Review of Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) by Allan C — 11 Jul 2018

Okay low-budget horror film is bolstered by a strong supporting cast of veteran horror actors and a solid story, which I didn't realize until the end of the film that it was based on H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House," although Lovecraft did not receive any onscreen credit.

The story starts in a very Austin Powers-like swinging' 60s London when a young man then leaves to visit a remote manor in the English countryside after his brother's disappearance. Once there he senses a Lovecraftian sense of dread, which leads to (as the title would suggest) a secret devil cult.

Scary old actors who may or may not be part of the cult include the great Boris Karloff, the equally great Christopher Lee, and the original scream queen Barbara Steele painted green and playing a 300-year old witch.

While the supposing cast is strong, the primary lead actors are not as good. Also to the film's detriment is it's low budget, which at times make the film laughable, particularly one especially bad dream sequence.

The film also oddly and unnecessarily breaks the third-wall when one character jokes that the spooky old manner makes him expect to see Boris Karloff at any moment. Overall, "The Crimson Cult" is not terrible, but it's also not a faithful Lovecraft adaptation (I certainly don't remember as many swingin' 60s parties in his stories), so this film is nothing to go out of your way to see.

If you're a fan of witch and devil cult movies, this film may be worth checking out since the list of good and great films in this horror sub-genre is pretty short ("Rosemary's Baby" "The Devil Rides Out" "Curse of the Demon" "Suspiria" "Black Sunday" "The Wicker Man" and "House of the Devil" are probably the only films that fit that category, but feel free to add to that list if you can think of any others.

I sure can't.).