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best movie i've ever seen.

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.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Crucible of Terror" is amazingly bad...which is hard to believe since the initial premise was so good. You see a LIVE woman being used to make a statue...and molten metal is poured over her!! Next, you see her statue being displayed in an art gallery and folks LOVE it. Pretty cool idea...a bit like "Bucket of Blood"...though not a comedy.The problem is when the film leaves London and the gallery and goes off to the countryside....where the film drags on and on and on. Additionally, the ending is amazingly stupid...and confusing. So, there is an epilogue that actually explains what happened and why!! Unfortunately, the explanation is just stupid. Overall, what looked like it would be an exciting horror film is just dull, stupid and slow.

The plot = An obsessed sculptor kills a young woman to make a perfect bronze sculpture of her. Then years later at his secluded home, his son and his wife and some of they're friends travel there for a few days, only to be picked off one by one, is the sculptor or is it someone else.I've seen this movie a few times on late night TV, and it's always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, is it supposed to be a drama or is it supposed to be a horror. Of course it's a horror movie, as halfway through we see the cast get picked off one by one. The supernatural element kicks in when one of the characters starts having nightmares of an unknown force, which later becomes crucial when the killer is revealed.Supposed to be a horror film, Crucible of Terror is more a drama. As a drama, it is adequate, but there is nothing particularly notable about it, and it tends to drag on for way too long before anything actually happens.Even when the cast is started getting murdered There is no gore, and no graphic violence. The longest of these murder scenes is probably 20 seconds. And there is no follow through. A short murder scene occurs, we're never shown what happens to the bodies, and no one is overly concerned that anyone is missing. In fact, the most sustained "horror" element is the artist's pursuit of the dealer's significant other. She is frightened of him and there is an effective extended chase sequence that ends with the woman being pursued through an atmospherically spooky abandoned mine (probably the best scene of the film). She reminds the artist of the woman bronzed in the beginning and, despite the fact that he hadn't "executed" any sculptures recently, he has the same plan for her.All in all not great but not awful there are some redeeming features about this flick but other than that, this doesn't bring anything new to the horror genre.

I only heard about this one when recently re-issued on DVD by Severin. I was mainly familiar with its star (former pirate-radio DJ Mike Raven) via his notorious stint in the same year's LUST FOR A VAMPIRE for Hammer – in any case, he only made 4 films (the others being Amicus' I, MONSTER {1971}) and the even more obscure (to say nothing of maligned) DISCIPLE OF DEATH (1972). The movie (which should not be confused with CRUCIBLE OF HORROR aka THE CORPSE {also 1971}, starring Michael Gough – yet another shocker that seems to have fallen through the cracks, though I did catch it on Cable TV some years back) perhaps owes its central premise to "Wax Museum"-type efforts, since Raven's painter/sculptor uses live models for the latter (though he only resorts to it when inspired) – beginning with the pre-credits sequence! Apparently, Raven had a genuine interest in the occult, hence his attempt to make it as the next big British horror star in the wake of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (interestingly, he got to appear alongside the pair in I. MONSTER) and famously had his eyes 'dubbed' by stock footage of Lee as Dracula in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE!. Another link to a horror legend and fellow countryman is the fact that, like the great Boris Karloff, Raven has a pronounced lisp – which occasions several instances of amusement here, as the script seems hellbent on handing him a plethora of "s"s to deliver in any one given speech! His character is anything but a commercial artist since he admits to make his handiwork for his own satisfaction. However, his son (Ronald Lacey) has other plans and steals a couple of exhibits which are the surprise hits at an otherwise dismal show (sponsored by Melissa Stribling from HORROR OF Dracula {1958} and managed by James Bolam, with the former more interested in learning that he fancies her!) – Stribling's spouse develops a passion for the aforementioned sculpture and is furious when told that it has already been sold: trying to make away with it at night, he is suffocated to death with a plastic bag! In the meantime, Bolam's girlfriend (lovely Mary Maude, who had appeared in the fine Spanish horror THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED {1969}) is going through market-stalls looking for a nightgown and happens upon the very same yellow kimono worn by the victim of the first murder (all the while being suspiciously-eyed by an Asian bloke sporting shades and who vanishes from the proceedings soon after). Anyway, Bolam sees the value of Raven's work and persuades Lacey to set up a meeting. This is to take place over the weekend at his country retreat, the site of a tin-mine disaster and thus conveniently equipped with a still operational forge. Bolam takes Maude along for the ride (as does Lacey his blonde wife), and Raven naturally instantly sees the possibilities in her. Also living there are his wife who, through Raven's neglect once her beauty had faded has effectively regressed to a childhood state (she is constantly carrying soft toys and dolls around), a middle-aged man who is devoted to the latter (he had wanted to marry her but she preferred Raven, who then squanders her fortune financing his creative output) and – as Lacey puts it – his father's only friend, and the artist's latest model/lover (who, it transpires harbors an unrequited lesbian affection for Maude).As you can see, that's quite a brimful of hang-ups (beginning with an awkward dinner-table sequence where Raven constantly belittles his son and verbally lashes at his wife for her undignified behavior!) and, before long, the murders start: first Lacey's wife, then himself, then the model At first, I thought the killer would be Lacey (since he had threatened his spouse to show the world that he is every bit as good as his father, to which she contemptuously quips "Yeah, what at?"), then I was sure the film-makers were going the obvious route and reveal Raven as the typical mad artist (sure enough, he had persistently harassed Maude, down to following her through a set of caves which somehow lead back to his own house and which is where the old woman herself goes to in order to get away from Raven's vitriol)…but even he becomes a victim! Maude had been plagued by nightmares involving someone wearing a scary Japanese mask and brandishing a white-hilted sword (when the latter is found in possession of Raven's pal, it is obvious we are supposed to suspect him too) and she had been rendered queasy by the presence of a vase (presumably the titular container) Raven uses in his molding practices. Anyway, as he is about to immortalize her in bronze, she turns on him, unaccountably displaying hideous features which, as later explained by the artist's former rival in love (one wonders just how he knew), results in her having been taken over – via the kimono, get it? – by the revenge-seeking Asian woman we saw murdered at the very start of the picture (to stress the point further, here we also get a replay of all the deaths, with the unseen assailant now revealed to have been Maude all along)! To be sure, I was unfamiliar with and not a little amused by the director's name but I cannot say to regretting having included it in this "Halloween Challenge": if anything, CRUCIBLE OF TERROR proves quite good to look at (no surprises there, since it is lensed by the distinguished Peter Newbrook), the set-pieces are tolerably well-handled and certainly grisly enough and, for better or worse, Raven's niche in horror-film history (even if he never comes close to scaling the heights of his progenitors and peers) is assured.

~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.