Mike Raven’s first starring role was in this exploitation classic. Raven plays Victor Clare, a mad sculptor whose obsession with the occult leads him to a novel technique for providing an element of startling realism to his figurative art form. In an isolated cave on the North Cornish coast of England we find our sculptor’s studio in an abandoned tin mine. On forays from the mine Raven encounters several young, beautiful women who he feels would make terrific models for his sculptures. After luring them to the studio he pours hot wax over them while they are still alive, molds them to his liking with plaster, then covers the plaster with sand.
This makes it easier for him to put his own twist on the classic lost-wax method of producing bronze sculptures. The ‘crucible’ which becomes his tool of terror is filled with molten bronze as it is lifted from the forge, and poured into the living mold. The nearby town, quite naturally, if not a little late, becomes concerned at the disappearance of several of the afore-mentioned beautiful girls. An investigation begins. You can bet the “crucible of terror” figures into the climax, where our mad sculptor pays for his evil, ghoulish crimes. Good, gooey stuff for horror buffs.
