Weald, Middlesex, London. The building, which is now a hotel, was used for both exterior and interior shots. Unfortunately, the interiors were in a state of disrepair and needed and extensive refit. Shooting the middle of winter meant that additional fan heaters had to be installed to keep the tempreture in the dressing rooms tolerable for the actors. Christopher Lee reported that, despite Tigon’s best efforts, he spend the whole picture shivering from cold. Boris Karloff, who was over eighty and in poor health, was required for two night shoots, filmed at the very end of his involvement- just in case! The actor contracted a mild cold, accordng to producer Tony Tenser, and as precaution spend several days in a private clinic under observation. He was then given a clean bill of health and travelled to Hollywood to make four more films back-to-back. Sadly, he passed away before Curse of the Crimson Cult was released, and Tigon were so nervous that the film would be billed as ‘the film that killed Boris Karloff’ that they released a quote from the actor saying he contracted bronchitis not in England, but in Hollywood. Critical reception Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote, "Karloff himself, cadaverous and almost wholly crippled, acts with a quiet lucidity of such great beauty that it is a refreshment merely to hear him speak old claptrap. Nothing else in The Crimson Cult comes close to him—though there is Barbara Steele in greenface playing Lavinia, a glamorous 300-year-old and a monumental cast that lists no fewer than seven-party girls, plus several sacrificial virgins." Variety wrote that as one of Karloff's final pictures, "it would have been nice if it had been a better role. As it is, it is a totally unabashed rehash of a formula that Karloff has been identified with through the years." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a delight for horror fans, with Karloff in top form despite the infirmities of age." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that apart from a wild party and some exposure of a woman's bosom in a bed, "this is one of the lamest and tamest horrors in a long time, with the script hobbling along like an underprivileged Agatha Christie thriller through acres of would-be sinister dialogue as the handsome hero investigates endlessly and Karloff and Christopher Lee dispense meaningful sneers." References External links