Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)

Director:

Vernon Sewell

Writers:

Mervyn Haisman (writer)
Gerry Levy (writer)

Release Date:

15 abril 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Frase comercial:

Come face to face with naked fear on the altar of evil!

Plot:

When his brother disappears, Robert Manning pays a visit to the remote country house he was last heard from...

Plot Keywords:

H.P. Lovecraft | Cult | Fire | Sacrifice | Professor

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Good Start but Disappointing Ending

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Prof. John Marshe
Christopher Lee	...	Morley
Mark Eden	...	Robert Manning
Barbara Steele	...	Lavinia Morley
Michael Gough	...	Elder
Virginia Wetherell	...	Eve Morley
Rosemarie Reede	...	Esther
Derek Tansley	...	Judge
Michael Warren	...	Chauffeur
Ron Pember	...	Petrol attendant
Denys Peek	...	Peter Manning
Nicholas Head	...	Blacksmith
Nita Lorraine	...	Woman with whip
Carol Anne	...	Virgin #1
Jenny Shaw	...	Virgin #2

También conocida como:

The Crimson Cult (USA)

Duración:

89 min | USA:87 min

País:

UK

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Norway:16 | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Grim's Dyke House, Old Redding, Harrow Weald, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Tigon British Film Productions

Trivialidades:

The house used in the film is Grim's Dyke House (now a hotel) in Harrow Weald, Middlesex. The house was formerly the home of William S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan fame.

Quotes:

Eve Morley: It's like a house from an old horror film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fantastic Fantasy Fright-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Good Start but Disappointing Ending

This film starts out pretty outrageously with a painted green Barbara Steele as the witch Lavania, who is trying to force all the descendants of those who burned her - the Mannings to sign her wicked little book. For her own evil unknown purpose..on hand are such things as a goat, and what look like dominatrix leather clad women and servants. Also when Robert Manning (Mark Eden) first visits the Morley house, he encounters a rather wild and almost orgy-like party.

This portion of the film comes in stark contrast to the later more refined sections with Christopher Lee as the head of the Morley estate and Boris Karloff as Professor John Marshe, refined expert on witchcraft and the occult whom Robert Manning questions to try and locate his missing brother Peter.

When Manning finally uncovers what really happened to his brother, he is confounded and so are we as the audience when we realize that many of the previous scenes were mere hallucinations. Still this film does have its moments early on with a real sense of uncertainty in the air..the ending which brings everything clearly back to Earth ultimately feels a less than satisfactory climax.