CRUCIBLE
OF TERROR (1971)Director: Ted Hooker
Image Entertainment
CRUCIBLE
OF TERROR (1971)As I consider myself very well-versed when it comes to British horror films, I've tried to catch up with nearly everything that fits that category. Having suffered several viewings of CRUCIBLE OF TERROR through budget video releases in the past, I've always considered it one of the worst of its kind. I still think the film is pretty crummy, but Image's DVD release has augmented the appeal for me just a tad.
Mike Raven--the tall, gaunt cross between Christopher Lee and The Who's John Entwistle--only made four pictures, all of them horror. This is considered to be his breakthrough starring role, but he seems more at ease making sinister glances and raising his hairy brows in a black cloak amidst a rotting castle. Here, he comes off awkward as a nutty artist who pours plaster over the corpses of beautiful women to preserve them as works of art.
Much of the film takes place in Raven's remote country house where most of the cast ends up murdered. The situations move from one claustrophobic room to the other, where Raven bickers with such characters as his alcoholic, piggy son Ronald Lacey (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), his beautiful but cold and snobbish model, Judy Matheson (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, TWINS OF EVIL), the anxious art dealer, James Bolam, and Bolam's innocent-seeming girlfriend, Mary Maude (later in Norman Warren's TERROR). Most of the above get knocked off in extremely violent ways, and the payoff (if you can call it that) is a particularly macabre twist ending. Hammer fans will also recognize a middle-aged Melissa Stribling (Mina in HORROR OF DRACULA) in a smaller role.
As I mentioned, CRUCIBLE OF TERROR had been available in the U.S. through a number of budget video companies, as well as the more pricey Video Gems label (remember those HUGE boxes?). All of these transfers appeared to be culled from heavily edited TV prints that left the viewer saying "huh?" every time a murder was about to take place. Image's source is taken from the British version and there's even a "Certificate X" notice at the start of the film. We now witness a glimpse of nudity (in the shape of the notorious Me Me Lai) and all the murder scenes are now notably nasty and graphic.
The source material is riddled with scratches, large stained blotches and other problems, but anyone familiar with the history of the film will not mind having to settle for this disc. Overall, the full frame transfer and sound is acceptable. Just turn out the lights, cook the corn and indulge in this forgotten English rubbish. There is also an additional Spanish language soundtrack. (George R. Reis)