An obsessed sculptor kills a young woman to make a perfect bronze sculpture of her. Years later at his secluded home a number of people become trapped in a web of revenge, murder and horror.An obsessed sculptor kills a young woman to make a perfect bronze sculpture of her. Years later at his secluded home a number of people become trapped in a web of revenge, murder and horror.An obsessed sculptor kills a young woman to make a perfect bronze sculpture of her. Years later at his secluded home a number of people become trapped in a web of revenge, murder and horror.
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- TriviaIn this movie Me Me Lai plays the unfaithful mistress of a mad artist who puts an end to her sexual cavorting by pouring plaster over her and turning her into a bronze, nude statue. Kneadless to say, it proved sticky going for Me Me down on the set. "The plaster was heavy and very cold," shivered Me Me. "I was frightened it would set and I wouldn't be able to move. I had to have six baths after each day's shooting to get it all from my body. And it got everywhere..."
- GoofsAt c. 53 minutes, as the Rolls-Royce is about to be driven off, there is a badly parked black car directly in front of it, well away from the pavement. However, when the Rolls-Royce moves away in the next shot the black car is suddenly perfectly parked.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Deadly Earnest's Nightmare Theatre: Crucible of Terror (1978)
Featured review
Middling affair about middling affairs in desolate Cornwall
1971's "Crucible of Terror" found wannabe horror star Mike Raven graduating from supporting player for Hammer ("Lust for a Vampire") and Amicus ("I, Monster") to top billed star, self financing this and its follow up "Disciple of Death," both filmed in remote Cornwall by one time only directors who never directed again (plus the same three cast members, with Ronald Lacey and Betty Alberge reuniting with Raven). The big shock moment arrives before the opening credits, Raven's Victor Clare a clearly insane sculptor whose latest model (Me Me Lay) submits to being encased in plaster, only to be immortalized in bronze by a molten metal bath. This life size nude is promptly exhibited by Victor's drunken son Michael (Ronald Lacey) for easy cash laid out by dealer John Davies (James Bolam), who figures to earn more coin through additional works of Clare art, but it's a long drive to the Cornish coast, where Victor's middle aged wife Dorothy (Betty Alberge), dressed in pigtails and carrying dolls and stuffed animals like a child, placidly observes him lusting after his much younger female models, obsessing over the preservation of their beauty for his own depraved satisfaction without concern for profit. Naturally, John's girlfriend Millie (Mary Maude) and Michael's wife Jane (Beth Morris) haven't long to wait for lewd proposals to pose for 'sketches,' which doesn't seem to affect current squeeze Marcia (Judy Matheson), who only confesses that she's been living with her benefactor for a long time. The other house guest is Bill Cartwright (John Arnatt), Victor's only friend, who long ago professed a desire to wed Dorothy and still covets her own nude portrait in Victor's studio, as much a relic from 30 years ago as the genuine article. This small gathering is set up to be systematically bumped off in modern Giallo fashion, rather than the expected "House of Wax" ripoff, but the sometimes gruesome deaths are few and the banter in between singularly uninteresting in the extreme. Victor's fascination with Millie is not conveyed in the performance of Mary Maude, later the star of Norman J. Warren's 1978 "Terror," which might have worked better had she switched roles with the more experienced Judy Matheson, both of whom at least provide eye candy in form fitting bikinis due to the lack of any real nudity. Cornwall is made to look quite eerie in its wide open desolation, the primary achievement of director Ted Hooker, unable to generate much atmosphere in the cramped and claustrophobic studio interiors, characters flitting about from room to room without any tension generated. The climax offers a supernatural element clearly hinted at throughout yet totally implausible, Mike Raven's lisping theatrics marking him a decidedly non threatening presence, more an aging pervert with little recourse to find new models to work in so isolated a place. Ted Hooker never again would be at the helm of a feature film, screenwriter Tom Parkinson replacing him for another one shot partially financed by Raven, "Disciple of Death," while producer/cinematographer Peter Newbrook would also graduate to the director's chair for the first and last time on an altogether different type of story, a sumptuous production titled "The Asphyx."
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- kevinolzak
- Oct 30, 2022
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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