| Demdike@Cult Labs | 19th July 2022 01:24 PM |
1 Attachment(s) Craze (1974)
Jack Palance plays antique dealer Neal Mottram who sacrifices women to the statue of African god Chuku in the belief that it will help his ailing finances.
Freddie Francis' horror thriller was something completely new to me the first time i saw it. I had heard the title but knew nothing about the film or if it was any good. Last night was my third viewing and i utterly love it. It drives along at a near break neck pace from the opening sacrifice during the first few minutes to the final showdown with the police.
Palance often seems an actor who balances on the crazy tightrope and he excels here as the batshit bonkers Mottram laughing and gurgling all the way to the bank. The film whilst not OTT horror is very gory in a couple of places with bloody fx work that wouldn't seem out of place in a Fulci film. As well as Palance the film has a cast to die for, in fact i've no idea how a film that's purely exploitation such as this can bring together the likes of Michael Jayston, Diana Dors, Julie Ege, Trevor Howard, Suzy Kendall, David Warbeck and Martin Potter. So no matter what your thoughts on Craze poor acting cannot be leveled at it as the cast relish the script stuffed with one liners such as Jayston's scathing put down of Dors. “One would have to be pretty desperate to sail into that port”
Craze is one of the unheralded British horrors of the seventies and deserves a lot more attention than it currently gets. | 