Worth a thousand birds

Thought we'd try something new here at the UR: pictures!

The Terror (1963)

Grade: D

Despite its star-studded cast and decent sense of atmosphere, this Roger Corman cheapie is turgid and uninvolving. Actually, the stars don't really help, since Jack Nicholson's performance as a wayward French soldier is easily the worst in the movie. Sleepwalking through the part with little sign of interest or spark, his line readings evoke a distracted guidance counselor, too busy thinking about his divorce to really pay attention to the student in front of him.

But hey, at least he gets to play fancy dress-up.


(One of Jack Nicholson's rare moments of facial expression in the movie. The print quality is sometimes pretty good...)


(...and sometimes pretty dire.)

The other actors, including Boris Karloff, deliver undistinguished but inoffensive performances. Technically speaking, the film is generally acceptable; the sets and props are good enough, the music wasn't quite as overbearing as the opening scenes made us fear, and most scenes are visually well-composed. Among The Terror's multiple directors was Francis Ford Coppola (sans his middle name), so perhaps he gets some of the credit for that.


(That's a big rug! What would that thing go for nowadays, fifty grand?)

But the plot! The plot! Ach unser Gott, the plot! Seldom has a movie managed to be both so obvious and so confusing. Initially we seemed on course for a cross between Ladyhawke and The Invisible Ghost, but matters gradually degenerated into a slurry of red herrings and murky motivations.


(A typical viewer's reaction when trying to make sense of the plot of The Terror.)

We don't mind a certain amount of ambiguity and unresolved threads in our movies, but The Terror is just a complete mess. For instance (without giving away too many spoilers), what on earth was the point of the cradle? Why introduce a plotline like that, only to drop it without subsequent references? We assume it was meant to throw the viewer off the scent, but the movie's "real" ending is hardly satisfying enough to justify such a tactic.

Or maybe they were just making it up as they went along.


(To quote Ice-T: "My eye! Bitch!" Still, an appealing alternative to watching The Terror again.)