Film Masters has released another Roger Corman classic double-feature on Blu-ray! This time around it’s The Terror and The Little Shop of Horrors. Both films feature the iconic actor Jack Nicholson along with Corman regulars Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze.
Taking place in 1906, The Terror has André Duvalier
(Jack Nicholson, Batman, The Shining, Chinatown), a French soldier who is lost and wandering aimlessly, is seduced by a mysterious young woman named Helene (Sandra Knight, Frankenstein’s Daughter). Andre pursues Helene and finds himself at a castle where Baron von Leppe (horror icon Boris Karloff, Targets, The Raven, Die, Monster Die) resides. The Baron tells Andre no such person named Helene exists! Andre then goes to the creepy home of a witch named Katrina (Dorothy Neumann, The Snake Pit) who, like the Baron, also tells him there is no such person named Helene. Andre, not at all satisfied with everyone denying he saw Helene, does more investigating along with the Baron’s servant Stefan (Dick Miller, A Bucket of Blood, Demon Knight). Andre discovers that Helene resembles the Baron’s wife Ilsa who he killed because she was having an affair. Katrina, who is cornered by the determined Andre, learns the secrets of Ilsa. It turns out that Ilsa’s ghost is haunting Baron von Leppe for murdering her. She believes the Baron killed her son Eric some twenty years earlier. Then, the twists and turns really begin!
The film was shot around the sets of The Raven, Corman’s other production at the time, and a few scenes with Boris Karloff were later used in Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets. After The Raven was finished, Karloff still owed Corman a couple of days’ work and quickly The Terror was made using the same sets and crew! Corman shot his scenes within four days, but the film wasn’t completed. After some rewrites, and retakes, The Terror took nine months and five directors, Francis Ford Coppola, Dennis Jakob, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, and Jack Nicholson to finish the film. The history of The Terror is arguably more interesting than the film itself! While The Terror has a few eerie moments, it can’t hold a candle to Corman’s other works such as The House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum and others made around the same time.
Shot on a budget of a whopping 28,000, The Little Shop of Horrors is a horror-comedy about a florist’s assistant Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, Gunslinger) who brings to life a plant that feeds on human blood. The plant is named Audrey, Jr., named after Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph, Gremlins, Small Soldiers) who also works at the flower shop run by Gravis Mushnick(Mel Welles, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Undead). Audrey, Jr. starts to grow and puts Seymour into a lot of precarious situations while searching for blood to feed the always hungry plant, which leads to his undoing.
The Little Shop of Horrors is a fun film and is a harmless seventy-two minutes. Writer Charles Griffith provides the voice of Audrey, Jr. (the plant) who keeps saying “Feed Me!!” throughout the movie. The picture was filmed on the sets used for another Corman classic A Bucket of Blood, which starred Dick Miller who has a small role in the film. Jack Nicholson from The Terror has a small part as well, but basically this movie is the Jonathan Haze show!
Film Masters has given The Terror another Blu-ray release, thistime partnered with The Little Shop of Horrors for an awesome double-feature!This is a Region Free release.
Looking first at The Terror, the film was advertised as having been given an HD restoration from 35mm archival elements. The image looks strong for the most part with the colors looking rich, deep, and bold, particularly reds and blues. Daylight scenes look marvelous with a lot of detail and textures. Black levels look strong with plenty of shadow detail. There are a few hazy scenes, and the stock footage used in the films tends to look a bit icky but overall, the picture quality looks really good.
Previously released by Legend Films in 2012, this new release of The Little Shop of Horrors looks excellent. The black and white transfer looks crisp, with only a few issues in image quality such as speckles and vertical lines. Black levels are nice and dark with crisp, bright whites and a balanced grey scale. There are plenty of details to both interior and exterior shots. Film grain is present throughout and the image remains stable during the video presentation. It doesn’t appear that any DNR or other artificial enhancements were used.
For the audio, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 are the audio options for both film films. The audio for both is perfectly balanced and with dialogue coming in clear, with action noises and the music coming in clear without drop-off or hissing. The two tracks didn’t sound all that different on my system. English subtitles are available for this release.
Both films have some bonus materials. There is a commentary track on The Terror with C. Courtney Joyner and Dr. Steve Haberman who discuss everything there is to know about The Terror, such as having multiple directors for the movie, and taking way longer than expected to produce and other interesting facts.
A bonus featurette on the Blu-ray disc of The Terror is by Howard S. Berger. Entitled “Ghosts in the Machine: Art & Artifice in Roger Corman’s Celluloid Castle,” provides a fresh look at “The Terror.”, Berger talks a bit about Roger Corman, his history of filmmaking leading to The Terror where he talks about the production of the film, how long it took vs. how long it was intended to take to produce the film, how many directors were involved and why despite the film being a mess with all the directors shooting scenes here and there and being spliced together, actually works!
The Little Shop of Horrors Blu-ray disc also has supplemental materials included.
Author Justin Humphreys and the one and only star of the movie, Jonathan Haze have provided a commentary track for the film.
Daniel Griffith’s Ballyhoo Motion Pictures company continues with the second part of “Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story.” Basically picking up after the first part, this is more of the same about the history of Filmgroup.
Recut trailers, based off the original theatrical trailers, for both features are included as well.
The Blu-ray also a booklet written by C. Courtney Joyner and Mark McGee. Joyner provides his usual thoughtful essay on the Karloff/Poe connection to The Terror while Mark McGee’s essay entitled “Faster Faster” has him looking at and reflecting on The Little Shop of Horrors. The booklet is a great read with lots of information included!
I think this is another superb release by Film Masters with excellent audio and video quality for the two movies to go with a bevy of extras that will keep you busy. This Blu-ray is easily highly recommended!
The Terror / The Little Shop of Horrors
Director – Roger Corman
Cast- Jack Nicholson, Boris Karloff, Sandra Knight/Jonathan Haze, Dick Miller
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – Film Masters
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date – 10/9/23