Terror (1978/I)

Note Générale:

4,9/10   

Réalisateur:

Norman J. Warren

Scénaristes:

David McGillivray (screenplay)
Les Young (story) ...

Date de sortie:

26 octobre 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Horreur

Accroche:

Have You Ever Felt An Evil Presence All Around You ... ?

Intrigue:

Royal ancestors feel the wrath of the curse of the condemned witch Mad Dolly, who spews forth her prophecy while she is burned at the stake...

Plot Keywords:

Ancestor | Witch | Curse | Inheritance | Supernatural

Avis des utilisateurs:

Notches another one up for bloody horror

Ensemble

John Nolan	...	James Garrick
Carolyn Courage	...	Ann Garrick
James Aubrey	...	Philip
Sarah Keller	...	Suzy
Tricia Walsh	...	Viv
Glynis Barber	...	Carol Tucker
Michael Craze	...	Gary
Rose Collins	...	Diane (as Rosie Collins)
Chuck Julian	...	Phil the Greek
Elaine Ives-Cameron	...	Dolores Hamilton
Patti Love	...	Hannah
Mary Maude	...	Lady Garrick
William Russell	...	Lord Garrick
Peter Craze	...	The Director
Peter Atard	...	Curtis the Actor (also as Peter Atiard) (as Peter Attard)

Durée:

87 min

Pays:

UK

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Fujicolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,85 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

USA:R | UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:R (censored) | Germany:BPjM Restreint

Lieux de tournage:

Acorn Studios, London, England, UK

Société:

Bowergange Productions

Anecdotes:

Posters for director Norman J. Warren's previous film, Satan's Slave (1976), and Thriller - en grym film (1974) are visible in James' office.

Connexions:

figure dans Evil Heritage: Independent Film-Making & the Films of Norman J. Warren (1999) (V)

Notches another one up for bloody horror

He didn't make Hammer rip-offs and he didn't make counterfeit Amicus flicks, either. Norman J. Warren created a horror sub-genre instead, and "Terror" is the second best of these while "Prey" is the best. Though this was clearly inspired by "Suspiria" and equally ropey in terms of structure, is is still an entertaining hour and a half.

The opening film-within-a-film, a witch burning sequence, has better production values than the rest of this shocker, but it is, nevertheless, a graphic slasher (for its time) that takes some risks. Most of the murders are knife murders and we get lots of knife POV's and a procession of red herrings. A car lifted off the ground and up into a forest canopy shows some creativity and a poor sod impaled on spikes notches another one up for bloody horror.

Despite good transfers, the Warren films still look ugly because they were not lit too well. Some of the interiors are overexposed and the hard lighting looks more accidental than planned. The performances range from adequate to somnambulistic (perhaps intentionally) and the electronic score (by Ivor Slaney) is more noisy than musical.

Worth seeing, sure, but not anything groundbreaking.