Crucible of Terror (1972)

Interesting facts

Crucible of Terror is a 1971 British horror film and directed by Ted Hooker and starring Mike Raven, Mary Maude and James Bolam. It was written by Hooker and Tom Parkinson.

Production

The film was based on a script by writer Tom Parkinson and television editor Ted Hooker, who had worked together previously on a documentary. The script was completed by August 1970 and the original plan was to raise finance partly through a loan from the National Film Finance Corporation. However they refused, arguging they had financed too many other horror films.

Mike Raven thought he had been cast on the strength of his performances in Lust for a Vampire and I Monster but he had been recommended to Parkinson by a colleague who saw him in a documentary, Raggae and thought he "looked like a nutty sculptor". Plans were made for Raven to star in two more films for Glendale if Crucible was a success.

Filming started in July 1971 and took six weeks, four and a half of which took place at Shepperton Studios with the rest on location. Exteriors for Crucible of Terror were shot around St Agnes on the Cornish coast and Hammersmith in London. Denis Meikle, who visited the set during filming, later wrote "while allowing for its speed of execution and necessary economies of scale, it nevertheless seemed like an amateur affair."

The budget was 'allegedly £100,000' part of which was put up by the film's star, Michael Raven, 'a British disc jockey turned actor'. Nonetheless, the film was 'not financially successful'.

Crucible of Terror was the first film directed by Ted Hooker.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.