(This is the third part in a series about films from American Pop Classics. For part one, click here, and for part two, click here. )
When I first I heard about The Creeper back in summer 2010, it immediately reminded me of Southern Comfort (1981). Back then, Code Red DVD had just released The Creeper under its original title, Rituals, but I never picked it up. So when I saw American Pop had a version of it under an alternate title, I decided to acquire it and see if it was any good.
(This is the second part in a series about films from American Pop Classics. To read the first part, click here.)
I have a vivid memory of seeing The Terror when I was a young child, and it scared the shit out of me. The Terror is one of those rare films that feels as if you’re watching a nightmare channeled on to a television screen. Before the title sequence there is an odd scene in which Boris Karloff, as Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe, is tracking a trail of blood through a house. The trail leads him to a door smeared with blood, which he pulls open to find a corpse. A piercing scream is heard as the corpse pops into sight, which is only on screen for a few seconds before the movie launches into the opening credits. The scene is never explained, but it’s an effective scene nonetheless. The film’s nature seems to follow a sort of dream logic, where things happen for no discernible reason at all, and you just have to roll with it.