Like I would suspect of a lot of people my age (35 for the record), my introduction to Jack Palance was through his Oscar-winning role as Curly in the 1991 comedy City Slickers. It was a fun role, but it's kind of hard for me not to imprint that on him when I see him as a younger man. Perhaps it's being introduced to an actor as an older person? At any rate, 1974 Palance was a lot of fun in Craze, once I got could get past seeing young Curly drugging people, engaging in witchcraft, and jamming a ladies' face into a fire.
In Craze, Palance plays Neal Mottram, an antiques dealer in London who dabbles in witchcraft and black magic. In the opening scene, we see Neal leading a ceremony where a young woman dances in a frenzy in front of an African Idol. Neal gives her a knife and she cuts open her stomach... just enough to bleed a bit and maybe leave a scar - she doesn't die. This is presented by Neal as a blood sacrifice to the idol/God Chuku.
Apparently, Neal's antique business is not going so well, as we learn he is in some pretty serious debt. So he realizes (I think? It may be accidental - it's a little foggy to me) that Chuku could do much more for him if he offered more than just a little blood. He goes the whole nine and starts killing people, offering not only the victim's blood but also their soul. And guess what? It works. Neal finds a bunch of money in an old cabinet, finds buyers for his Ming vases, and so on. Neal obviously has to keep this a secret - although his partner/roommate (their relationship is unclear) is hip to it and is tormented by what he knows. Should he report Neal to the police? Or roll with the good fortune that Chuku is bringing them? The cops suspect Neal, but he's covered his tracks well. Will Neal's greediness lead to even more deaths? How many more souls will be offered to Chuku? Tune in to find out!
Palance's performance is definitely the highlight of Craze. His thin black mustache and whispery delivery make Neal quite the interesting character. And the couple of times he really cuts loose are great - he's a fun guy to watch yell! It's hard to say if Palance the actor is half-assing it some of the time (occasionally his delivery is so quiet you can't understand him), but he's an interesting presence regardless. Although he's either looked old forever (he looks older than 55 here) or the part was written for a younger person. Just about everyone else in the cast is considerably younger-looking than him (both friends and romantic interests) - almost to the point of being distracting. But there's no doubt that he classes things up considerably. Craze would be a very different (and likely much worse) film without him. And watch out when he hulks up!
Craze is pretty well made - there isn't a lot of style in the camerawork/direction, but it's completely serviceable. The shots of the idol Chuku are the only times the film looks unconventional in any way. It does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity - while the workmanlike shooting of the film never detracts from the film, this is a story that could have easily been spiced up. I kept expecting some effects or editing shenanigans to represent Neal's descent into madness, but director Freddie Francis plays it pretty straight.
The horror/gore is fine - it's never super hardcore, but it isn't always pleasant either. Neal isn't entirely conflicted about what he's doing, but he's not really just doing it for the thrill of it. There are a couple of times where he goes out of his way to make his victim's deaths a little easier, in fact. He's not as much interested in *how* they die - just as long as Chuku gets their soul. Which can easily be done, by just saying "Chuku, this is for you" after you kill them. It's not very complicated black magic.
Also, Craze has so far been my best example of how Amazon Prime just doesn't care when it comes to presentation. As you can probably tell, it's clearly taken from an old video tape. The whole thing looks really foggy and there are all sorts of crazy tape errors/jumps and what not. And the audio is just a disaster. Palance has a tendency to sort of whisper/slur his lines anyways, and the muddy sound here does NOT help. I gave up after about 20 minutes and just turned on the closed captioning. It made things much easier. And even the captioners had problems - there are at least three or four times where they just say "inaudible." It's why I love/hate Amazon Prime. The presentation here is borderline unacceptable, but it's also the only format where I would probably ever come across this film - I don't expect there to be a remaster popping up anytime soon.
Oh, and two days in a row for dogs!
Name: Bluto
Breed: Some sort of scruffy terrier mix?
Function: To add some tension by barking at an intruder. To make an otherwise dull scene (of an old lady alone in her house) a bit less boring.
Fate: Seems to be fine. May suffer a bit of trauma after watching his owner be killed, but will probably get sent to a London humane society after the cops show up. Although he's kind of old and fat, and may not be very adoptable... so who knows.
But A/V issues aside, it's still a pretty fun little movie. Palance is always entertaining, and even though it's pretty conventional, I can always get behind "British-Conventional" - it's always a little more charming, you know? It's not amazing or anything, but still, as long as you are into 70's horror...
I would recommend this film.
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