Curse of the Crimson Altar

This might have been a bit better were it actually to feature more of Messrs Karloff and Lee on the screen, but for the most part is just consists of Mark Eden ("Manning") trying to track down his brother, whom he suspects may have been caught up in some occult goings on at a rural stately home. Certainly, there is plenty of drunken debauchery at the start (where don't they lick the Champagne from?) but once it gets into it's stride it all just follows a well trodden path with virtually nothing of note - certainly not scary, anyway, happening until the fire brigade arrive with lightning speed at the end. Beware the legend of the Black Witch - she might make you watch a sequel!

Tigons version of The Devil Rides Out

An antique dealer in England (Mark Eden) travels to the village of Greymarshe to find his brother, who mysteriously went missing there. Staying at a historical lodge, he romances the young niece (Virginia Wetherell) of the owner (Christopher Lee) while an aged professor voices dire rumors of a witchy cult that may still be active (Boris Karloff). Barbara Steele is on hand as a green-skinned sorceress from the 1600s.

Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968), also known as The Crimson Cult or The Crimson Altar, is a Tigon production, a minor rival of Hammer, which explains how the movie is similar to "The Devil Rides Out, aka The Devils Bride, which debuted earlier the same year. Both flicks ...