Craze (film)

Craze is a 1974 horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It stars Jack Palance as a psychotic antiques dealer who sacrifices women to the statue of Chuku, an African idol.[1] Francis said it was "not that good."[2]

Craze
Directed byFreddie Francis
Written byHerman Cohen
Aben Kandel
Based onnovel The Infernal Idol by Henry Seymour
Produced byHerman Cohen
StarringJack Palance
Diana Dors
Julie Ege
CinematographyJohn Wilcox
Edited byHenry Richardson
Music byJohn Scott
Production
company
Harbour Productions
Distributed byEMI Films
Release dates
16 May 1974 (London)
June 1974 (United States)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

It was the last film produced by Herman Cohen.[3]

Cast

Production

The film was based on a 1967 novel The Infernal Idol. In 1972 it was reported Herman Cohen had the rights and a script was being written.[4]

In March 1972 it was announced Jack Palance would star in a film version, which would be a co production between Herman Cohen and Joe Solomon.[5]

Freddie Francis had made a number of horror movies for Amicus and other producers, including Herman Cohen for whom he directed Trog. Francis later said "no sooner had I started it than I realised I was flogging a dead horse." The director says there were "only four good things about" the movie - Palance, Trevor Howard, Edith Evans and Hugh Griffith, adding "Jack lost interest in it almost straight away, Hugh and Trevor were both heavily on the bottle and dear Edith thought we were making a "proper" film and therefore had all the time in the world." Francis says because the cast included Howard and Griffith, Evans thought there was plenty of time to block scenes, when Francis only had a six week schedule.[6]

Palance arrived in London to make the film which began filming in March 1973.[7] Cohen says he got along with Palance but "everyone else was afraid of Jack - he has that aura about him. Freddi Francis was scared stiff of him."[8]

Francis later said, "Even Jack couldn’t help that one. I thought we could’ve made something of it with Jack, but once again Herman had this old Aben Kandel writing the scripts and I think Abe would do anything Herman told him.”[9]

Diana Dors had previously made Berserk for Cohen.[10]

Reception

Cohen says the film "did very well" financially but was hurt because the producer had sold the film to National General in the US, who were bought about by Warner Bros; this caused a delay in the film's release in the US.[11]

Notes
  • Weaver, Tom (2003). Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews. McFarland. ISBN 9780786482153.

References
  1. "Craze (1974) - Freddie Francis | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  2. "Interview with Freddie Francis". British Entertainment History Project. 1993–1994.
  3. Herman Cohen: [Final 1 Edition] The Times; London (UK) [London (UK)]11 June 2002: 31.
  4. "Coming". Cinemafantastique. Winter 1971. p. 42.
  5. MOVIE CALL SHEET: Juliet Mills Set for 'Avanti' Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 4 Mar 1972: b8.
  6. Francis, Freddie (2013). Freddie Francis: The Straight Story from Moby Dick to Glory, a Memoir. Scarecrow Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780810892064.
  7. MOVIE CALL SHEET: Cicely to Portray Shirley Chisholm Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 24 Mar 1973: b8.
  8. Weaver p 84
  9. Koetting, Christopher (1995). "Tales from the Script". Hammer Horror. No. 6. p. 12.
  10. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  11. Weaver p 85


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