'Craze' is an intriguing tale of an antiques dealer who falls under the spell of an ancient African idol and starts sacrificing women to it.
It stars Jack Palance, who pulls out all the stops, affecting an effective British accent and wielding an axe like a maniac. Occasionally quite violent, it goes off track in the middle for a bit but pulls itself back together for a great climax. Another good cast, too: Palance, Diana Dors, Michael Jayston, Suzy Kendall (although wasted in a nothing role), Trevor Howard and Percy Herbert.
Good stuff which in any fair and equitable world would be a staple of late night telly but, of course, isn't. You can get it on a German DVD, though, and you probably should, especially as it's a dual audio edition.
1973/4 had a bit of a thing about antique dealers and the occult. We recently enjoyed watching 'From Beyond The Grave' again, the portmanteau horror with Peter Cushing as a suitably cadaverous antique dealer whose wares all come with a little something 'extra'. Particularly enjoyed the David Warner/antique Mirror tableau 'The Gatecrasher'. As a kid I'd sneak down late on Friday nights an peek through the banisters whilst the late horror was on. This particularly affected me at the time, and many sleepless nights ensued. As a slight coincidence, Diana Dors was also in this movie too. Though perhaps the creepiest element of the movie was Donald Pleasence' daughter Angela, a truly 'otherworldly' character.
ReplyDeleteI miss those schlocky Hammer/Amicus/ films on a Friday.