1972's "Disciple of Death" marked the 4th and final vehicle for former British disc jockey Mike Raven, who managed roles for Hammer and Amicus before venturing forth with a pair of more personal items, "Crucible of Terror" and this last, desperate attempt. Comparisons to Christopher Lee were inevitable in Hammer's "Lust for a Vampire" (second in the Mircalla Karnstein trilogy), given that Lee's blood shot orbs were used for close ups of Raven's sinister Count Karnstein, before appearing thoroughly outclassed by both Lee and Peter Cushing in the Jekyll/Hyde Amicus version "I, Monster," then starring in the independent "Crucible," whose writer/producer Tom Parkinson also took on the mantle of director here, for his first and last feature, on such a pitifully small budget that exhibitors were none too keen on such an amateurish effort. On location shooting in Cornwall doesn't help a wretched script that establishes its plot and little else, Raven's enigmatic 'Stranger' (referred to by some reviewers as Lord Asher) a suicide restored to Satanic life by a blood pact between young lovers during the 18th century, a single drop of the virgin on his deconsecrated tomb enough to make her the target for this 'Lord of the Manor' to begin systematically sacrificing young maidens to his evil master. Virginia Wetherell's comely Ruth gets her heart cut out in the most gruesome sequence, her brother rushing off with the Parson (Ronald Lacey) for help from a long bearded Cabalist (Nicholas Amer) who conjures up sand, holy water, and a magic talisman to ward off the evil one's power. A fanged dwarf (!) cuts short Lacey's embarrassing turn, the acting as awful as the story, not the best way to conclude a lackluster career for Mike Raven that never caught fire, a long forgotten obscurity that continues to defy viewers who dare to seek it out.
