The terror
Year of release : 1963
Run time : 1h20min
Genre : Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Cast : Jack Nicholson
Director : Francis Ford Coppolla
The movie,produced and directed by Roger Corman,began as a challenge,as Corman wanted to shoot it in 2 days with the leftovers sets from The Raven. It ended up being the longest production in the director's career,taking 9 months and 5 more directors to complete,one of them being Jack Nicholson !
In 1806 French soldier Andre Duvalier is saved by a mysterious young woman. He follows her and spends the day with her,only for her to walk into the sea at the end of the day. Andre follows her into the waves,and almost dies,as a hawk is trying to kill him.
He wakes up in the cottage of an old woman,and recognizes the hawk. The old woman says it wouldn't hurt a fly,and he's mistaken. He tells her about the girl, and she tells him he's mistaken again.
Andre wakes up in the middle of the night,and finds the mysterious young woman by the name Helene wandering through the forest. Following her,the old woman's servant saves him from dying,and tells him the girl's mind is not her own,and if he wants answers,he should find baron Van Leppe's castle.
The old woman tries to stop him,and on his way to the castle he almost dies a few times.
Meeting the baron,he finds out his mind is not what it used to be,having been locked in the castle for 20 years. The baron offers him shelter for the night,and at night, the mysterious woman visits him again.
Andre demands answers from the baron,so he tells him the woman he speaks of is dead for 20 years,and was his wife.
Andre doesn't know what to believe,as he is in love with the woman,so he starts looking for answers.
The movie reminded me of the Vincent Price movies,it definitely had the gothic vibe Corman was going for . The movie wasn't bad,just that it felt they didn't know what they wanted to do with the girl, as she was a ghost,brought back by an old woman seeking vengeance. There's a scene in which the old woman touches the ghost and hypnotizes her into doing her bidding!! I didn't know ghosts could be hypnotized! At the same time we see her fall for Andre,which is weird,for she's a ghost.
The actors were good, Boris Karloff ,who plays the baron,was the best. Sandra Knight,who played Ilsa / Helene,was the only one who's acting was flat.
Jack Nicholson,aged 26 in this movie, not as good as in his latter work,but not bad at all, was gorgeous when he was young!
The soundtrack was what you'd expect from that era. I didn't like it,but it didn't bother me,like most of the soundtracks of the era do.
You can watch the full movie for free here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VhCHcAFCFk&ab_channel=CultCinemaClassics
Rating : Worth a watch !
