Crucible of Horror on AllMovie

This tepid thriller features a sullen Michael Gough as an overbearing, sadistic banker whose favorite hobby appears to be beating the tar out of his terrified wife (Yvonne Mitchell) and daughter (Sharon Gurney). In a ham-fisted spin on Diabolique, the two women resolve to murder the old coot while on a family outing and disguise his death as a suicide. Their plans turn awry, however, when their alleged victim apparently refuses to give up the ghost. Gough turns in an excellent performance as the hate-worthy hubby, and there are a good number of effective chills, but overall the film is bogged down somewhat by dreary dialogue scenes and a pointlessly convoluted climax.