Subtitles:

• English - Burned in for Spanish dialogue

Extras:

Santos Alcocer’s Cauldron of Blood (1970) (AKA Blind Man’s Bluff) was filmed in 1967, but languished on the shelf until its release three years later (to little fanfare, despite its potential marketing as one of horror icon Boris Karloff‘s last films). Where Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) was a low-rent knock off of Black Sunday (1960), Cauldron is an equally low-rent rip of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) and House of Wax (1953).

Karloff co-stars with veteran Viveca Lindfors (who is possibly best know as the queen who aroused Errol Flynn in 1948’s The Adventures of Don Juan). Cauldron was shot almost entirely in Spain, and is remembered only as an accidental idiosyncrasy from late in Karloff’s career.

Cauldron of Blood is not a good film, but it is a queer film, quite unlike anything else in the Karloff cannon, which may be explained by the fact that Karloff was not even the preferred choice for the role of the blind sculptor Badulescu. Producer Robert D. Weinbach had wanted Claude Rains, but Karloff was brought into the project after Rains was found to be terminally ill (Rains died during the pre-production stage of the film). Karloff is not even top-billed, which was an extreme and curious rarity.

Excerpt from 366 Weird Movies located HERE

 

Travel writer Claude Marchand (Jean-Pierre Aumont of Truffaut’s DAY FOR NIGHT, dubbing himself in the English version) gets assigned to interview reclusive sculptor Franz Badulescu (Boris Karloff) who resides in a Spanish artists’ colony. Arriving in the picturesque under-touristed area, Marchand immediately strikes a deal with restaurant owner Shanghai (Milo Quesada, BLACK SABBATH) to buy up the beachfront property and promote the town to tourists. Through artist Valerie (Ingrid Pitt look-a-like Rosenda Monteros), Claude meets Badulescu and his imperious wife Tanya (the always delightful Viveca Lindfors – next to her turns in CREEPSHOW and BELL FROM HELL, this is my favorite performance of hers) who controls all dealings with her blind and crippled husband; who himself is unaware that the skeletons used as armatures for his famous sculptures are locals picked off by an unseen strangler rather than being illegally obtained through arrangements with cemeteries in the neighboring villages as he has been told by his wife. The killings go largely unnoticed by our jet-setting main characters until perpetually-sunbathing Elga (Dianik Zurakowska of RETURN OF THE ZOMBIS) disappears after spending the night at Tanya’s and Claude finally listens to the superstitious mutterings of the Queen of the Gypsies (Mercedes Rojo) who predicts more deaths to come including someone close to Claude.

Gary Tooze

October 6th, 2014