Count Dracula's witch
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Count Dracula's witch |
| Original title | Curse of the Crimson Altar |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Vernon Sewell |
| script |
Mervyn Haisman Henry Lincoln |
| production | Lewis M. Heyward |
| music | Peter Knight |
| camera | John Coquillon |
| cut | Howard Lanning |
| occupation | |
| |
The Witch of Count Dracula (Alternative: Black Mass on a Blood Red Altar, Original Title: Curse of the Crimson Altar ) is a British horror film from 1968 , produced by Lewis M. Heyward and directed by Vernon Sewell . The film is a production of the British film production company Tigon British. Christopher Lee , Boris Karloff and Mark Eden can be seen in the leading roles . The film is loosely based on Dreams in the Witch House by H. P. Lovecraft from 1932.
action
A man named Peter Manning, hypnotized , attends a black mass . A naked woman lies tied up on a sacrificial altar. Peter is asked by a woman with green skin and a large horned crown to write his name in a thick book, which he does. He then stabs the naked woman with a knife and is branded on his chest.
Meanwhile, Peter's brother, Robert Manning, has received a letter from Peter saying that he will be back tomorrow. Since the letter is now ten days old, Robert worries. He finds out that the stationery is from a certain Mr. Morley and decides to go to Craxted Lodge, where Mr. Morley has a pub . A gas station attendant points out to Robert that Craxted Lodge will be celebrating the anniversary of the burning of the witches that day . In the forest, he becomes aware of a scantily clad woman who is running through the forest screaming and being followed by a car. Robert comes to the rescue, but it turns out that the woman and her pursuers are just playing some kind of catch game.
Robert later arrives at Craxted Lodge. He goes to Mr. Morley's pub, which is having a riotous party. Robert meets a woman named Eve, whom he asks about Mr. Morley. Eve tells him he's up. Robert asks Mr. Morley if there are rooms available in the pub and if a Peter Manning lived there. Mr. Morley tells him that he doesn't know Peter Manning, but offers Robert a room, which he accepts. He also asks Morley why the anniversary of the witch burning at Craxted Lodge is already being celebrated, whereupon the latter explains to him that the anniversary of a famous witch trial in which a witch named Lavinia Morley, of whom Mr. Morley is a direct descendant, is going to be celebrated. was sentenced to death at the stake . Later Robert also makes the acquaintance of Professor Marshe, who is an expert on witch burning and black masses and who collects old torture instruments. Shortly afterwards, the burning of Lavinia Morley is re-enacted in the village. Lavinia looks exactly like the green-skinned woman from the first scene. Later, in his room, Robert meets the mentally confused room service Elder, who tells Robert to get out of here and go to the cemetery before it's too late. When Robert does this, Professor Marshe finds him, who tells him not to listen to Elder.
When Robert sleeps, Peter suddenly appears to him. Then he finds himself in a kind of courtroom, in which there are several eerie figures, one of whom wears a goat mask, another wears a skull mask and another a kind of bird mask. Lavinia Morley sits on a throne and asks Robert to write his name in the thick book just like Peter. Robert refuses and then wakes up again. The next day Robert goes through the village to ask about his brother. A man shoots him. Robert manages to overpower the man from behind and asks him why he shot him. The man doesn't answer. Suddenly Professor Marshe appears, who explains to Robert that the man did not want to shoot him, but at a bird and that the man is mute. Robert cannot find any evidence of Peter in the village either. Later in the pub he talks about it with Eve, who also knows nothing about a Peter Menning. Then it occurs to Robert that Peter probably used a fake name so that he would not be recognized as a salesman. He asks Mr. Morley if a man with the wrong name Peter used lived in the pub. Morley tells him that he only lived there for two days and then left and has to be home by now. Robert explains to him that Peter has not returned home yet. Morley couldn't explain it.
That night Robert dreams again of his brother and the black mass. This time Lavinia presses him even more to sign. He refuses again, whereupon Lavinia rams a knife into his arm. Robert wakes up and begins to sleepwalk . He goes outside where he is found by a police officer. The policeman notices that Robert’s arm is injured. Robert goes upstairs to Eve's room. She opens him and bandages his arm. Then Robert seduces Eve and the two sleep together.
