The Corpse

Even for the Seventies I found this quite a disturbing movie. Michael Gough plays a sadistic father and husband to Jane and Edith, and his son Rupert is not much better really. Anyway the two females hatch a plan to kill Gough whist he's away for the weekend. I won't spoil the ending but this is a very underrated British film filled with an impending sense of doom throughout. In fact there's hardly a smile in the entire film.

Those with long memories might notice this film borrows more than a little from DIABOLIQUE, if not necessarily in a good way. Despite a nasty caning and attempted murder this is more about psychological torment than physical violence; the lasting impression is that typical English family life is enough to drive anyone to murder or bonkers, in that order. One of the seemingly endless string of potboilers that Michael Gough used to liven up, back in the day.

Right from the opening seconds we know that something is seriously wrong with the Eastwood family.

Mother and daughter (Yvonne Mitchell and Sharon Gurney) scurry about surreptitiously, like prisoners, while husband / father Walter Eastwood (Michael Gough) dominates, lurks, and spies on them. Walter is an irredeemable pig. He's also violent. His son, Rupert (Simon Gough) is a chip off the old blockhead. A mere dinner at home is a maddeningly tense experience. Calling this family "dysfunctional", would be like calling the sun "warm".

It doesn't take long to see where this is heading.

CRUCIBLE OF HORROR is sort of a familial version of DIABOLIQUE, up until the jaw-dropping-ly impossible, ambiguous, yet perfect ending. Many questions arise, such as, "Was it all a dream / fantasy?", "Was there something afoot PRIOR to the vengeful scheme?", "Were supernatural forces at work?". Of course, this is all left open-ended, so, it's up for debate. Worth a watch. See if you can figure it out.

Michael Gough gives one of his best performances...

The key-word in this movie is atmosphere. The scenario is not the most original I know, the girl that plays the daughter sucks, but the photography and the music add a lot to this movie. I can't say I was any scared when I saw it on TV, yet I couldn't help but love this simple and naive little thriller, just because it was such. 6

Really a very good example of British repression.Michael Gough is a bullying sadistic father of "Jane" (played by the young and beautiful Sharon Gurney, daughter of English actress Rachel Gurney).The actors are top drawer and the script by Olaf Pooley is tight and suitably grim. The seemingly genteel facade of a respectable English family is ripped aside. The girl and her mother plot the ultimate revenge on Gough--but do they manage it? You'll have to try and track down this mini-gem to discover what happens. Or does it? Some exploitation of young Gurney with Gough playing some sort of nasty escapade with her whilst she is nude in a river - quite a revealing scene - and then a scene in her bedroom at night when he shows up with a thin cane and bends her over the vanity for a ferocious beating. Nice work also by Yvonne Mitchell as the worldweary mother who sees all and says little. She has a plan, though. If can find this one, buy it.