The Skull

1965 "When the Skull strikes you'll scream!"
6.2| 1h23m| en
Details

An occult investigator buys the 150-year-old skull of the Marquis de Sade, which turns out to be possessed by evil spirits.

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Reviews

Ehirerapp Waste of time
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Prichards12345 The script for The Skull, a 1965 effort from Amicus, reputedly came in at only about 50 minutes screen time, which forced Director Freddie Francis to improvise on set to bump it up to its current 82 mins. It's a splendid little film, however, with an eerie and compelling last 20 minutes, and never loses viewer interest. Atmospheric touches abound, and the skull glides eerily about Peter Cushing's house to great effect! Amicus fans will be aware of the frequent use of the name "Maitland" in many of their movies, perhaps it was some sort of in-joke. Cushing uses it here. And he gives a splendid performance (as ever) as a collector of occult artifacts slowly drawn under the influence of the skull of the Marquis De Sade no less, which is reputed to be a vessel for occult beings. Christopher Lee has a guest starring role, and quite an effective one; getting belted with a statue of a demon associated with murder is almost black humour.The movie might be a nice early Halloween view for those who haven't seen it but like old horror movies (as I do - I grew up with em! - Cushing, Lee and Vincent Price were like my Uncles!). There's hardly any gore, and the film currently has a 12 certificate in the UK.There is a fine supporting cast, Patrick Wymark (Blood on Satan's Claw) Patrick Magee, Peter Woodthorpe and The Goughster! What you might remember best is the wonderful occult props in Cushing's study, Francis using them to frame and even comment on the action,and the gripping nightmare sequence in which Cushing is forced to play Russian Roulette. The only real bugbear is a few shots where strings are obviously used to hold up the Skull as it floats. Presumably budget restrictions taking precedent.The Skull for me is probably Amicus' most consistent non-anthology film, and it's still pretty scary today.
lookingbpleased No spoiler here. Now that I read the terms. Heck, I don't remember the whole film... I just remember a skull, floating down a long hallway - is that a spoiler? And I was young, before school, with my sister in her 56 Chevy... and it scared the holy crap out of me.I remembered the tittle suddenly tonight, and looked it up, and here's the exact film I saw. Well, imagine watching this as a 5 year old or so, (I was born in 56) - in a drive in, and with your sister trying to scare the crap out of you. That's my memory of this film, and I'm trying to find it on Amazon or Netflix, just to see what I really remember. Old pic, but very scary. Bye!
AaronCapenBanner Freddie Francis directed this thriller that stars Peter Cushing as Dr. Maitland, a collector of unusual objects who comes into possession of the skull of the Marquis De Sade, a reputedly evil man with supernatural powers. His friend(played by Christopher Lee) tries to warn him about its evil, and to get rid of it, but he doesn't listen, and as a consequence, is plagued by nightmares, as people around him start dying, and the evil nature of the skull tries to influence and then destroy him... Good cast of course, which also includes Patrick Wymark and Michael Gough, with intriguing back story, but film becomes tedious and far-fetched, leading to an unsatisfying, downbeat end.
Spikeopath The Skull is directed by Freddie Francis and adapted to screenplay by Milton Subotsky from the short story The Skull of the Marquis de Sade written by Robert Bloch. A Technicolor/Techniscope production, it stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Jill Bennett and Patrick Wymark. Music is scored by Elisabeth Lutyens and cinematography by John Wilcox.When collector of occult artifacts Christopher Maitland (Cushing) acquires the Skull of the Marquis de Sade, he gets more than he bargained for.......Out of Amicus Productions, The Skull represents one of the more successful ventures for the studio away from the portmanteau formula they would become regarded for. That's not to say it's without problems, because it is far from flawless, but with Francis casting an ethereal sheen over the production, the film does hold tight as a 60s Gothic chiller of some worth. Actually it's one of the rare films that is reviewed quite accurately by the majority of writers who have written about it. Most agree that the material isn't quite up to being stretched to a feature length film, the long passages of silence in the story proving to be a necessity rather than a creepy tactic by the makers. The string work effects are cheesy, Lee is underused and the rest of the cast away from Cushing are thinly drawn. But it does overcome its flaws.There are a number of great things within the picture. The use of Skull-Cam that gives us POV from inside the skull itself, works really well, as does the colour tones that Francis uses whenever the skull is holding court. A set piece involving a character falling through stained glass is very well constructed (good stunt work too), and Lutyens musical score is top draw-nerve jarring stuff. Then there is Cushing himself, forced to react for the most part to nothing more than a prop, he gives much by way of visual acting, totally mesmerising for the near silent last third of the piece. It's a very under valued turn from Cushing as it features a different string to his acting bow.With shady characters, suspenseful silences (the opening pillaging of de Sade's grave is excellently macabre) and visual treats aplenty, The Skull is well worth checking out. 7/10