Jack Palance is in lunatic mode in this lethargic and largely uninteresting chiller from veteran director Freddie Francis. A cinematographer by trade, Francis ended up directing a lot of films down the years – mainly in the horror genre – and some of them were pretty good. Others, however, were terrible
The Deadly Bees and Trog being two of the absolute worst. Craze is more-or-less down there with those other two regrettable misfires, crawling along as it does at a snail-like pace under the weight of a hopeless script (Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen to thank – or rather blame – as the writers here, adapting a novel entitled The Infernal Idol by Henry Seymour). The cast is surprisingly high-calibre, especially for this type of film, but nobody in front of or behind the cameras seems particularly motivated and the end result pretty much reaps what it sows. That is to say, not very much!
Struggling, debt-ridden antique shop owner Neal Mottram (Jack Palance) has an unhealthy obsession with black magic and ancient rituals. In the basement of his shop, he owns a rare African idol called Chuku which he believes can bring him good fortune via sacrificial offerings of blood. Thusfar however, Mottrram hasn't actually tested this idea with a human life, just a few drops of blood spilled by thrill-seeking guests who seem oddly happy to cut themselves in front of the statue for Mottram's entertainment. When Mottram accidentally kills a woman by impaling her on the statue, he is amazed the following day at stumbling upon a fortune in gold coins. Quickly realising that Chuku rewards death more handsomely than blood, Mottram sets about picking up women and murdering them, each killing followed by further wealth and power falling into the lap of the demented antique collector. The police suspect that he may be involved in the murders but cannot pin anything onto him as, one by one, Mottram uses an increasingly imaginative series of methods to murder his way to a fortune.
The idea itself is OK, albeit a little over-familiar. Alas, Craze never goes anywhere with it. Events slink along boringly and lifelessly, with little sense of suspense in the build-up to the killings nor any real development of character. The victims are cardboard characters, injected into the proceedings merely to be slain a few scenes later. Mottram himself should be at the very least an interesting character – is he tormented or thrilled by his crimes, is he mad or coldly calculating, etc? – but the role goes nowhere. Palance acts with his usual twitchy intensity, but his efforts are generally wasted. Much of the film is shot in impenetrable darkness making it rather hard to see what's going on in a number of key scenes. Apart from a couple of neatly engineered jumps – one involving Mottram leaping out of a wardrobe in a fright-mask and literally scaring his victim to death – the film is one long yawn. It's certainly not the finest hour of anyone involved one for completists only.
Struggling, debt-ridden antique shop owner Neal Mottram (Jack Palance) has an unhealthy obsession with black magic and ancient rituals. In the basement of his shop, he owns a rare African idol called Chuku which he believes can bring him good fortune via sacrificial offerings of blood. Thusfar however, Mottrram hasn't actually tested this idea with a human life, just a few drops of blood spilled by thrill-seeking guests who seem oddly happy to cut themselves in front of the statue for Mottram's entertainment. When Mottram accidentally kills a woman by impaling her on the statue, he is amazed the following day at stumbling upon a fortune in gold coins. Quickly realising that Chuku rewards death more handsomely than blood, Mottram sets about picking up women and murdering them, each killing followed by further wealth and power falling into the lap of the demented antique collector. The police suspect that he may be involved in the murders but cannot pin anything onto him as, one by one, Mottram uses an increasingly imaginative series of methods to murder his way to a fortune.
The idea itself is OK, albeit a little over-familiar. Alas, Craze never goes anywhere with it. Events slink along boringly and lifelessly, with little sense of suspense in the build-up to the killings nor any real development of character. The victims are cardboard characters, injected into the proceedings merely to be slain a few scenes later. Mottram himself should be at the very least an interesting character – is he tormented or thrilled by his crimes, is he mad or coldly calculating, etc? – but the role goes nowhere. Palance acts with his usual twitchy intensity, but his efforts are generally wasted. Much of the film is shot in impenetrable darkness making it rather hard to see what's going on in a number of key scenes. Apart from a couple of neatly engineered jumps – one involving Mottram leaping out of a wardrobe in a fright-mask and literally scaring his victim to death – the film is one long yawn. It's certainly not the finest hour of anyone involved one for completists only.