"Robert Manning" (Mark Eden) is an antiques dealer who has become concerned about his brother not showing up at his office for over 10 days. So he decides to go to the last place his brother visited which happens to be at a large manor in a village called Greymarsh. The notable feature of this town is that every year the villagers put on a ceremony reenacting the burning of a witch named "Lavinia Morley" (played by "Barbara Steele") which happened over 200 years previously. Since the owner of the manor, "J. D. Morley" (Christopher Lee) happens to have a room that is readily available he offers it to Robert so that he can continue his search. However, later that night Robert has a strange nightmare which involves his being held against his will by a woman who greatly resembles Lavinia Morley. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that the combination of 60's psychedelia with a Hammer-style occult backdrop was most enjoyable. Likewise, the inclusion of Boris Karloff (as "Professor Marsh") along with the aforementioned Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele was equally appreciated. On top of that, having an attractive actress like Virginia Wetherell ("Eve") certainly didn't hurt either. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end and the negatives begin as the story devolved into mediocrity which culminated into a rather disappointing ending. To add insult to injury, Barbara Steele's role was woefully inadequate and essentially wasted. In short, what could have been a fantastic horror film turned out to be essentially adequate. No more and no less.
Review of The Crimson Cult
