Boris Karloff was an unusual actor in that as he aged, he didn't slow down making films even though he was a physical mess. He had advanced emphysema and could barely walk due to a crippling back injury and arthritis....but he kept plugging away...mostly in very cheap international productions. But here's the weirdest part of it. He knew he was dying and deliberately filmed parts of MANY films...Mexican and Spanish...with the assumption that the filmmakers would later make the rest of the movie after Karloff's death! So, a couple years AFTER Karloff had assumed room temperature, his films continued to appear in theaters. I cannot think of another actor who did this....and it's a bit creepy. "Cauldron of Blood" is one of these films where they filmed Karloff and filled in the rest later.
Apart from the neat opening credits, I was surprised just how bad "Cauldron of Blood" was...as well as how irrelevant many of the Karloff scenes were. In fact, it was so poorly patched together and incomprehensible, it reminded me of the scenes Bela Lugosi filmed for "Plan 9 From Outer Space". The story COULD have been interesting, but choppy editing, inappropriate music, bad writing as well as terrible production values make this a film only of value to Karloff completists who insist on seeing everything the fine actor made. But filming a few scenes with the actor and then patching together a film two years later....well, that's an idea that is doomed to failure...and it was.
Apart from the neat opening credits, I was surprised just how bad "Cauldron of Blood" was...as well as how irrelevant many of the Karloff scenes were. In fact, it was so poorly patched together and incomprehensible, it reminded me of the scenes Bela Lugosi filmed for "Plan 9 From Outer Space". The story COULD have been interesting, but choppy editing, inappropriate music, bad writing as well as terrible production values make this a film only of value to Karloff completists who insist on seeing everything the fine actor made. But filming a few scenes with the actor and then patching together a film two years later....well, that's an idea that is doomed to failure...and it was.