Later Robert goes back to his room. He finds traces of blood on the floor that do not come from him. Then he finds a secret passage that leads to the attic. There is the room where the black mass was held in his dream. However, it is completely interwoven. The next day Robert goes to the policeman who found him and tells about his brother's disappearance and the secret passage. However, since many houses in the village have such secret passages, the policeman sees no reason to search the house. Later he shows Eve the secret passage. He finds out that the cobwebs are not real. Eve waits in the room while Robert goes to Professor Marshe. He tells Professor Marshe about his nightmares and asks him if there is a witch ritual where you write your name in a book. Marshe tells him that the figures with the masks represent ancient gods and that if you put your name in the book you make yourself a willless slave. He also tells him that he is a descendant of the lead plaintiff in the Lavinia Morley case. Robert goes back to the pub to the room. There he finds Elder's body in a box. He goes back to the policeman and tells him about the body. Robert goes to the pub with the policeman.
Meanwhile, Eve is kidnapped by Mr. Morley and brought into the room. He ties her to the sacrificial altar and wants to sacrifice Eve because she is also a descendant of Lavinia Morley and has betrayed her family. Robert and the policeman arrive in time to save Eve. Mr. Morley has spilled gasoline on the floor and is setting the room up in flames. Robert, Eve and the policeman flee outside. The fire department is coming. Suddenly Mr. Morley rises from the flames and stands on the roof. The firefighters want to save him with the fire ladder. Morley doesn't want to be saved. He runs to the middle of the roof, where he burns to death. Behind him appears the gigantic face of Lavinia Morley, who lets out a demonic laugh.
background
production
After the great success of Frankenstein's Curse (1957), Dracula (1958) and Revenge of the Pharaohs (1959) in the late 1950s, many smaller British production companies began to successfully copy the style of Hammer films. Thus, of Amicus Productions episodic horror films as The Death card of Dr. Schreck (1965) and The Torture Garden of Dr. Diabolo (1967) shot. Tony Tenser , the founder of the production company Tigon British , produced a. a. The Blood Beast (1968) with Peter Cushing . Due to its success, American International Productions (AIP) entered into a partnership with Tigon British . The first joint production was in 1968 The Witch Hunter with Vincent Price in the lead role. Even before the film started, Tenser was so convinced of its success that he planned the production of Count Dracula's Witch for the same year .
The story Dreams in the Witch's House by HP Lovecraft was to serve as a template , as his books gained increasing popularity in the 1960s. Of AIP several of his novels had already been filmed, such as the torture chamber of the Witch Hunter (1963). Tigon British's first own production , Im Banne des Dr. Monserrat (1967), based on the author. Jerry Sohl was hired as the scriptwriter , who stuck to Lovecraft's template very closely in his work.
The script is about a math student who has nightmares in a haunted house. The relatively short story was difficult to rewrite into a film. In addition, the story was no longer up-to-date in the 1960s. The sexual revolution also influenced the films of this time, and so Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln , who had already written scripts for the British cult series Doctor Who , were hired as new authors . You should move the old fashioned story into the present. The math student became the womanizer Robert Manning, the nightmares became hypnotic fantasies and the haunted house became a pub where wild parties are celebrated with LSD . The whole thing was underlaid with British Invasion Music. Because of these drastic changes, Lovecraft's name was ultimately no longer associated with the film, and Tenser was pleased with the new script. As a director, was Vernon Sewell engaged already in the blood beast had directed it.
Two icons of horror films could be engaged as leading actors: Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee . Karloff suffered badly from arthritis and eventually also got pneumonia . He had been hired by Tigon British and AIP for the film, even though the insurance company had refused the risk involved. Christopher Lee previously had the filming of The Kiss of Death of Dr. Finished Fu Man Chu in Rio de Janeiro . On the return flight to Great Britain he suffered a serious spinal cord injury . Because of this, he had to rely on pain medication while filming. His way of playing in the film may appear more reserved, but at the same time more dignified.
The producer Gerry Levy found an old building in Harrow Weald , a suburb of London , which was perfect for the film, the Grim's Dyke House , which was built in 1870 for the painter Frederick Goodall and 20 years later the poet, critic and cartoonist William S. Gilbert . In the 1950s it was a sanatorium, which was closed in 1967. After that, the building threatened to deteriorate.
