Crucible of Terror (1971)
Studio: Severin
Theatrical Release: 1971
DVD Release: October 12th, 2010
Directed by Ted Hooker
Review by Craig Sorensen
Another title saved from budget label hell, Crucible of Terror comes screaming back to life on Severin’s recent DVD. While I wouldn’t say that Crucible of Terror is a major lost masterpiece, it’s certainly fun and full of wacky characters, soapy melodrama and violent murders, which is really all I could hope for in this kind of low budget hokum.
Victor Clare (Mike Raven, former pirate radio DJ and star of Lust for a Vampire) is a reclusive artist obsessed with ‘capturing beauty’. Usually this just takes the harmless form of sketching young girls before trying to seduce them. Occasionally though it takes the form of incasing them in bronze statues. Victor’s deadbeat, drunk son Ronald (Michael Clare, Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark) steals a few of his pieces, including a bronze statue. Of course the statue is a big hit and before you can say Bucket of Blood, gallery owner John (James Bolam of O Lucky Man!) and his wife Millie (Mary Maude of Terror) are driving out with Ronald to try to convince the eccentric artist to part with his collection. Of course, once there, people start dropping dead. Is it the clearly nuts Victor? Is it his equally nuts wife? His live-in best friend with the sword collection? Whatever your guess I guarantee you can’t guess the lunatic motive at the end of this thing.
So Crucible of Terror has been widely available from many grey market budget labels for years (I remember seeing dusty copies on VHS from Goodtimes Video for many years as a kid). Don’t bother with any of that shit. If you’re going to get a copy of this then go with Severin. First of all, all those grey market releases are taken from a beat up old television print. Those have all been cut down to about 87 minutes, thus losing all the blood and grue that a film like this desperately needs. The print used here is 91 minutes so you do get quite a bit of violence inserted back into the film as well as a bit of nudity. Also, you’re going to be getting a cropped image. Here you have a nice 16x9 enhanced transfer in the films original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. You can tell that this was obviously taken from a release print and not from the film’s negative but it’s still head and shoulders above any prior release. The print looks to be in pretty good shape. Colors fluctuate a bit in some scenes but overall the film looks good. The image is a little soft but I think that has more to do with the way the film is shot rather than any imperfections with the print or transfer.
There aren’t any special features here at all though and that’s my one problem with the disc. I understand that most of the participants are now passed on so that probably has something to do with it. But the back cover goes quite a way towards building up an eccentric personality for actor Mike Raven. He starts his career as a pirate radio DJ and stars in four horror films in the 70’s in a failed attempt at horror stardom. That sounds like an interesting story so it would have been nice to have maybe a documentary included or at least some liner notes shedding a little light on the situation. I know that I can just look it up on the internet but it’d just be nice to have it included. I guess that that’s a minor issue though. The movie is fun and I could see myself returning to it on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
[Rating: 3.5]
Theatrical Release: 1971
DVD Release: October 12th, 2010
Directed by Ted Hooker
Review by Craig Sorensen
Another title saved from budget label hell, Crucible of Terror comes screaming back to life on Severin’s recent DVD. While I wouldn’t say that Crucible of Terror is a major lost masterpiece, it’s certainly fun and full of wacky characters, soapy melodrama and violent murders, which is really all I could hope for in this kind of low budget hokum.
Victor Clare (Mike Raven, former pirate radio DJ and star of Lust for a Vampire) is a reclusive artist obsessed with ‘capturing beauty’. Usually this just takes the harmless form of sketching young girls before trying to seduce them. Occasionally though it takes the form of incasing them in bronze statues. Victor’s deadbeat, drunk son Ronald (Michael Clare, Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark) steals a few of his pieces, including a bronze statue. Of course the statue is a big hit and before you can say Bucket of Blood, gallery owner John (James Bolam of O Lucky Man!) and his wife Millie (Mary Maude of Terror) are driving out with Ronald to try to convince the eccentric artist to part with his collection. Of course, once there, people start dropping dead. Is it the clearly nuts Victor? Is it his equally nuts wife? His live-in best friend with the sword collection? Whatever your guess I guarantee you can’t guess the lunatic motive at the end of this thing.
So Crucible of Terror has been widely available from many grey market budget labels for years (I remember seeing dusty copies on VHS from Goodtimes Video for many years as a kid). Don’t bother with any of that shit. If you’re going to get a copy of this then go with Severin. First of all, all those grey market releases are taken from a beat up old television print. Those have all been cut down to about 87 minutes, thus losing all the blood and grue that a film like this desperately needs. The print used here is 91 minutes so you do get quite a bit of violence inserted back into the film as well as a bit of nudity. Also, you’re going to be getting a cropped image. Here you have a nice 16x9 enhanced transfer in the films original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. You can tell that this was obviously taken from a release print and not from the film’s negative but it’s still head and shoulders above any prior release. The print looks to be in pretty good shape. Colors fluctuate a bit in some scenes but overall the film looks good. The image is a little soft but I think that has more to do with the way the film is shot rather than any imperfections with the print or transfer.
There aren’t any special features here at all though and that’s my one problem with the disc. I understand that most of the participants are now passed on so that probably has something to do with it. But the back cover goes quite a way towards building up an eccentric personality for actor Mike Raven. He starts his career as a pirate radio DJ and stars in four horror films in the 70’s in a failed attempt at horror stardom. That sounds like an interesting story so it would have been nice to have maybe a documentary included or at least some liner notes shedding a little light on the situation. I know that I can just look it up on the internet but it’d just be nice to have it included. I guess that that’s a minor issue though. The movie is fun and I could see myself returning to it on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
[Rating: 3.5]
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