Excellent but underrated film

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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).

Crucible of Terror starts in a old tin mine forge, an unknown assailant prepares a plaster cast mixture & spreads it over the naked body of Chi-San (Me Me Lai) to form a perfect cast of her body & then the unknown psycho pours white hot molten metal into a hole in the cast... Jump to London where art dealer Jack Davies (James Bolam) is holding an exhibit trying to impress the main investors George (Kenneth Keeling) & his wife Joanna (Melissa Stribling) as well as trying to sell some of his items. Things don't go so well but one item in particular seems to generate a certain amount of interest, a bronzed sculpture of a Chinese woman by an artist named Victor Clare (Mike Raven) supplied by his alcoholic son Michael (Ronald Lacey). Jack ask's Michael if he can supply more of his father's work, Michael says no but he is welcome to talk to his father personally. Jack his wife Millie (Mary Maude), Michael & his wife Jane (Beth Morris) all decide to go together & make a weekend out of it. Once there things take a turn for the worse, Victor is stark raving mad as is his wife Dorothy (Betty Alberge) & that night someone brutally stabs Jane to death...This English production was co-written & directed by Ted Hooker & I found it so bad that it was just so entertaining & funny. The script by Hooker & Tom Parkinson moves along at a nice pace, is never boring or dull & is just so bizarre & funny that I couldn't help but like it. Some of the dialogue in Crucible of Terror is pure gold, "the only spirits you believe in are brown & poured out of a bottle" for instance after two character's discuss a haunted tin mine. There are loads more as well. I also thought the murder mystery elements were cool, I mean you think you have the killer & their motives nailed down but then the twist ending just comes out of nowhere & turns everything on it's head. I just love the silliness of it all. What's up with Victor's wife? I mean she's probably in her 50's yet she dresses like a little girl, has pig tails plus she talks to & plays with cuddly toys & dolls! It's never given any sort of satisfactory explanation as to why she is like this but hey, who cares when it's this strange & entertaining. One of the character's commits suicide for no apparent reason & is never explained why. I have no idea why but I liked all the zaniness, idiocy & eccentricity in Crucible of Terror.Director Hooker keeps the film moving, however his red-herrings & throwaway lines make little sense overall. I'm a big fan of 70's British horror & I love the look throughout Crucible of Terror from the clothes & locations to the cars & interior design with some horrible garish wallpaper! Even the obviously fake mine shafts add a certain feel. I could have used a bit more in the way of violence & gore as well, there is a stabbing, someone has their head bashed in with a rock, some acid thrown on someone's face & a couple of slit wrists, a bit too dry for my liking.With a budget that probably was pretty low Crucible of Terror is generally well made in & around some nice British coastal seaside locations. The best way to describe the acting is over-the-top, Raven used to be a Radio 1 DJ (anyone from the UK will know what I'm talking about) & Bolam is more widely known for his role in the successful British TV sitcom 'The Likely Lads' & it's various follow ups & spin offs.I must admit I wasn't expecting to but I really rather enjoyed Crucible of Terror, it kept me entertained for 90 odd minutes & that's all I could really ask for. I definitely can't recommend it to anyone as I think you need to be of a certain disposition to get anything from it, far from what one would call a good film but a highly entertaining & fun one none the less & how can you not like a film where someone is murdered using a 70's novelty see-thru plastic cushion!

"Crucible of Terror" is potentially interesting but nevertheless poor 70's horror of which the weak storyline constantly bounces back and forth between two popular horror themes; namely the house-of-wax theme and the satanic-cult theme. Especially this last theme was used frequently during the early 70's, with other (and better) titles such as "The Blood on Satan's Claw" and "To The Devil a Daughter". The story of this fun turkey revolves on an art-gallery owner and his gorgeous girlfriend encountering a hugely eccentric sculptor and his messed up family. I'm not sure I understood all the bizarre family relations but I think the artist lives together with his demented wife as well as with his mistress. Meanwhile, he also successfully woos the wife of his alcoholic son... Then there's also this elderly guy living in the same house but I have absolutely no idea what his position is towards the rest of the family. Anyway, one of all these annoying people is a vicious murderer and, even though you absolutely can't see it coming, the revelation of his/her identity is utterly ludicrous! "Crucible of Blood" contains some enjoyable sequences, more particularly the gross murders, but overall it's boring and unoriginal low-budget trash. The female actresses are painfully untalented but look very ravishing and Mike Raven is completely miscast as the womanizing artist. He looks somewhat like a crossover between Christopher Lee and David Carradine but totally lacks the charisma of both. In fact, this "Crucible of Blood" would work a lot better as a British government film to promote the tourist opportunities of Cornwall, because the filming locations are really beautiful and well-illustrated by cinematographer Peter Newbrook. As a shocking horror film, however, it's not the least bit impressive.

~Spoiler~ Crucible of Terror...nice title. As soon as the film started, I was thinking to myself "I liked this movie better when it was called A Bucket of Blood." It does become its own film as it goes on, however, it might have been a better idea to just rip off Corman's masterpiece. It seems an artist (cult figure Mike Raven) likes to create sculptures from live women and it turns out that they sell rather well. So a gallery owner finds the home of the recluse sculptor and tries to proposition him to make more works of art. Once there, people start dropping off one at a time, the norm for the genre. What's not normal is the copious amounts of red herrings thrown into the mix. Is it the eccentric artist Victor, his jealous son (played by Ronald Lacey of Raiders of the Lost Ark fame), the crazy wife, or the knowledgeable assistant? You'll never guess, so don't bother. The ending was just so random, but after thinking about the previous murders and some bit of exposition, it did make some sense. Still, don't go out of your way to watch this one.