CRAZE (1974)

3 stars

88 Films. Blu Ray and DVD. 15th December.

The opening credits has a pan across the contents of an antique shop while the music by John Scott clues us in to it being somewhat creepy.

Neal Mottram (Jack Palance, who had played Dracula the year before for Dan Curtis), owner of the store, and several others, are worshipping in the basement in front of a big wooden statue – an African idol called Chuku. It is a blood sacrifice ceremony as a naked woman dances and gyrates before the strange deity. After the ceremony Mottram is confronted by an angry Muriel (Kathleen Byron) – who claims to be the witch of the coven – and that the statue is hers. They fight and she ends up dead. He wraps her body in a carpet and presumably dumps it somewhere.

He lives above the shop. Which is clearly situated on the studio backlot! Ronnie his assistant also rooms there — we assume they are also lovers. The unpaid bills are piling up but Mottram is convinced things will change.

Det Sgt Wall (Michael Jayston) and Det Constable Russet (Percy Herbert) pay them a visit – it is just an informal visit investigating the murder of the woman we saw killed earlier. As they leave the shop Wall isn’t convinced by what he has heard from the owner.

Later, clearing out of a desk to sell, Neal finds a hidden drawer with gold coins in it – which can pay off their debts. He is convinced this is due to the sacrifice to Chuku… which of course leads to further deaths!

Scripted by Herman Cohen and Abel Kandel, this was based on a 1967 novel by Henry Seymour called ‘The Infernal Idol’. Palance gives an appropriately wild eyed performance and director Freddie Francis brings out the weird angled close ups of the statue, but otherwise this is pretty bland and might have been better as part of an anthology film a la Amicus, rather than a full feature. It does have an interesting cast to recommend it – with Diana Dors, Julie Ege, Hugh Griffith, Trevor Howard and Suzy Kendall all putting in an appearance. This is a lower rung Brit horror, though it is well shot by John Wilcox — as you might expect with Freddie Francis, best known as a cinematographer, in the director’s chair.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Audio Commentary by film historians Troy Howarth & Nathaniel Thompson

Crazy Days – The Making Of Craze

Vicious Voodoo – Kim Newman on Craze

Original Trailer and Freddie Francis trailer reel

Reversible sleeve featuring original poster and new art by Sean Longmore

The Limited edition Blu ray also gets a double walled O Ring and a booklet