Night of the Skull (1974)

Fantastic!

Don't Believe the Hype

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This terrific slow-burner is Spanish Director Jess Franco's old dark house mystery in the style of a giallo – a historical one, no less. It is a spectacularly underrated film – consistent, intriguing, well-played and possessed of some impressive twists.Lina Romay, in possibly her best role, plays Rita, shamed servant girl. Without the distraction of hubby Franco's predilection for sex and gore, her performance shows what a true talent she was. Rita is humble and subversive, a million miles away from many of the other parts she played. Antonio Mayans, who would star with Romay years later in the notorious 'Mansion of the Living Dead (1984)', is excellent as Alfred, who may or not be Rita's brother. Franco himself, never a hugely impressive actor, also gives what maybe his best performance as drunken old lawyer Andy. Dependable Alberto Dalbés as Major Brooks and Vincente Roca as Inspector Bore (pronounced 'Borey', fortunately) also spice up the 74 minute running time.The direction is restrained – no lingering, graphic sex scenes or manically zooming lenses here – and really conveys a classic haunted house thriller. Indeed, Edgar Allen Poe is credited as an inspiration in the opening moments, although there is nothing specifically similar that I can see.A darkly shot project – occasionally too dark – this drips with atmosphere, with Franco making the most of his splendidly intimidating location.

With a repertoire of almost 190 films, Jess Franco is probably the most prolific Exploitation director of all-time. I've personally been a great fan of the Spanish Exploitation deity for years, and it has to be said that his films differ in quality immensely. While Franco was doubtlessly responsible for a vast amount of stinkers, his filmography also includes several downright brilliant films, such as "Miss Muerte", "The Awful Dr. Orloff", "Venus In Furs" or "The Nights Of Dracula". And what could be a bigger treat for a cult-cinema fan than a Franco flick inspired by none other than the great Edgar Allan Poe? While "La Noche De Los Asesinos" (aka. "Night Of The Skull"/"Night Of The Assassins"/"Suspiri", 1976) is not one of the absolute greatest films in Franco's repertoire, it is definitely one of his better ones, and a must-see for his fans. "Night Of The Skull" is a creepy and competent Gothic chiller that begins delightfully cheesy and turns out to much more convoluted and intelligent than one might think. A family has gathered in a Louisiana Castle to accept the inheritance of the British Lord Archibald Marian, who has been murdered in a horrible manner. While the family members are anxiously waiting for their inheritance, the killer, who has a weakness for bizarre murder methods, is still on the loose...Franco accomplishes to create a creepy Gothic atmosphere, and he also borrows a lot from the Italian Giallo. This is not the only Franco film that bears many resemblances to 70s Gialli (his ultra-nasty 1981 slasher "Bloody Moon" also has many Giallo aspects), but the inspiration has never been as obvious as in this one. "Night Of The Skull" is also probably Franco's least sleaziest film. Uncommonly for Franco, the film features hardly any nudity (only Evelyne Scott shows some skin) and very little sleaze. Even Franco's future wife, Lina Romay, who is known for being naked for about 90 per cent of her film career, keeps her clothes on in this one. Apart from young Miss Romay, the film features a bunch of other Franco regulars, such as Alberto Dalbés, the creepy-looking Luis Barboo and Antonio Mayans, as well as the great William Berger. There have been greater Poe adaptations than this one, of course. Poe's work has been most brilliantly brought to screen by Roger Corman with his magnificent Poe-films starring Vincent Price, some of which ("Pit And The Pendulum", "The Haunted Palace", "The Masque Of The Red Death") rank among the greatest Horror films ever made. Sergio Martino tied in with the tradition of brilliant Poe-Inspired films with his Giallo masterpiece "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key" (1974). In case you want to see a true masterpiece inspired by Poe's writing, check out Martino's film or any of Corman's 7 films before this one. Overall, however, "Night Of The Skull" is a more than worthwhile film that features creepiness and delightful cheese in equal measures and provides several compelling twists that cult-cinema fans should enjoy. Highly recommended, especially to Jess Franco fans!

Relatives and hired help of murdered aristocrat(..and close to English Parliament making him quite the important man it seems)converge at his estate to hear if they receive anything from his inheritance as a notary is assigned to read his will. But, a killer donning a skull mask is murdering them one by one using a noted scripture from a book titled "The Apocalypse"("Earth to bury us. Wind to scourge us. Water to drown us. Fire to burn us.")as method of execution. A detective from Scotland Yard, Olive Brooks(Alberto Dalbés), who knows a lot of things about the murdered Lord Archibald Percival Marion that he shouldn't which in itself is mysterious, assists Inspector Bore(Vincente Roca)in the case to find the skull-masked assassin. The film opens the possibility of relative Mr. Tobias(William Berger)being the possible killer because of something his wife Marta(Evelyn Scott)says when they are in private. Lina Romay has the role of plain Rita, supposedly the abused daughter of the murdered Lord Marion, whose servant mother was his mistress.Secrets and red herrings abound as characters aren't who they appear and few can be trusted.Not your prototypical Jesús Franco flick operating as a psycho-thriller murder mystery as he uses lots of rain and noirish darkness to create atmospheric flourishes. He doesn't even use as much zoom lens, although he does often close his camera in on faces tight showing their expressions during key moments in the film. He also, every now and then, likes to implement images of a skull into the film at certain points as the plot thickens. I didn't think the film was mind-blowing or anything, but still fairly entertaining on a basic crime mystery level. You could call this Jesús Franco's Spanish equivalent of the Italian giallo, but I'd say "Night of the Skull" is more akin to Agatha Christie mysteries(..even if the film claims Edgar Allen Poe as it's source). The film doesn't even feature a reliance on nude flesh or sexual sequences ..and surprisingly Franco doesn't even exploit Romay's naked body, something he hardly ever passes up. Despite this being a psycho-thriller, the film isn't very violent..most of the murders are rather tame or occur out of focus(or blanketed in the dark such as when the dead Lord Marion's butler stabs a couple who are about to find out a damning secret). I think real die-hard fans of Jesús Franco will be rather disappointed with this film.

The label "thoroughly average" is borrowed from the Aurum Horror Encyclopaedia and, for once, describes the movie very well.That does not imply that the movie is without interest. There are nice decors and several interesting scenes, e.g., a man is buried alive with only his hands, which are tied to the back, sticking out of the ground like a cry for help or a women is tied to the rocks and left to the tides. Of course, the movie features also Franco's usual dilettantism such as badly focussed shots.All in all, it is worth a try. No suspense or blood, though. So, watch it only if your are fully awake.The already quoted horror encyclopaedia contains a plot summary which differs slightly from what I have seen. This could mean that, as so often, there exist several different versions of the movie.