Just rewatched this for the first time in about 30 years and it is every bit as good and bad as I remembered. It has so much going for it - some real heavyweight acting talent; fantastic settings and atmosphere; Judy Matheson at her most luminous in a substantial role; and, best of all, a really off-kilter story. The pieces are all there. Of course it often belies its low budget and while there are some great actors on display others may not be quite so top-drawer. But none of that reduces the enjoyment of Crucible of Terror. Like several other British horrors it succeeds because of its shortcomings rather than in spite of them. If you're a fan of the genre you owe yourself a viewing.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead* Please watch movie before reading thisOkay, so I finally saw this movie and wow...it's amazing but not for the reasons you would think. First of all, the star, Mike Raven could have easily made a career out of being a stunt double for Christopher Lee. I am really surprised he never gave it a try. In the face, he is a dead ringer for Christopher Lee. What a shame he did not go that route. He also was one of the financial backers of this film and no doubt had some say-so regarding the script. The script often doesn't seem to make sense. Okay, first spoiler coming here if you did not read the warning above...In the beginning of the film, we are treated to a James Bond type opening where we are dropped into a scene without explanation where someone is making a mold of a woman who is unconscious. He completely covers her except for one eye, in which molten metal is poured. Pretty horrible and unsettling open for a horror film and lets you know the filmmakers mean business. Problem is, he is later shown with a perfect cast of the woman. However, he would be unable to make that cast with her still in the mold. Pouring the molten metal in there would yield nothing more than a burned woman and even then, it is doubtful there was enough room for the metal to travel into the mold. Okay, nitpicking aside, this seems to be the only time he does this, until the end as it probably turned out to be very difficult to get that perfect metal copy of the woman with his lack of skills. So he tries it again at the climax but this time, the woman turns into the first woman he killed, now burned beyond recognition. The burn make-up leaves something to be desired as well. It is credited to make-up artist Jimmy Evans, who did underwhelming make-up jobs in other films such as TOWER OF EVIL and BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE just to name a few. The score is pretty over- the-top attempt at a horror score but it works for this film. It's not the worst film ever made but it just seems like they didn't think it out much before they started shooting. Luckily, there are 10 minutes of footage that have been restored for the DVD version so I suggest getting that one. I didn't talk about the plot because it makes so little sense, I see no reason to discuss it.

I caught this on late night TV yesterday, and if nothing else, it served as a timely reminder that dreadful films are nothing new.We may shake our heads in wonder at the awfulness of some of the films that get made today -but Crucible of Terror attests to the fact that in amongst the classics of the '70's, they were also making stuff like this.

There's more boring drama than horror in this chunk of British trash. The poor man's Christopher Lee, Mike Raven was a radio DJ who dabbled in the occult and tried to be the next big horror star of the 70s. He has a menacing look and some screen presence but films like this ruined his career. There are some brief and nasty murders to keep you awake but this film is hardly worth the effort. Me Me Lay, who would go on to appear in some notoriously gory Italian cannibal movies, appears under heavy makeup as a vengeful undead Japanese woman which was the highlight of this sorry excuse for a horror film.