Curse of the Crimson Altar (1970)

I'm neither old enough to have seen this sort of horror at the time (barely born, in fact) nor a real horror fan, but this came up late on BBC2.The opening scene is nicely weird enough, with various symbols of witchcraft, with various symbols in sorts of colourful panto vignettes and then soon settles into normal life, old cars, Britishness and all that.Looking for his disappeared brother, Robert Manning (a fairly ordinary, nice Mark Eden) drives off to this lodge, from where his brother's last letter was addressed from. On the way up, he is told that the village in question is holding an anniversary witchcraft celebration and finds cars of men chasing a girl running through the woods.Reaching the Lodge, the owner, one J D Morley (Peter Cushing, no less) naturally denies any knowledge but offers him a room for the night. As one (naturally) does, in a big, strange old house, where there was a party that involved painting young lady's breasts (and similar!), Manning accepts. A joke with one young seductress about 'the sort of old house from the movies, where Boris Karloff appears' is nicely tongue-in- cheek, as the other big star here, is indeed, Karloff himself.He plays a wheelchair-bound professor, who's hobby is collecting instruments of torture. And, of course there's a dodgy chauffeur who goes around shooting at things in the woods (including 'our' man) and who so happens to be mute and an even stranger caretaker. Them there's loads of kaleidoscopic hallucinatory nightmares, with electronically distorted sound FX that our Robert suffers, which are interesting, at least. Then he toddles off, sleepwalking down to the local graveyard.It's all hoary nonsense, of course, but whilst a bit dated, there's enough interesting characters played by interesting - and/or sexy people, if you get my drift, for the film to remain entertaining and enjoyable.I'd give the actual film 5/10 for its real merit and maybe 7 for the other, entertainment aspects, as I've outlined. I don't think many fans of this genre would be too disappointed either and for them it's definitely worth checking out.

Not sure if this is a "Hammer Horror" but it sure feels like it and goes head to head with any of their better 70s Gothic style out put. The main protagonist is set on journey to find his missing brother and ends up at a typical Gothic spooky castle where he walks into a swinging psychedelic party. The new guest is invited to stay and the weirdness unfolds with an odd homage/festival in honor of a witch burned at the stake some 300 years prior and in strange pagan ritualistic dream sequences. All in all there is some really nice set pieces, excellent cinematography and wonderful performances by an all star cast of genre regulars. Highly recommended for any fan of Hammer Horrors, euro-horror and any late 60s/70s cult films.

...was the response by Mr. Manning to Eve Morley commenting on the creepiness of the old house. And indeed Boris does pop up later. More on that in a moment. First, The Curse of the Crimson Altar, and its US counterpart The Crimson Cult, is an interesting blend of late 60s culture with traditional British horror storytelling. A young antiques dealer is looking for his brother and finds that he had been staying at an old manor in a town celebrating the trial of a hugely famous with of the region named Lavinia. From there intrigue with the inhabitants of the house - a barely audible Micheal Gough as a servant, Christopher Lee as the owner, Boris Karloff as a professor of witchcraft with his mute wheelchair-rolling aide, Virginia Weatherell as a love interest to Manning, and a darkly lit, massive old house - begin to ensue. Well, the story concerns Manning being one of the last surviving relatives of the men that persecuted poor old Lavinia. You know what someone wants to do to him - but who can it be? The level-headed Lee looking very urbane and being the personification of English gentry? The wheelchair-ridden Karloff pronouncing lines with such venom and twisted smiles as to scare off even a teenager? Maybe the girl - maybe she is more than the simple, innocent, charming persona that she exudes? What about Manning's dreams - where we are introduced to them with a red circle circling over and over until we find ourselves with him in a room where a green-faced Barbara Steele with rams horns on head tries to force Manning(in a robe) to sign some book whilst a cast of characters judge him - several barely clothed like the woman(very fetching outfit I must confess)with the whip. By the film's end we get an explanation, and it is in no way complete or satisfactory. The end really doesn't make much sense. But it really doesn't matter because the scenery is both beautifully filmed and chewed by some of the best. Gough is great in his small role. Steele is lovely and creepy. Lee and Karloff bring this film to another level with their performances. Lee gives his standard British upper lip job(which is always a cut above most's best). But Karloff - around 80 in a wheelchair and on oxygen(you don't see this in the film) with a incredibly bad back - gives one heck of a creepy performance with what little he has to work with here. He has some wonderful scenes extolling the virtues of savoring a good brandy with Mark Eden(Manning). He also has this delicious line about "instrumenys of torture" and looks and acts so creepy that I just loved every moment of his screen time - particularly those he shared with Lee his very good friend. While The Crimson Cult is not a great film - perhaps a borderline good film - it is a good film to watch for I don't know where else one can see Karloff, Lee, Steele, and don't forget Gough all in the same film. Forget it doesn't make much sense at all. Forget the crude 60s references and scenes of hallucinations and semi-clad women partying(okay, maybe don't forget that too terribly quickly).

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.