Nigel P This tale of gruesome murders around a supposedly haunted tin mine in Cornwall is similar to the kind of picture Tony Tenser or Pete Walker were producing at the time, although rather more ponderous – low budget, and full of well-known British actors. The real winner, as is so often the case, is the scenery. The barren Cornish beaches and windswept grassy hills make an effectively isolated stage for various deaths.Ronald Lacey plays Michael Clare, an unhappy drunk and the son of odd, reclusive artist Victor Clare (Mike Raven). Victor has a mentally ill wife and fills his time painting and having affairs with his models. Victor is, by all accounts rather a tantrum-prone inadequate rather than the monstrous villain this film paints him to be. As the 'mad sculptor', he is entirely free of any sense of menace.There is a sloppy approach to dramatic logic here, which the lack of budget cannot be blamed for. The (too) irregular murders are carried out with no pretence of cover-up, and yet no-one is ever on hand to notice any noisy disruption or trails of blood, or even to mourn very much for the victims. There's a very vague lesbian subplot between young Millie and Marcia, but this leads nowhere.The twist at the end is … strange, but rather effective. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense, almost as if it had been added at the last minute, but as John Arnott's Bill 'explains', "it was pre-ordained." The idea of possessed clothing influencing the will of the wearer is a nice one. If some clues to this had been filtered through the story-line, it wouldn't feel like so unsatisfying.This is a tension-light film, but retains a definite charm. Although he throws himself into the role of Victor, Raven's acting is wooden throughout – indeed this and the failure of his next project, the partially self-funded 'Disciple of Death', spelled the end for Raven's horror film aspirations.

Leofwine_draca This lame horror thriller was conceived as a vehicle for Mike Raven (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE), a former DJ who enjoyed a brief stint as a horror movie star. Sadly, none of his films were very good, so he soon gave up. However, Raven has a certain charm and his cultivated voice is quite amusing, although it doesn't suit him as a sinister painter. The film is far too slow-paced and talky to be any good, and seems to be more like a latter day drawing-room drama than a horror film.However there are a series of murders throughout the film to keep things moving along, unfortunately these are neither original or graphic enough. The one good death is of a man who has his head smashed in with a polystyrene rock. However the death victims only have blood smeared over their faces, the makeup man was obviously going through a bad time when he made this film. The low budget is clear. One girl has acid thrown in her face, except it's what looks like wet clay! There are a couple of bikini-clad girls but only some brief nudity in the proceedings, so it's a pretty tame exploitation piece as well. The strength of the film lies in the characterisations.Raven is amusing, as I said above, as the painter who likes young girls, and is reminiscent of a pervert when he tells that he wants to capture their 'eternal beauty' on canvas! James Bolam is not everybody's choice as a hero, but he's a typical '70s British chap, courteous and polite, and of course he never understands what's going on. The character of Victor's wife is suitably tragic. Meanwhile, Ronald Lacey is good value as a snivelling drunk, and he's very effective in his role. Also, interestingly, Me Me Lay (star of CANNIBAL) has a small part as the evil woman behind the killings, and of course she is the one who takes her clothes off.With a soundtrack consisting of loud drum noises, CRUCIBLE OF TERROR is not exactly a complex or intelligent film. However, with the comedy acting, good use of scenery (the moor land is reminiscent of other, better films, like THE WICKER MAN) and veneer of cruelty and decay, there's a certain cult appeal to this forgotten item. On another note, the version I have contains no company credits or date whatsoever, but just a cast list! (I take it the producers were too embarrassed after seeing the finished result).

dark_nebulae2003 Man, I almost finished this one. So I wanted to give it a two just because I can. However, the only reason I didn't finish this one was because I got dozens of movies that came in packs. So being that I was paying more attention to a website than I was to this, I had to shut it off and quit wasting my time.But yeah. It's pretty much what everyone else said it was ie BORING. More of a very outdated drama about an artist who's flat-broke and lookin' to make a buck. Oh yeah. He's possessed too. Ooohhh scary. In reality, they'd call that a con-artist -- DELUXE! Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but I don't think that the film ever revealed exactly what he was supposed to be possessed bye... unless it's one of those that you have to wait until the ending in which the wait is way too torturous for that. Anyways, the best part about this was that it was a part of the Brentwood Movie Pack. YAY. Got it for about a buck. Can't beat that.

googlemorf I saw this thing in part on late night TV in the seventies. Being a mere lad at the time, I was taken a back at how gory the killings were and surprized in retrospect that it wasn't cut for TV. I found this flick recently in a $5.00 bin put out by STAR CLASSICS. I wanted to see what I'd think of it now, so I bought it. Now I wasn't surprised that at that price it was a cheezy 16mm VHS copy in the LP mode, but I was surprised that all the gory scenes were cut out! Apparently, it was transfered from a more prudish television print! I see here that it's on DVD, but I ain't gonna buy the darn thing.. I would rent it though, just to see if it still holds the same impact it did for me so long ago..