Craze (1974)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Freddie Francis

Writers:

Herman Cohen (writer)
Aben Kandel (writer)

Release Date:

June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Plot:

A nutty antiques dealer starts to sacrifice women to an African idol.

Plot Keywords:

Human Sacrifice | Antique Dealer | Antique Shop | Antique | Idol

Cast

Jack Palance	...	Neal Mottram
Diana Dors	...	Dolly Newman
Julie Ege	...	Helena
Edith Evans	...	Aunt Louise
Hugh Griffith	...	Solicitor
Trevor Howard	...	Supt. Bellamy
Michael Jayston	...	Det. Sgt. Wall
Suzy Kendall	...	Sally
Martin Potter	...	Ronnie
Percy Herbert	...	Det. Russet
David Warbeck	...	Det. Wilson
Kathleen Byron	...	Muriel Sharp
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Venicia Day	...	Dancer
Dean Harris	...	Ronnie's friend
Marianne Stone	...	Barmaid

Also Known As:

Demon Master
The Infernal Idol

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:X | Norway:15 (video rating) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Harbour Productions Limited

Trivia:

It took a day to shoot Trevor Howard's cameo

A horror classic... Creepy, unnerving and hilarious!

Anyone who has seen more than one Jack Palance vehicle from the 70s will tell you that his movies in that time were highly entertaining and unintentionally hilarious. Sometimes it's obvious that he's camping it up, while other times it looks like the man is giving his all... either way, the result was amusing, to say the least.

CRAZE is no exception. I watched it last night, and I couldn't take my eyes off it for a second. It starts out with a bang: Palance, wearing a black robe, watching emotionlessly as a nude black woman with an enormous afro dances African-style in front of a wooden statue. I was laughing hysterically less than two minutes in! The remainder of the film was equally entertaining, with Palance running around killing people in an effort to keep the wooden idol satisfied with human sacrifices. Priceless.

Palance was a truly gifted actor, but his problems with alcoholism became progressively evident in movies throughout the 70s. His performances reflected his addiction as subtlety was replaced with broad strokes of extreme melodrama in whatever role he took on. This made for a lot of fun, though, because Palance overacting is highly entertaining. In CRAZE, his performances is perfect for the role of an insane man.

The film was directed by the great Freddie Francis, who directed a horde of reputable British horror films in the 60s and 70s. He was also a noted cinematographer, and CRAZE looks terrific. I've read a lot of bad reviews of the U.S. DVD release, which is apparently transferred from a lousy VHS tape that was in bad shape. I watched the German DVD, which looks and sounds fantastic. If you can figure out a way to get your hands on that print, I recommend CRAZE. It's one of the unsung horror gems of it's time.