Known as Fear Chamber - as well as Chamber of Fear, The Torture Chamber and Torture Zone - this is another of the four movies that Boris Karloff made for Juan Ibáñez, with Jack Hill directing his segments.
In this strange little film, scientists discover a living rock beneath a volcano that feeds off the fear of young women. So instead of leaving well enough alone and saying, "This seems like a bad idea," they create a fear chamber - yes, it's right there in the title - to create the energy the rock needs from girls frightened out of their minds.
Karloff is obviously in bad health, even appearing lying in bed in some scenes. No matter - his role as Dr. Mantell is a bonkers one, as he even puts his own daughter into danger, facing off with the rock god who has obsessed him. I mean, of course he'd create a haunted house filled with strange people and vaguely Satanic ceremonies in order to keep studying his rock formation find, right?
Julissa, who plays Karloff's daughter, also appears in two more of Hill/Ibáñez films, House of Evil and Isle of the Snake People, which is somehow even weirder than this one. This also has Isela Vega in it, who was in El Macho Bionico and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, plus Yerye Beirute from The Body Snatcher and Santanón, a small size actor who is in plenty of memorable big roles in films like Santo and Blue Demon Against the Monsters and El Gato con Botas.
I've read so many people saying that Targets should have been Karloff's last film. They might not understand that he was a working actor and the fact that he was able to keep working and in demand for roles right up until the end is the real testament to his career
In this strange little film, scientists discover a living rock beneath a volcano that feeds off the fear of young women. So instead of leaving well enough alone and saying, "This seems like a bad idea," they create a fear chamber - yes, it's right there in the title - to create the energy the rock needs from girls frightened out of their minds.
Karloff is obviously in bad health, even appearing lying in bed in some scenes. No matter - his role as Dr. Mantell is a bonkers one, as he even puts his own daughter into danger, facing off with the rock god who has obsessed him. I mean, of course he'd create a haunted house filled with strange people and vaguely Satanic ceremonies in order to keep studying his rock formation find, right?
Julissa, who plays Karloff's daughter, also appears in two more of Hill/Ibáñez films, House of Evil and Isle of the Snake People, which is somehow even weirder than this one. This also has Isela Vega in it, who was in El Macho Bionico and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, plus Yerye Beirute from The Body Snatcher and Santanón, a small size actor who is in plenty of memorable big roles in films like Santo and Blue Demon Against the Monsters and El Gato con Botas.
I've read so many people saying that Targets should have been Karloff's last film. They might not understand that he was a working actor and the fact that he was able to keep working and in demand for roles right up until the end is the real testament to his career