The Crimson Cult (1968)

This co-production by American International Pictures and Britain's Tigon Films boasts an impressive cast of English horror stars, and has some passable moments of psychedelic excess and mild sexual sadism, but for the most part, it's a disappointment. Based on (but not credited to) H.P. Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch-House, the film stars Mark Eden as a London antiquities dealer who travels to a remote rural hamlet in search of his missing brother. There, he discovers a black magic cult led by Christopher Lee, who intends to avenge the death of his sorceress ancestor (Barbara Steele, looking both fetching and ridiculous in green body paint and a horned headdress). A wheelchair-bound Boris Karloff, in his final English genre effort, co-stars as an occult expert who aids Eden. References to LSD and some campy hallucinogenic scenes help to date the film, which is already hampered by a confused script (by Jerry Sohl) and rote direction by the veteran Vernon Sewell (The Blood Beast Terror). Horror fans intrigued by a film boasting the presence of Lee, Karloff, Steele, and Michael Gough should know that the former three have no scenes together. The PG-rated American version lacks a few moments of nudity included in the European cut. ~ Paul Gaita, All Movie Guide