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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: July 7th, 2015.
Director: Vernon Sewell
Cast: Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele, Michael Gough
Year: 1968
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The Movie:
Almost the perfect example of a cinematic "wasted opportunity", 1968's THE CRIMSON CULT (aka THE CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR) manages to corral horror legends Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Michael Gough and Barbara Steele into a single film and then spend most of its running time focusing on the travails of two charisma deficient younger actors. Bummer.
The film opens with a prolog of sorts (lascivious enough to be cut from some of the initial prints) featuring Steele in an insane ritual getup brandishing a whip in an occult ceremony. We then pivot to our main narrative strand. Robert Manning (Mark Eden) is an antiques dealer who's main supplier is his brother Peter (Denys Peek). Upon receiving a strange package and cryptic note, Robert is alarmed and decides to travel to go see his brother at the address on the parcel.
Upon arriving at the old English lodge (after running into some strange revelers in the woods by the house) where Peter is supposed to be Robert encounters the sexy Eve (Virginia Wetherell) and her uncle and house owner Mr. Morley (Christopher Lee). Morley isn't particularly helpful about the missing Peter but does invite Robert to spend the night. Eve and Morley also fill Robert in on some family history involving a dead witch and a curse and introduce our hapless lead to Professor Marsh (Boris Karloff) - an expert in witchcraft and occultism. The lodge also has a weird mentally defiant butler named Elder prowling around (HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM's Gough).
Basically an occult themed mystery with some psychedelic sequences chucked in, CURSE suffers from a lack of focus and inability to make the best use of its strongest assets. The dead witch plot device and presence of Steele may recall Mario Bava's iconic BLACK SUNDAY, but director Vernon Sewell just doesn't operate at Bava's level of mastery. CRIMSON CULT may look pretty good, but it is talky and stagey. It also has a bit of that "older folks trying too hard to show youth culture" ethos that plagued some British films of the era in the party sequence. The fact that Steele is grossly underused is another blunder - she doesn't even get a scene with Lee or Karloff. Gough is also a wasted asset who spends his screen time skulking about and trying to figure out what to do. Eden and Wetherell are decent but are dramatically overwhelmed in their scenes with the likes of Karloff (still riveting to watch even in his final wheelchair bound days).
The film is watchable however and at its strongest during the dream sequences. The biggest bone of contention for most viewers with this release will be the American soundtrack. When AIP delivered this title to American audiences back in the day they simply couldn't afford the rights to the superior British orchestral score, so they hired young composer Kendall Schmidt to bang out a synthesizer focused replacement. While I prefer the original score, this one isn't as disastrous as the replacement track for Vincent Price's WITCHFINDER GENERAL/CONQUERER WORM. It is worth noting that the original orchestral score is intact on Odeon's British Blu of this title.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino's 1.66.1 framed AVC encoded 1080p presentation is on the upper end of the prolific studios transfer scale. All the key areas are solid - black levels, fine detail and color balance. This is an always filmic and often visually arresting experience. Sewell may have been prone to dramatic inertia, but his eye for the visually striking image wasn't wanting. The print used here is also in solid shape with almost no real defects. And no digital corrections/tinkering are in evidence. Check out the screencaps for verification. The DTS-HD Mono track that handles the sound is unremarkable but efficient. There's some very minor muffling here and there but nothing that renders anything inaudible. Overall range is good for a mono track.
The main extra is a 45 minute documentary on Christopher Lee called 'In conversation with Christopher Lee". Essentially a lengthy chat with the man utilizing an offscreen narrator and interspersed with film clips, this is a must watch. Lee covers his entire career and is charming and informative. His observations on typecasting and how best to dramatically approach playing a villain are particularly fascinating. An essential watch.
The audio commentary is handled by historian David Del Valle and actress Barbara Steele. It deals with ALTAR but because of Steele's limited screen time in the film, the focus shifts often to a more free-ranging career retrospective. Del Valle has always been one of the best in the business and he's at his peak with actor commentaries like this one where he has some rapport with the subject. Steele can be quite prickly at times but is highly articulate and interesting and speaks about Lee and Karloff with genuine affection. She has good chemistry with Del Valle and the track never drags. The next interview is with musician/American soundtrack composer Schmidt and it's a nifty piece. His story about a desperate AIP trying to salvage film properties for the American market that they had bought but couldn't afford the overseas music rights to is fascinating. Schmidt is funny and candid about the work he did on ALTAR as well as his many other re-scoring jobs. Cool stuff. Topping the package off are the USA and UK trailers for the film. No subtitles are included for the film btw.
The Last Word:
Dramatically inert, lacking real focus and guilty of squandering some prime talent, CRIMSON CULT is far from a horror classic. It is, however, beautifully shot and a fascinating period piece and important film in the Karloff canon as it represents one of his last films of any decent quality. Despite having to use the American score, Kino's presentation is first rate with rock solid AV and some nice substantial extras. Recommended - provided you know what you are getting into.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