After seeing the house for the first time, Levy described the house as follows: "It was the coldest, darkest place I have ever seen." Apart from the poor condition of the house, it was with an elegant facade was surrounded by a large park, with many winding corridors and spiral staircases, the perfect location for a horror film. Since a replica would have cost around £ 10,000, Grim's Dyke House was converted into a film set that was later used in the horror films Goosebumps (1969) and The Witches' Death Cry (1970).
Filming of Count Dracula's Witch began on January 22, 1968 and lasted about five weeks. After that, however, there were difficulties in choosing the film title. Originally this was supposed to be The Reincarnation , temporarily The Crimson Altar . As they were dissatisfied with both of these titles, two different titles were chosen: The Crimson Cult for the USA and Curse of the Crimson Altar for Great Britain .
Cut pads
After the film was completed, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to release it because a woman was originally whipped at the beginning. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), however, criticized the sexual content of the film.
Film start
On December 8, 1968, the film premiered in the United Kingdom, where it was released with cuts of 87 minutes. In Germany it was released on August 15, 1969. In allusion to Christopher Lee's most famous role, it was marketed under the title The Witch of Count Dracula , later also performed again under the alternative title Black Mass on a Blood Red Altar . In the United States, the film started as The Crimson Cult on April 15, 1970.
criticism
“… Filmed impressively and lives from its gloomy, gothic look, which we already know from the hammer films and which can quickly be forgotten in terms of content. Director Vernon Sewell has succeeded in creating a feast for the eyes and it does not matter whether it is camera work, set or just the lighting, 'Black Mass on a blood-red altar' creates something that today's films hardly manage. He creates atmosphere and that not too scarce. With a little more courage to innovate and a better script, 'Curse of the Crimson Altar' could have made it an unforgettable classic. "
“A shoddy horror pic, notable only as the 81-year-old Karloff's last completed feature. [...] director Sewell never gets to grips with the muddled script. "
“A sloppy horror flick, worth mentioning only as the last completed film by 81-year-old Boris Karloff. [...] Director Sewell never gets a grip on the confused script. "
"A confused strip that uses so-called dream sequences several times to illustrate the ghostly events and also comes up with stupid antics several times when it comes to dialogue."
"The acting skills lie idle [...] In return we get some bland, uninspired sex scenes and - of course - a good deal of logical blunders."
“Mediocre horror film full of contradictions and no inner logic; interesting at best through the color dramaturgy. "
“Mediocre horror in just a little upscale color packaging. Without any recommendation. "
Publications
The Witch of Count Dracula was released on DVD in a restored version by the EMS label as part of the series “Der Fantastische Film” . On July 7, 2017, the film was released by the Wicked Vision Media label in Germany on Blu-ray Disc in a media book with three different cover motifs. In this version, the scenes cut for the BBFC approval were reinserted into the film.
Remarks
- ↑ The Witch of Count Dracula is Karloff's last British film. He shot a few more scenes in the US that were used in the US- Mexican film Alien Terror . See Scott Allen Nollen: Boris Karloff, A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television and Recording Work. McFarland 1991, ISBN 0-89950-580-5 , p. 399.
Web links
- Curse of the Crimson Altar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Count Dracula's Witch in the online movie database
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on production on teleport-city.com.
- ↑ Information about the film wearemoviegeeks.com.
- ↑ The Witch of Count Dracula on the British Board of Film Classification
- ↑ a b The witch of Count Dracula. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 20, 2020 . .
- ↑ Booklet of the German DVD from EMS, 2008, EAN 4020974164740.
- ^ Entry on the German theatrical version from 1969 in the online film database .
- ↑ The Witch of Count Dracula in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ The Crimson Cult. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 20, 2020 .
- ^ The Crimson Cult ( Memento of March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in the directory of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ; Retrieved June 28, 2012.
- ↑ Wicked Vision Magazine
- ^ Ronald M. Hahn, Volker Jansen: Lexicon of the horror film. Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-13175-4 , p. 392.
- ^ Review by Gerd Maximović in the Science Fiction Times. Quoted from Ronald M. Hahn, Volker Jansen: Lexikon des Horrorfilms. Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-13175-4 , p. 392.
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 387/1969
- ^ Entry on the DVD from EMS in the online film database .
- ^ Entry on the German Blu-ray Disc from Wicked Vision Media in the online film database .