BA_Harrison Antiques dealer Robert Manning (Mark Eden) travels to the remote village of Greymarsh in search of his missing brother Peter, who was last seen at a country lodge belonging to Mr. Morley (Christopher Lee), descendant of local witch Lavinia (Barbara Steele, looking a bit like the Tretchikoff print my mum used to have hanging in her living room) who was burnt at the stake. '60s horror titans Lee and Steele are joined by old-school favourite Boris Karloff in this exploitative effort from Tigon Studios that lacks a decent plot but which compensates somewhat with a few exploitative elements, including debauched young revellers, mild torture perpetrated by a muscleman in leather briefs and a stag antler helmet, and a spot of gratuitous nudity (bum and boobs) courtesy of Virginia Wetherell, who plays Morley's vivacious niece Eve.Storywise, the film feels like it was made up on the go, the plot lurching from one scene to the next with little regard for logic (Michel Gough, as mentally retarded butler Elder, provides several pointless moments before inexplicably turning up dead), but with its incredible triumvirate of genre greats and all of its campy schlock horror ingredients, the film is such a silly slice of Satanic nonsense that it is hard not to enjoy just a bit.

Tim Kidner I'm neither old enough to have seen this sort of horror at the time (barely born, in fact) nor a real horror fan, but this came up late on BBC2.The opening scene is nicely weird enough, with various symbols of witchcraft, with various symbols in sorts of colourful panto vignettes and then soon settles into normal life, old cars, Britishness and all that.Looking for his disappeared brother, Robert Manning (a fairly ordinary, nice Mark Eden) drives off to this lodge, from where his brother's last letter was addressed from. On the way up, he is told that the village in question is holding an anniversary witchcraft celebration and finds cars of men chasing a girl running through the woods.Reaching the Lodge, the owner, one J D Morley (Peter Cushing, no less) naturally denies any knowledge but offers him a room for the night. As one (naturally) does, in a big, strange old house, where there was a party that involved painting young lady's breasts (and similar!), Manning accepts. A joke with one young seductress about 'the sort of old house from the movies, where Boris Karloff appears' is nicely tongue-in- cheek, as the other big star here, is indeed, Karloff himself.He plays a wheelchair-bound professor, who's hobby is collecting instruments of torture. And, of course there's a dodgy chauffeur who goes around shooting at things in the woods (including 'our' man) and who so happens to be mute and an even stranger caretaker. Them there's loads of kaleidoscopic hallucinatory nightmares, with electronically distorted sound FX that our Robert suffers, which are interesting, at least. Then he toddles off, sleepwalking down to the local graveyard.It's all hoary nonsense, of course, but whilst a bit dated, there's enough interesting characters played by interesting - and/or sexy people, if you get my drift, for the film to remain entertaining and enjoyable.I'd give the actual film 5/10 for its real merit and maybe 7 for the other, entertainment aspects, as I've outlined. I don't think many fans of this genre would be too disappointed either and for them it's definitely worth checking out.

gavin6942 Robert Manning (Mark Eden) searches for his vanished brother in a rural English village, where he is entangled in the legend of Lavinia (Barbara Steele), a witch killed 300 years ago. Lavinia's heir, J. D. Morley (Christopher Lee), wants revenge on anyone related to her killers, such as Robert. Robert romances Morley's niece, Eve, and is aided by occult expert Prof. Marsh (Boris Karloff), but it is up to him to repel Morley's evil designs.Boris Karloff became ill with pneumonia while shooting this project in the freezing rain. It was his last British feature, begun January 22 1968, and he would recover enough to shoot four Mexican features in May 1968, his final screen work. Barbara Steele is always a treat, and she is especially interesting with green skin and a large, feathery hat (if you can call that a hat).Loosely based off of H. P. Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch House", how does it stack up to the Stuart Gordon version forty years later? Honestly, you cannot even compare them. If there is a connection, it is very limited. There is a witch, there are dreams, but the two films are worlds apart.Howard Maxford calls the film "dated and somewhat slow", having "a better cast than it deserves". How a film that runs only 87 minutes can be slow is a legitimate question. Ivan Butler also feels the film falls short, saying the "promise of a combination of Lee, Karloff and Barbara Steele is not fulfilled". These are fair assessments.I recommend the film for the cast and the awesome organ track that opens the film. Beyond that, it is hit and miss and you could skip it.

MartinHafer Boris Karloff was a wonderful actor and amazing guy--especially since he kept appearing in films well after death! If you check IMDb, you'll see three films that all came out AFTER he died in February, 1969. This film, while released in the UK in 1968 was released in the US in 1970--making it a fourth post-mortem film Karloff made! Much of the reason for this is that late in life the man made a ton of "guest appearances" in cheesy horror films, since he was a big name and apparently would work for little money. A few of these late appearances, like TARGETS, were exceptional films and many, like CHILDREN OF BLOOD, were cheap Mexican productions that should have embarrassed Karloff. I can only assume he really, really needed the money as he was confined to a wheelchair for many of these films--though he could walk about a bit if needed.CRIMSON ALTAR is a post-death film that falls between the bad ones and the exceptional ones. It has the benefit of good supporting acting from Christopher Lee but isn't as original or cool as TARGETS (a very under-appreciated classic) but is a genuinely chilling and interesting tale about witchcraft.The film begins with a witch trial back in the good old days. After the witch is roasted to a crackly perfection, the scene switches to the present time. A man is concerned because his brother was visiting a town (the same one that held this witch trial) and has disappeared, so he goes there in search of clues. And, naturally, given the cast, it isn't surprising when it turns out that there is a cult that worships this dead witch and they are responsible for the brother's disappearance.The film has many red herrings--false leads and twists. Many of them are very good, though the end almost seemed like it was concocted at the last minute. Still, there were enough chills and excitement to merit watching this film--particularly if you are a fan of Karloff or Lee.By the way, get a look at the guy with antlers and a leather thong, the goat-man as well as the sexy green witch! You just have to see them--trust me.