TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Jonathon Dabell If the '50s and '60s were successful times for the British horror film, then there was most definitely a decline in quality in the '70s. Even the Hammer production company found it tough to strike gold in the '70s, eventually calling it quits towards the end of the decade. Crucible Of Terror is a 1971 horror flick from a company called Glendale. It is a very boring film, exactly the kind of dreary drivel that spelled the end for the British horror genre at that time. Stilted dialogue, wooden performances, tedious pacing, laughable "shocks" and absurd plot developments combine to make a film that is wholly ineffective from start to finish. It gets a 2-out-of-10 rating merely because the sheer goofiness of it all is good for a few (unintended) giggles.Struggling art dealer John Davies (James Bolam) needs to make money quickly to clear some business debts that he has run up. His boozy partner Michael (Ronald Lacey) shows him some pictures and sculptures produced by his father, which both men agree are good enough to revive their flagging fortunes. There is, however, one problem: Michael's father, Victor (Mike Raven), is a reclusive and violent madman who does not produce art for fame or profit but rather for personal gratification. Undterred, John persuades Michael to set up a meeting at his father's remote coastal house so that they can negotiate a purchase. Along for the trip are Michael's unhappy wife Jane (Beth Morris) and John's nervy girlfriend Millie (Mary Maude). The house is located near to an abandoned tin mine, closed since a fatal accident and rumoured to be haunted. The whole place seems cursed with an air of dread, and Millie especially is affected by being there - she feels constant unease and has a nagging sense of deja vu that she has been there before. A series of murders further heightens the terror, but who is the killer? The evidence would suggest demented Victor is the one responsible, perhaps planning to restart his weird old hobby of casting dead bodies in bronze. But as the mystery unfolds it becomes apparent that perhaps more supernatural forces are at work.It would not be fair to reveal the solution here, but the answers when they come are stupid rather than clever. If I hadn't heard and seen the ludicrous denouement with my own ears and eyes, I would scarcely believe a film-maker could put such nonsense on film. The film's weaknesses don't end there either. Indeed, Crucible Of Terror could be described as a catalogue of weaknesses, such is its ineptitude on just about every level. All the actors are guilty of terrible performances, ranging from Bolam's lazy non-performance as John to Raven's wide-eyed self embarrassment as the crazy Victor. The plot takes forever to get going and is completely unpersuasive, with several moments that have the viewer shaking their head in disbelief. Perhaps the most illogical moments of all revolve around the murders - in one preposterous sequence, the unseen killer stabs a victim noisily through a changing screen, drags the heavily bleeding corpse to a window, throws it out, and drags it to a nearby car leaving a trail of blood every inch of the way. Incredibly, absurdly, in a house full of people no-one hears any of this taking place and all the blood has vanished by the morning! The worst shortcoming of all, though, is something that is unforgivable in any horror film: an absolute absence of scares. There is nothing remotely frightening or jumpy about Crucible Of Terror, not one moment that genuinely gets the spine tingling or the hairs rising. A shocker without shocks rather negates itself, and Crucible Of Terror is as pointless and ineffective as they come.

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.

Paul Andrews 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!

Backlash007 ~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.