The Crimson Cult

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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.

source: The Crimson Cult

Curse of the Crimson Altar, The (1968) ** (out of 4) An all-star horror cast keeps this one from being a complete disaster. A man tracks his missing brother down to a dark castle owned by Christopher Lee and soon discovers witchcraft could play a role in his brother's disappearance. Boris Karloff, Michael Gould and Barbara Steele co-star in this film that also throws in LSD, * women and swinger parties. The story isn't anything original, although the added touches of the nudity and LSD set it apart from others in the genre. The story is pretty flat throughout and the weak direction brings things down several notches but it's always worth watching these horror stars.

This film has been rather unfairly rated on this site. It's hardly a horror classic, but The Curse of the Crimson Alter boasts a strong horror cast, a nice storyline and an atmosphere borrowed from one of Hammer Horror's many successes. When you look at all elements, to be honest, it should have been a lot better; but you cant expect too much from a sixties low budget horror movie, and this film delivers one and a half hours of fun. Usually with this sort of film, if it bills two or more big actors; you can expect to see them for all of about five minutes. However, this movie stands out because the film's two big heavyweights; Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee appear for quite a while, and while they don't exactly 'star' in the film; their big billing is justified by the amount of time that they appear in the film for. Joining these two is cult beauty Barbara Steele, who basically reprises her role from the Mario Bava masterpiece 'Black Sunday'. She stars as a witch that was burned at the stake, but not before putting a curse on the descendants of the people who killed her. We pick up the story when one of those descendants travels to the town to find his brother. While Curse of the Crimson Alter doesn't offer us anything new where the story is concerned ("if I had a pound for every witch curse movie ever made..."), it still manages to add some verve and imagination to the familiar plot. Not a great deal, mind; but enough to keep it an interesting ride throughout. The atmosphere is well done, and while it's obvious that the film only had a small budget to work with; it makes the best of it, and the house at the centre of the film makes for a nice location to film a horror movie. The two biggest billed stars; Karloff and Lee, haven't been given characters that require them to really flex their acting muscles, but even on autopilot; these two great thespians are able to show what it is about them that makes them so important to the horror genre on the whole. It's obvious that the people who put this movie together wanted to ensure that it had everything about it that made Hammer's films a success; and although it doesn't quite capture the high camp style, it does well enough to ensure that it's still a fun movie. On the whole, it's not great; but fans of this sort of stuff will no doubt find something to like.

Curse of The Crimson Altar, as it's known in the UK, is very loosely based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft - The Dreams In The Witch House. But it's a pretty poor movie overall and the winter night shooting could only have contributed to Boris Karloff's worsening emphysema - in fact he caught pneumonia while filming. Christopher Lee actually looks as if he WANTS to catch pneumonia, and Barbara Steele, in her only British horror movie, is totally wasted. Curse concerns Mark Eden's search for his missing brother, and Eden's zero charisma performance is what helps sink the movie from the beginning. Years later he was to end up as Rita Fairclough's murderous partner in Coronation Street, memorably expiring under a Blackpool Tram! If only that had happened here. Eden's character Robert Manning soon makes his way to Greymarsh Village, where he encounters Christopher Lee's Squire Morley, who seems remarkably liberal to let a wild party take place in his mansion while he quietly reads upstairs! Cue scenes of people painting each other... After Virginia Wetherall's character utters she's expecting Boris Karloff to show up - he promptly does! So we're soon introduced to Boris and his collection of torture implements. Karloff may have been in poor health but he still outshines everyone else. He is, of course, just a red herring. Along the way we've been watching She Hulk and her portly assistant in an antlers and leather thong combo prepare for some diabolical rite. Lovecraft's original tale concerned a trans-dimensional witch and her monstrous human-faced rat familiar Brown Jenkin. Yep, superior for me to She Hulk and Antler Man, any day. For the 876th time in horror films, the mansion grows up in flames at the end. And for the first time in horror films Christopher Lee turns into a woman - the witch Lavinia, who has apparently been possessing him. Bet Lee was chuffed with that...

Curse of the Crimson Altar is directed by Vernon Sewell and co- written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. It stars Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Mark Eden, Barbara Steele and Michael Gough. Music is scored by Peter Knight and cinematography by John Coquillon. Plot sees Eden as Robert Manning, who travels to the village of Greymarsh in search of his missing brother. What he finds, however, is a village of secrets... "..and drugs of this group can produce the most complex hallucinations and under their influence it is possible by hypnosis to induce the subject to perform actions he would not normally commit" (extract from medical journal) Hmm, so begins Curse of the Crimson Altar (AKA: The Crimson Cult), maybe in an attempt to capture the drug taking hippie culture of the late 1970s? What transpires is a rather dull devil-worship movie that wastes the actors on show whilst also trying to expand an hours worth of film into an hour and half. I really think that to enjoy this picture you need to yourself enter a drug induced altered state. More often than not many a horror fan can forgive illogical narratives and cheaply constructed sets and costumes, but normally there is a good vibe to the production, or some visual pleasures elsewhere. Helps, too, if the picture has a strong mystery element to it. Sadly, away from the genre legend actors on show, Sewell's movie has nothing to make one forgive it its flaws. The dream sequences induce smiles instead of chills as the underused Steele turns up in green paint, there's lots of filler scenes that never amount to much and the finale is very weak. Throw in a schizophrenic music score that lurches from harp to low bass and then to organ, without marrying up to the scenes, and it's barely worth the time spent watching the damn thing. Karloff at 82 is the best thing in it, in a wheelchair he puts his awesome voice to good use and gets to be part of the film's best passages of dialogue. Lee is on professional auto-pilot and Gough works real hard to make a routine butler character shifty and interesting. All in all quite frankly it's bitter disappointment and tough to recommend to anyone other than drug addled hippies. 4/10

A nicely filmed horror movie,unfortunately marred by a botched ending which does not answer all the questions.The main asset is the cast:Boris Karloff,Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele ,all veterans of the genre. But their parts are underwritten and the real star is actually Mark Eden as Robert Manning,in search of his brother Peter ,an antique dealer ,who disappeared after a visit to a Gothic desirable mansion. Manning,arriving at the place finds weird people ,a mute half wit and a sinister-looking professor(and a gorgeous blonde too).At night,he has bad dreams (which bear the appropriate scars of time: of course there are psychedelic effects!).He begins to investigate and to wonder whether his nightmares might not be reality as he discovers a strange attic.

Serious but boring witchcraft tale set in 1968 England. Robert Manning (Mark Eden) goes searching for his missing brother in a remote village and gets involved with J.D. Morley (Christopher Lee), his cute niece (Virginia Wetherell), Professor Marin (Boris Karloff), a weird butler (Michael Gough) and a 300 year old witch (Barbara Steele--looking great in green makeup). Looks good with an OK script but not enough material for a full-length movie. It moves very slowly and gets very dull--it's too bad because the movie is well-acted and dead serious. Lee and Karloff are obviously having a fun time playing good guys and Steele, as I said, looks great. However, Gough is wasted terribly. I really can't recommend the film but it's really hard to knock any film that has Lee, Karloff, Gough and Steele in it. Horror fans will enjoy it (a little). All others--beware.

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.