The Skull (1965)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Starts really well and the simple tale is well set up with fabulous sets and a multitude of spooky artefacts. Lee and Cushing work well together and all the cast are effective, the ladies perhaps less so but then maybe I'm used to the stylish girls of Hammer and the Italians. Everything is seemingly going fine until about halfway through and then it slows almost to a stop. There are moments when nothing happens and the cameraman is left to pan around the rows of masks and various trophies. The script ran out and with it the film and although it does pick up for the ending it is rather a shame. I would have though even a little back story of what the mask has been up to in the past years would have been relatively simple to film. Still, a little bit different and those wonderful sets look great in Blu-ray.

"The Skull" is an atmospheric--if somewhat monotonous--vehicle for Peter Cushing, the Gentleman of British Horror and my favorite star of fright films. He plays a collector of occult objects whose shady, unscrupulous dealer (Patrick Wymark) offers to sell him the ultimate rarity: the skull of the Marquis de Sade. Naturally, Cushing is unable to resist...but he soon realizes that something within the skull is still very much alive, and exerting a murderous influence over him. Director Freddie Francis surrounds Cushing with an exceptionally able supporting cast (including Christopher Lee as a fellow collector of oddities and Michael Gough as an auctioneer), but pacing is a major problem in this film: there are lengthy, dialogue-free stretches during which the viewer will find his attention wandering. This renders "The Skull" less than entirely effective as a horror flick, but the tense, disturbing dream sequence midway through makes it worth seeing. Terrific off-kilter cinematography by John Wilcox, and a nail-biting Elisabeth Lutyens score. Six and a half stars.

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!

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.