Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Movie review - "Craze" (1974) **

Not a very good horror film. I enjoyed the work of producer Herman Cohen and director Freddie Francis in other movies but not this one - maybe it was made too late in the day. Or they didn't have enough money. Or a shared vision. Or whatever.

Maybe Jack Palace wasn't suited for the lead role. Maybe films about men seducing women for a cult aren't as interesting as women doing it - if Julie Edge or Suzy Kendall were in the lead instead of Palance, maybe that would've worked. Of course depends on how in to Palance you are.

Strong cast including Trevor Howard, Edith Evans, Hugh Griffith and Doris Dors - they are all solid, as is Palance to be fair. I did laugh at the cop slapping around Palance's off sider - it made me wonder if they ever made a Sweeney style police brutality movie with Satanic villains?

It's an ugly looking movie like far too many 70s British horror movies. Did they lose the gift of art design or something?

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