CAULDRON OF BLOOD (1970)
aka El Coleccionista de cadaveres
Article 2297 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-9-2007
Posting Date: 11-26-2007
Directed by Santos Alcocer
Featuring Jean-Pierre Aumont, Boris Karloff, Viveca Lindfors

A writer and a model in Spain visit a sculptor and his wife, unaware of their dreadful secret; the wife is killing people in order to get skeletons to provide the armatures for the sculptor’s creations.

Out of curiosity, I went to Karloff’s listing on IMDB and did a rating sort to see how close to the bottom it was sitting. For the record, it was third from the bottom, only beating out ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE and THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI. Also, two of Karloff’s final Mexican movies actually rated better. At heart, I’m not surprised. I’d seen this one years ago on my local Creature Feature, and the only thing I remembered about it was about ten seconds towards the end of the movie where we find Karloff’s fate. Watching it now, I know why; this may be one of Karloff’s dullest outings. Actually, he’s barely in it; most of the movie is more concerned with the lives of a group of arty types in Spain, and they are a singularly uninteresting lot. We know the truth about the skeletons early on in the proceedings, and once it is revealed, there is nothing more in the way of surprises. I suppose some people might find some interest in the obsession with Nazism and sadism of Viveca Lindfor’s character, but to my mind, the only thing those scenes really add to the movie is running time, and the movie is way too long as it is. It’s much better made than his Mexican outings, but in terms of holding my interest, those Mexican movies have this one beat. Depressing.