TERROR
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
Supernatural horror descends on the members of a low budget movie company when they film the true story of a 17th century witch who was burnt at the stake.
Director Norman J. Warren continued his successful creative partnership with writer David McGillivray (initiated with SATAN'S SLAVE in 1976) for this supernatural shocker, in which the ghost of an ancient witch is revived in 20th century suburbia. Warren cheerfully acknowledges the film's visual debt to SUSPIRIA (1976), with its garish colors and outlandish death scenes (including a window-cum-guillotine which appears to have inspired a similar sequence in Dario Argento's INFERNO), though McGillivray can't resist taking an opportunity to poke fun at the world of low budget British movie-making (the scenes involving production of softcore opus "Bathtime With Brenda" are a hoot!). Les Young's atmospheric photography is a big plus, and the actors are enthusiastic, but the film is undermined by poor dialogue, lack of adequate plotting, and threadbare production values, 'qualities' which are treasured by die-hard fans. Thankfully, Warren includes as much gore as the British censor would allow at the time, and exploits the makeshift scenario for all it's worth. Ultimately, TERROR is the cinematic equivalent of those 'penny dreadful' horror novels which cluttered British bookshelves throughout the 1970's.
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
Supernatural horror descends on the members of a low budget movie company when they film the true story of a 17th century witch who was burnt at the stake.
Director Norman J. Warren continued his successful creative partnership with writer David McGillivray (initiated with SATAN'S SLAVE in 1976) for this supernatural shocker, in which the ghost of an ancient witch is revived in 20th century suburbia. Warren cheerfully acknowledges the film's visual debt to SUSPIRIA (1976), with its garish colors and outlandish death scenes (including a window-cum-guillotine which appears to have inspired a similar sequence in Dario Argento's INFERNO), though McGillivray can't resist taking an opportunity to poke fun at the world of low budget British movie-making (the scenes involving production of softcore opus "Bathtime With Brenda" are a hoot!). Les Young's atmospheric photography is a big plus, and the actors are enthusiastic, but the film is undermined by poor dialogue, lack of adequate plotting, and threadbare production values, 'qualities' which are treasured by die-hard fans. Thankfully, Warren includes as much gore as the British censor would allow at the time, and exploits the makeshift scenario for all it's worth. Ultimately, TERROR is the cinematic equivalent of those 'penny dreadful' horror novels which cluttered British bookshelves throughout the 1970's.