Craze (1974)

Jack Palance as an insane antiques dealer who worships an African deity in his basement and offers it human sacrifices? That's the kind of film that just can't lose! And it doesn't, although the copy I watched tries it's best with the worst sound ever, forcing me to up the volume on the DVD player to max and still struggle to hear some of the dialogue.Now Jack can do these off-kilter roles in his sleep and this NOT being a spaghetti western, he's actually required to be there on screen for most of the film. It's a joy to see him in his Primark devil robes with his coven, worshipping this African statue while a chick dances nude and then cuts herself. It's all harmless fun until some ex-coven member turns up and accidentally impales herself on the statue's trident, and the subsequent windfall gets Jack all thinking that maybe he should be upping his game when it comes to demented statue worshipping.In his non-insane life, Jack owns a shop with a weedy assistant who knows what he's up to but doesn't want to turn Jack in and lose his job (because he'd have his benefit cut when trying to claim Unemployment Benefit as technically he would have quit) so he just goes with the flow while Jack stuffs American tourist's heads into his Argos basement oven. By this point the cops are sniffing around and Jack isn't exactly putting them off the trail.So just when you're thinking we're getting a stalk and slash film Craze takes a side road into an elaborate plot to bump off Jack's rich Aunt which involves getting Diana Dors drunk and him jumping out of a cupboard wearing a Poundland horror mask. Will Jack get away with his plan to continually offer sacrifices to his statue? Or will his assistant get fed up being paid minimum wage? Will David Warbreck do anything when he finally shows up near the end of the film? I ain't saying, but it's as daft as you would expect.I seem to own rather a lot of Jack Palance films (Man in the Attic, It can Be Done Amigo, Brothers Blue, Portrait of a Hit-man, Welcome to Blood City etc) and he's a lot more animated than usual in this one. Not an essential film, but a good time waster thanks to the daft plot.

Jack Palance is in lunatic mode in this lethargic and largely uninteresting chiller from veteran director Freddie Francis. A cinematographer by trade, Francis ended up directing a lot of films down the years – mainly in the horror genre – and some of them were pretty good. Others, however, were terrible… The Deadly Bees and Trog being two of the absolute worst. Craze is more-or-less down there with those other two regrettable misfires, crawling along as it does at a snail-like pace under the weight of a hopeless script (Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen to thank – or rather blame – as the writers here, adapting a novel entitled The Infernal Idol by Henry Seymour). The cast is surprisingly high-calibre, especially for this type of film, but nobody in front of or behind the cameras seems particularly motivated and the end result pretty much reaps what it sows. That is to say, not very much! Struggling, debt-ridden antique shop owner Neal Mottram (Jack Palance) has an unhealthy obsession with black magic and ancient rituals. In the basement of his shop, he owns a rare African idol called Chuku which he believes can bring him good fortune via sacrificial offerings of blood. Thusfar however, Mottrram hasn't actually tested this idea with a human life, just a few drops of blood spilled by thrill-seeking guests who seem oddly happy to cut themselves in front of the statue for Mottram's entertainment. When Mottram accidentally kills a woman by impaling her on the statue, he is amazed the following day at stumbling upon a fortune in gold coins. Quickly realising that Chuku rewards death more handsomely than blood, Mottram sets about picking up women and murdering them, each killing followed by further wealth and power falling into the lap of the demented antique collector. The police suspect that he may be involved in the murders but cannot pin anything onto him as, one by one, Mottram uses an increasingly imaginative series of methods to murder his way to a fortune.The idea itself is OK, albeit a little over-familiar. Alas, Craze never goes anywhere with it. Events slink along boringly and lifelessly, with little sense of suspense in the build-up to the killings nor any real development of character. The victims are cardboard characters, injected into the proceedings merely to be slain a few scenes later. Mottram himself should be at the very least an interesting character – is he tormented or thrilled by his crimes, is he mad or coldly calculating, etc? – but the role goes nowhere. Palance acts with his usual twitchy intensity, but his efforts are generally wasted. Much of the film is shot in impenetrable darkness making it rather hard to see what's going on in a number of key scenes. Apart from a couple of neatly engineered jumps – one involving Mottram leaping out of a wardrobe in a fright-mask and literally scaring his victim to death – the film is one long yawn. It's certainly not the finest hour of anyone involved… one for completists only.

Well, well, well. Craze. I am assuming a GOOD print does not exist. Caught this on Amazon Prime(I also know I have a copy of it somewhere on VHS). It is indeed grainy. The lighting is of a poor quality, and the sound is abysmal. Real abysmal. I had it turned WAY up and still had trouble understanding all the lines. I guess this was shot with a very small budget indeed which is somehow inexplicable when you take the talents involved in total. We have producer Herman Cohen - essentially his last full producer film. Very able Hammer/Amicus director Freddie Francis is aboard to direct - but not with his usual flair for cinematographic vistas. Remember grainy, bad sound, etc... The acting department has Jack Palance in the lead role as an antiques dealer by day/night-time cult worshiper who prays to an idol called Chuku and which looks like a few prop guys put it together with a very small budget and with the aid of alcohol. A very superior supporting cast with the likes of Michael Jayston(Nicholas in Nicholas and Alexandra), cameos by Trevor Howard and Hugh Griffith, and three beauties with Suzy Kendall(To Sir with Love), drop-dead(no pun intended) Julie Ege, and bountiful, curvy, still lovely, in my opinion, Diana Dors as victims present. AND a brief cameo by Dame Edith Evans as well. Well, this brings this picture up a few notches though it truly is not very good. Palance wildly over-acts(OK, I know no one is surprised with that). But the film is workmanlike if nothing else and oddly held my attention. Of course with Diana Dors and Julie Ege in the film, the cards were STACKED in its favor. Craze is not a horrible film at all, just not a good one. It made me laugh quite often which I know was most assuredly not its intent. Notwithstanding all that, I would give it a peek just for its bizarreness.

Jack Palance plays an antique dealer Neal Mottram,who worships creepy looking statue of African God Chuku.Chuku is supposed to bring wealth and good fortune,but it also demands human sacrifices.Neal starts killing sexy British ladies to satisfy Chuku."Craze" by Freddie Francis features an over-the-top performance of the great and sadly missed Jack Palance.There are some comedic moments as well as plenty of suspense.Sexy Suzy Kendall of "Torso" and "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" shines as a hooker/dominatrix."Craze" is based on Henry Seymour's book,but I found that Chuku was a creator deity of the Ibo people of Nigeria.Diana Dors is superb in a supporting role here and also in "Nothing But the Night",a horror film which was the only movie ever made by Christopher Lee's own production company.7 out of 10.