Curse of the Crimson Altar: Tigon Collection – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: UK, 1968
Director: Vernon Sewell
Writers: Mervyn Haisman, Henry Lincoln, Jerry Sohl
Cast: Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Mark Eden, Barbara Steele, Michael Gough, Rupert Davies, Virginia Wetherell

Release Date: September 9th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 87 Minutes 25 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £16.99 (UK)

"When Robert Manning goes in search of his missing brother, his trail leads him to a remote country house owned by the mysterious Morley. There, he finds himself dragged into a nightmarish plot of witchcraft, black magic, and murder." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation in original 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio."

Curse of the Crimson Altar comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 34.4 GB

Feature: 23.9 GB

This is another solid encode from Fidelity in Motion that takes an existing HD master, resulting in noticeable improvements. The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds excellent, the dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a stills gallery (16 images - stills/posters/home video art), a theatrical trailer under the title The Crimson Cult (2 minutes, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer under the title Curse of the Crimson Altar (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a making of featurette titled Creating the Curse of the Crimson Altar (35 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Sean Hogan titled The Altar of Sacrifice, he discusses H.P. Lovecraft and Curse of the Crimson Altar (20 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with editor Howard Lanning titled On the Cutting Room Floor (18 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with film critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan, reversible cover art, a glossy O-ring (limited to the first pressing) and a 24-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with an essay titled Sauce & Sorcery Tigon, Sex and The Curse of the Crimson Altar written by Andrew Graves, and publicity stills.

Summary:

Vernon Sewell directed Curse of the Crimson Altar. He is also known for directing The Blood Beast of Terror and Burke & Hare.

A man searches for his missing brother, leading him to a remote country house linked to a witchcraft cult.

Based on the H.P. Lovecraft story The Dreams in the Witch House, Curse of the Crimson Altar does retain some elements from its source. Like its source, Curse of the Crimson Altar is about a witch and the place where she practiced black magic. Outside of these two things, there are no other areas where Curse of the Crimson Altar connects with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dreams in the Witch House. That said, tone-wise, this is a straightforward horror film that lacks the cosmic wonder that's synonymous with the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

Curse of the Crimson Altar is not a film that you watch because of its story; its strength lies in its solid cast, which features three horror cinema icons: Boris Karloff (Frankenstein 1931), Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula), and Barbara Steele (Black Sunday). Though all three are given limited screen time, when they are onscreen, these moments shine the brightest.For Boris Karloff, Curse of the Crimson Altar was his final British film before his death a year later. Of these three actors, Christopher Lee is given the most to work with, while Barbara Steele has the least amount of screen time.

After a strong setup that introduces Barbara Steele’s character, there are some lulls before things get back on track for a solid finale. Though Curse of the Crimson Altar is clearly setting itself up as a horror film, its psychedelic moments give it a dated late 1960s vibe. Also, there are a few well-executed moments of humor, notably when a character remarks, ‘Yeah, I know what you mean. You say Boris Karloff's going to pop up at any moment.’ The visuals are one of Curse of the Crimson Altar’s greatest strengths; they are overflowing with atmosphere, and they do a superb job reinforcing the mood. Ultimately, Curse of the Crimson Altar is an unremarkable film that works as well as it does because of Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele’s performances.

Curse of the Crimson Altar gets an excellent release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer