GamerTab That was an excellent one.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

bensonmum2 There's as much wasted potential in Crucible of Terror as I remember seeing recently. Part of the film's problem is the muddled plot. Things get off to a decent start with an artist who uses a woman as the base for his bronze sculpture. Think of it as House of Wax without the wax. 99% of the movie follows this plot thread as those around the artist are murdered by a crazed killer. One of the characters says something about some sort of Satanic type stuff, but it's only mentioned in passing. It's a "blink and you'll miss it" type moment. So the ending comes out of nowhere and abandons most everything that's happened by reintroducing the crazy religious stuff in the final five minutes. Huh? Where did that come from? It's got to be one of the worst twist endings I've seen.The shift in gears at the end of Crucible of Terror might have been more palatable had I actually cared about any of the characters by the time it rolled around. For a film that features so many characters being killed, it's terribly dull. Other than watching a lecherous Mike Raven put the moves on anything in a skirt, there's not much going on. Sure, people die, but why should I have cared. None of the characters seemed to notice their friends were going missing.Beyond the plot and the unlikable characters, most of the rest of the movie is just as bad. The editing is sloppy. Characters are killed in rooms that seem to be next to one another, yet no on seems to notice even though the victims scream and make other appropriate noises. The acting is weak. The lisping Mike Raven cannot carry the film. He's a very poor imitation of Christopher Lee. You know you're in trouble when Raven is the best "actor" in the cast. The set design and special effects are bad. I think I could build a more realistic looking forge in my basement. Finally, could Crucible of Terror have included anymore horror clichés? I've seen nutty characters, cars that won't start, and almost everything else in this movie a million times.

Paul Andrews Crucible of Terror starts in a old tin mine forge, an unknown assailant prepares a plaster cast mixture & spreads it over the naked body of Chi-San (Me Me Lai) to form a perfect cast of her body & then the unknown psycho pours white hot molten metal into a hole in the cast... Jump to London where art dealer Jack Davies (James Bolam) is holding an exhibit trying to impress the main investors George (Kenneth Keeling) & his wife Joanna (Melissa Stribling) as well as trying to sell some of his items. Things don't go so well but one item in particular seems to generate a certain amount of interest, a bronzed sculpture of a Chinese woman by an artist named Victor Clare (Mike Raven) supplied by his alcoholic son Michael (Ronald Lacey). Jack ask's Michael if he can supply more of his father's work, Michael says no but he is welcome to talk to his father personally. Jack his wife Millie (Mary Maude), Michael & his wife Jane (Beth Morris) all decide to go together & make a weekend out of it. Once there things take a turn for the worse, Victor is stark raving mad as is his wife Dorothy (Betty Alberge) & that night someone brutally stabs Jane to death...This English production was co-written & directed by Ted Hooker & I found it so bad that it was just so entertaining & funny. The script by Hooker & Tom Parkinson moves along at a nice pace, is never boring or dull & is just so bizarre & funny that I couldn't help but like it. Some of the dialogue in Crucible of Terror is pure gold, "the only spirits you believe in are brown & poured out of a bottle" for instance after two character's discuss a haunted tin mine. There are loads more as well. I also thought the murder mystery elements were cool, I mean you think you have the killer & their motives nailed down but then the twist ending just comes out of nowhere & turns everything on it's head. I just love the silliness of it all. What's up with Victor's wife? I mean she's probably in her 50's yet she dresses like a little girl, has pig tails plus she talks to & plays with cuddly toys & dolls! It's never given any sort of satisfactory explanation as to why she is like this but hey, who cares when it's this strange & entertaining. One of the character's commits suicide for no apparent reason & is never explained why. I have no idea why but I liked all the zaniness, idiocy & eccentricity in Crucible of Terror.Director Hooker keeps the film moving, however his red-herrings & throwaway lines make little sense overall. I'm a big fan of 70's British horror & I love the look throughout Crucible of Terror from the clothes & locations to the cars & interior design with some horrible garish wallpaper! Even the obviously fake mine shafts add a certain feel. I could have used a bit more in the way of violence & gore as well, there is a stabbing, someone has their head bashed in with a rock, some acid thrown on someone's face & a couple of slit wrists, a bit too dry for my liking.With a budget that probably was pretty low Crucible of Terror is generally well made in & around some nice British coastal seaside locations. The best way to describe the acting is over-the-top, Raven used to be a Radio 1 DJ (anyone from the UK will know what I'm talking about) & Bolam is more widely known for his role in the successful British TV sitcom 'The Likely Lads' & it's various follow ups & spin offs.I must admit I wasn't expecting to but I really rather enjoyed Crucible of Terror, it kept me entertained for 90 odd minutes & that's all I could really ask for. I definitely can't recommend it to anyone as I think you need to be of a certain disposition to get anything from it, far from what one would call a good film but a highly entertaining & fun one none the less & how can you not like a film where someone is murdered using a 70's novelty see-thru plastic cushion!

Coventry "Crucible of Terror" is potentially interesting but nevertheless poor 70's horror of which the weak storyline constantly bounces back and forth between two popular horror themes; namely the house-of-wax theme and the satanic-cult theme. Especially this last theme was used frequently during the early 70's, with other (and better) titles such as "The Blood on Satan's Claw" and "To The Devil a Daughter". The story of this fun turkey revolves on an art-gallery owner and his gorgeous girlfriend encountering a hugely eccentric sculptor and his messed up family. I'm not sure I understood all the bizarre family relations but I think the artist lives together with his demented wife as well as with his mistress. Meanwhile, he also successfully woos the wife of his alcoholic son... Then there's also this elderly guy living in the same house but I have absolutely no idea what his position is towards the rest of the family. Anyway, one of all these annoying people is a vicious murderer and, even though you absolutely can't see it coming, the revelation of his/her identity is utterly ludicrous! "Crucible of Blood" contains some enjoyable sequences, more particularly the gross murders, but overall it's boring and unoriginal low-budget trash. The female actresses are painfully untalented but look very ravishing and Mike Raven is completely miscast as the womanizing artist. He looks somewhat like a crossover between Christopher Lee and David Carradine but totally lacks the charisma of both. In fact, this "Crucible of Blood" would work a lot better as a British government film to promote the tourist opportunities of Cornwall, because the filming locations are really beautiful and well-illustrated by cinematographer Peter Newbrook. As a shocking horror film, however, it's not the least bit impressive.

googlemorf I saw this thing in part on late night TV in the seventies. Being a mere lad at the time, I was taken a back at how gory the killings were and surprized in retrospect that it wasn't cut for TV. I found this flick recently in a $5.00 bin put out by STAR CLASSICS. I wanted to see what I'd think of it now, so I bought it. Now I wasn't surprised that at that price it was a cheezy 16mm VHS copy in the LP mode, but I was surprised that all the gory scenes were cut out! Apparently, it was transfered from a more prudish television print! I see here that it's on DVD, but I ain't gonna buy the darn thing.. I would rent it though, just to see if it still holds the same impact it did for me so long ago..