worse ways to waste your time.
