aka Curse of the Crimson Altar
A trippy and downright bizarre opening scene sets an odd tone for a story about an antiques dealer searching for his missing brother to follow. His investigation leads him to a village where a small percentage of the locals appear to venerate the infamous Black Witch Lavinia.
The addition of pre-seventies hipsters to the traditional country manor setting adds little of value, existing primarily to serve up gyrating lady hips and carefree flashes of tit on a harmless platter. It gets bored with those kinds of antics eventually and settles into the film it really is, which is an average mystery/occult thriller with Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff playing an overly dramatic version of Karloff, and Barbara Steele painted bluish-green.
2½ kaleidoscope lenses out of 5
I've wanted to see this ever since I heard the story is a loose adaptation of HPL's Dreams in the Witch House.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does take a few story ideas from Witch House.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not a bad film, although it doesn't have the oppressive claustrophobic feeling that I associate with a Lovecraft adaptation, so if you're hoping for the same you might want to readjust expectations.
The trippy scenes really are unusual. It gets credit for trying something like that.