Crucible of Horror

Did You Know?

• The film's assistant director Nicholas Granby stated that director Viktors Ritelis left before completion due to prior obligations, and producer Gabrielle Beaumont took over directing.
• Film scholar Bryan Senn notes a subtext of incestuous desire in the film, citing Walter's physical contact with Jane and his obsession with her whereabouts.

Plot

Walter Eastwood, a wealthy and controlling patriarch, demeans and abuses his wife Edith and their teenage daughter Jane. His misogyny is echoed by his son Rupert, who refuses Edith's request for art supplies and mocks Jane's desire for a job. One night, Walter's friend Gregson visits, and Jane claims Gregson tried to kiss her. After dinner, Walter discovers Jane has stolen money and beats her with a cane.

The next day, Edith proposes they murder Walter. When Walter plans a hunting trip to his remote cottage, Edith and Jane follow with a shotgun but are thwarted when he hears them enter. They pretend to have changed their minds, then Edith draws the shotgun and forces Walter to listen as she pours him a sedative-laced drink. The women compare him to the Marquis de Sade, and Walter collapses unconscious.

They force more liquor down his throat with a funnel, drag him to bed, and return home to await discovery of his body. Edith has a nightmare of a ghostly version of herself levitating. The next morning, she phones the cottage and learns Walter is not there; Rupert later demands they check on the cottage.

Production

The script, initially called The Velvet House, drew loose inspiration from the 1955 film Les Diaboliques. Michael Gough, a regular in British horror cinema, and Mitchell were both established stage actors. Gough’s real-life son Simon played Rupert, and Simon’s fiancée Sharon Gurney played Jane; the couple married in 1970. The film’s £55,000 budget came from London-Cannon Films, a British offshoot of the American distributor Cannon Films. To cut costs, an actual house served as the main location, with additional scenes shot at Merton Park Studios. Filming began on March 17, 1969. Director Viktors Ritelis, whose only feature this was, left before completion due to prior commitments, leaving producer Gabrielle Beaumont to finish directing.

Release

Cannon Films distributed the film in the United States, releasing it regionally as a double bill with Cauldron of Blood (1969). The double bill opened in San Antonio, Texas on 19 July 1971, and later in Burlington, North Carolina on 14 August 1971. The film opened theatrically in New York City on 11 November 1971. It was not submitted to the British Board of Film Classification until after the X category threshold changed on 1 July 1970, raising the minimum audience age from 16 to 18.

The film received an X certificate on 19 December 1971 after unspecified cuts, and was released in the UK through Grand National Pictures on a double bill with Psycho Killer (1970), screening in Manchester from 24 April 1972. By summer 1973, it played on the US drive-in circuit, including a triple bill at the Mt. Lebanon Drive-In Theatre in Washington, Pennsylvania on 1–2 June 1973. It aired on Elvira's Movie Macabre on 27 November 1982. After brief theatrical runs, the film had sporadic VHS releases, the first from Paragon Video in 1983, and an unlicensed Goodtimes release in 1987. MGM/UA Home Video issued an officially licensed VHS in 1993 and reissued it in 1998.

Reception

Reviews at the time of the US premiere were generally favorable. Howard Simpson of The New York Times praised the film as superbly directed and beautifully acted, noting its tight, merciless tension and a horrifying fadeout. BoxOffice magazine rated it good, commending the fast-cut flashbacks, psychedelic dream sequences, and high-quality acting, including Sharon Gurney's introductory billing with a nude scene. Ann Guarino of The New York Daily News gave a middling two-star review, citing a deadly pace that would barely keep viewers awake.