Terrified (1962) Pressbook
It Came From Hollywood sends us this terrifying pressbook from Crown International.
Terrified is a proto-slasher (sounds cool, right?). It is a transitional movie that, just barely, embraces a few tropes of the slasher genre that would kick into gear in the 1970s. Unfortunately, it is also a half-shoestring budgeted production that Lew Landers (The Raven, The Return of the Vampire) can barely keep credible with his fear-inducing environs because the script is under-baked and wordy and ponderous; but still very interesting in its exploration of fear and the killer’s modus operandi.
Shot at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, and on location at a left-over Western ghost town, the sets are sparse: two small tablecloth joints for closeups and mid-shots as people are introduced and the story is set up; the Western ghost town and nearby blacked-out (as in no frills set dressing and background) cemetery where the killer prowls and young people keep winding up and run scared, a lot, with tight camerawork that chills the atmosphere; and a blacked-out car interior where the main young couple drive, back and forth, while talking a lot too, as they go to the spooky ghost town…at night…looking for someone. Then back again, looking for someone. While the nighttime scenes are effective, they are mainly used to hide the budget shortcomings, but Landers still keeps it all cool and effective.
Meanwhile, the killer, dressed in a suit and tie and wearing a knitted head mask that only shows his piercing maniacal eyes, delights in scaring people off the road and burying young guys in shallow graves while laughing and taunting them. Of course, since only one other guy in the movie wears a suit and tie, you kind of know who the crazy killer is early on. We just don’t know why he’s acting so crazy until the end.
An interesting point to make here: we tend to not give movie serials much attention when talking about the evolution of horror (or movies in general), especially slashers, but looking at the killer’s fashion sense in this movie, he reminded me of the criminal masterminds found at the center of various serials’ plots (The Crimson Ghost, Mysterious Doctor Satan), driving fear through hidden identities and evil actions. That dangerous-presenting persona resonates through to today’s pivotal menacing characters in many horror movies. Each set-piece too, where the hero (who can also be a victim) is confronted by the menace, triggering an action from fear and survival, is reminiscent of the serial chapter-play structure that was capped with the cliff hanger. Just a thought.
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