CAULDRON
OF BLOOD (1967)Director: Santos Alcocer (Edward Mann)
Orbit Media Ltd. (PAL, Region Free) (U.K.)
CAULDRON
OF BLOOD (1967)Like Karloff's four South-of-the-Border
thrillers and Vernon Sewell's THE CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR, this is one of
the master of horror's final films that was released well after his 1969 passing.
Also known as BLIND MAN' BLUFF, this Spanish/U.S./U.K. co-production is basically
a boring mystery disguised as a horror film, and Karloff's role is small and
he's not even top-billed! (This was originally released by Cannon in the early
70s on a double bill with CRUCIBLE OF HORROR, a good British horror entry with
Michael Gough)
Set in Spain (with many international actors), Karloff plays an artist who was
blinded and crippled in an accident caused by his bitchy wife (Viveca Lindfors).
French cinema idol Jean-Pierre Aumont is a playboy journalist who arrives to
interview Karloff, sensing that the old man uses the skeletons of animals to
create his impressive sculptures. You'll discover right away that Lindfors is
the villain, as she's constantly playing games with her feeble husband and luring
young women to their abode to drop in acid and cover with clay.
CAULDRON OF BLOOD doesn't have much to recommend it except for Boris' presence, the always memorable Lindfors--feisty as usual (she has S&M nightmares about being whipped by a Nazi as a young girl), and one hell of a title sequence that opens with a girl in a bikini turning into a skeleton and then the bones becoming letters (ala A & C MEET FRANKENSTEIN). Much of the running time is made up of swingers partying all night and relaxing on the beach, with a few murders tossed in. The ending almost plays likes a fight scene from the "Batman" TV series, and Karloff's demise is laughable. Euro horror fans will recognize lots of actors from various films, including Dyanik Zurakowska (FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOOD TERROR), Rubèn Rojo (THE BRAINIAC), Rosenda Monteros (Hammer's version of SHE), and other familiar faces from Paul Naschy and Jess Franco excursions.
CAULDRON OF BLOOD has been released in the U.K. as a PAL all region DVD. The transfer is passable, but not much better or worse than the print that was out on VHS in the States from Republic Home Video. The film displays the typical 60s Eastman colors, and they look very distinguishable but not excessively vivid. It's not letterboxed as it should be (only the credits are), so sometimes images drift off the sides of the screen. The picture is a little soft at times and the print has some wear and tear, but overall, not too bad. The audio is cursed with some surface noise that comes and goes as the movie progresses.
There is a nice extra here for Karloff fans in the form of a half-hour episode of "Colonel March of Scotland Yard," a mid-50s TV show from England. Here, Boris plays a kind and ingenious police official who sports an eye patch. In this episode, he tries to prove the innocence of an American man accused of homicide in France. Also featured is a young Anton Diffring in a supporting role, and it's nice to see the two together in a brief scene. Also included are the trailers for the 50s AIP flicks VOODOO WOMAN and BUCKET OF BLOOD, which I believe are available from the same company as a double feature disc. (George R. Reis)