Crucible Of Horror (1970)

Genre: Horror, Psychological

Source: Netflix Instant Que

Grade: A-

 This Small 1970 psychological horror film starring Michael Gough completely caught me off guard in its amazing story and production values. The only thing about this movie I can`t understand is why its still so overlooked and underrated! With  its great cast and awesome story which kept me intrigued and always interested; I cannot see any reason someone would not want to watch this movie.

     Story wise the films about a mother and daughter hatching a scheme to kill their family's domineering and sadistic patriarch (played by Michael Gough). The thing is they think that they kill him when they don`t actually, so in return he gives them extreme psychological torture. In a very Edgar Allan Poe style I must note. I do think the movie had the right atmosphere to, it was of great unease and tension, I could seriously feel it radiating off the screen. The artistic angle taken by the director was also very good, I believe the artistic liberty he went with payed off in the end. Giving the movie a feel in a way it probably wouldn't `t have gotten otherwise.

   Most of all though I must applaud Michael Gough performance in this. He was calm, yet at the same time madly sadistic and unreasonable. I can`t help but feel that this movie would`t be the way it was if it had not been for Michael Gough having the role he did. Now some interesting trivia I found out about this movie was the person who plays his son in this movie was his real life son Simon Gough and his daughter who he abuses so much is played by his real life daughter in law Sharon Gurney.

  So in conclusion I feel Crucible Of Horror or aka The Corpse (as it was originally titled in England) is a phenomenal psychological horror movie. With an outstanding performance from Michael Gough as well as the rest of the relatively small cast. I also must say this movie was well deserving of its R rating there were some pretty sadistic violent nude scenes in this movie that i`m not even going to get into, but those scenes definitely helped give this movie that edgy, uneasy, and tense atmosphere.