(1967)
Dir - Michael Reeves
Overall: GOOD
Made near the end of his career and a year before one of the best films of that career, Targets, The Sorcerers is a somewhat forgotten Boris Karloff vehicle. More of a sci-fi tinged thriller set in modern times, on paper the premise almost sounds Ed Wood-worthy ridiculous. Still, as one of the few efforts from doomed director Michael Reeves, he somehow manages to make such a script work. Karloff of course does splendid work and classes up the whole thing. Seeing him in this kind of a setting with some tame but comparatively violent scenes compared to the old Universal’s the legend is known for is rather a hoot. Taking place in late 1960’s swinging London, there is a rock club that gets a good amount of screen time and includes some unintentionally funny and dated moments The minor qualms with the film are mostly to do with the fact that the budget looks not to even be there and again, the concept is a bit daft. Still, it is an unusual enough movie with a satisfying enough ending to warrant inclusion as one of Karloff’s must-sees. Just probably mid-way down the list is all.
(1968)
Dir - Peter Bogdanovich
Overall: GREAT
Film critic-turned director Peter Bogdanovich's kinda debut Targets, (not counting the same year's, public domain Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women for which he understandably used an alias), is one of those wonderful pieces of celluloid that barely should exist. Mr. Boris Karloff owed Roger Corman two more days of work since, (in typical Corman fashion), they had wrapped up early on a previous project, so after meeting Bogdanovich at a party and having liked one of his old articles, he told him to do what he wanted and only to use Karloff as much as possible. Bogdanovich and Samuel Fuller, (generously uncredited), then rapidly got the script off the grown and for virtually no money they made a near-masterpiece. Almost five decades later and with this countries gun laws as haphazardly handled as ever, the film still packs a hell of a wallop. Bogdanovich really does pull off something special, basically making two separate movies with completely different tones and then forcing them to co-exist in the same universe. The theme of real life violence and "horror" dwarfing anything those wonderful, Gothic Corman projects could offer up is impossible to miss and perhaps best of all, Karloff near ended his career on an enormously respectful and much beloved note.
(1968)
Dir - Vernon Sewell
Overall: MEH
Though not as evil or naked as it could be, the last Boris Karloff film to be released in the actor's lifetime Cure of the Crimson Altar is also hardly forgettable. On paper, the cast is the stuff of late 60's/early 70's horror royalty with not only Karloff, but also Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele, and Michael Gough all present. Lee is his typical charming, sophisticated self and Steele shows up right away as a blue skinned demon/witch boasting of course heavily reverberated vocal chords. This moment at the beginning as well as a few more trippy dream scenes are without doubt the best things the movie has to offer as we see not only Steele's scene stealing villain, but people in S&M gear whipping nude women, a Satanic monk, a dude with antlers, torture devises, a book with names written in blood, and a court room jury full of guys in goat and skeleton masks. If the entire near ninety-minute running time was just shot after shot of this with maybe a few cutaways to Karloff and Lee discussing it in scholartary fashion over a glass of brandy, then it would probably be more successful. Unfortunately the actual plot here is lame and leading man Mark Eden is doofy at worst and inconsequential at best. Karloff is literally wheelchair bound for the entire film yet he still comes off misleadingly menacing. As his near-last screen performance, it of course warms the heart to see him still taking it all seriously enough.
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