Watch The Skull For Free

Overrated

One of my all time favorites.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

In the Eighteenth Century, after the death of the Marquis de Sade, the phrenologist Pierre (Maurice Good) robs his head from the grave and removes the flesh at home, but dies in a horrible way. In 1965, in London, the dishonest antiques dealer Anthony Marco (Patrick Wymark) offers to the collector and writer of occultism Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing) a book with skin made cover about the Marquis de Sade. On the next day, he returns and asks a small fortune for the skull of the Marquis de Sade but without any proof that belonged to him. Maitland does not accept and he offers for half the price until the next day. Maitland meets his friend and also collector Sir Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee), who tells that the skull had been stolen from him but he does not want it back since he was free of its evil force. He advises Maitland to stay away from the skull otherwise he would be possessed by its evil spirit. But the fate puts the skull on Maitland´s hands affecting his entire life in tragic way."The Skull" is a creepy British horror film by Amicus to compete with Hammer with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is well-written and the tragic conclusion is announced from the moment Maitland meets his fellow collector and friend and keeps the interest on the skull. The "Kafkanian" judgment of Christopher Maitland is another plus in the story. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A Maldição da Caveira" ("The Curse of the Skull")

Reading the letters page in an issue of UK film magazine The Dark Side,I found out that whilst most of the titles in Netflix UK's Horror section are recent flicks,that they have actually put a rarely mentioned Amicus movie on the site.Becoming a fan of Amicus Horror during the 2015 October Horror Challenge on IMDb's Horror board,I decided that it was time to unmask the skull.The plot-The 1800's:Robbing the head from the grave of the Marquis de Sade, Pierre gets set to find out if Sade's head contains the power to make people go insane. Whilst boiling the flesh off the skull (charming!) the "power" of the skull grips Pierre and kills him.The present:Losing out in a bidding war over ancient statures, Christopher Maitland goes to talk to friend and winning bidder Sir Matthew Phillips.Asking why he spent so much on the items,Maitland is taken aback,when Phillips tells him that he has no idea why he purchased them. Seeing Maitland's disappointment,sly antiques dealer Marco breaks into Phillips house and steals an item to sell to Maitland. Meeting up with Maitland,Marco reveals that he has tracked down an item just for him:the skull of the Marquis de Sade.View on the film:Lining up (most of) the biggest stars in British Horror, Patrick Wymark/ Patrick Magee/ Michael Gough/Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee each give great performances,with Wymark making the skin crawl as slime ball Marco,whilst Gough and Magee give the film a touch of class in their small roles. Meeting up at auction, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee both give splendid performances as Phillips and Maitland,with Cushing sending Maitland into a cold sweat over getting his hands on the skull,and Lee casts a shadow of unease over the tightly coiled Phillips.Made from an "outline" by Amicus studio's co-owner Milton Subotsky's take on a Robert Bloch short story,un-credited writer Freddie Francis cracks open a head filled with eerie Occult Horror,as Francis wisely decides to avoid focusing on the origins of De Sade's power,to instead look at the horrific reactions,turning Maitland from a mild mannered gentlemen into a wide-eyed mad man.Although the visible wires making the skull "float" do pull some of the chills down,director Freddie Francis & cinematographer John Wilcox paint De Sade's skull in dazzling psychedelic Art-Deco,glowing in red,black and green patterns breaking Maitland's madness in extreme close-ups,as the skull sets its sights on a new victim.

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

The entire point of this review is that Peter Cushing in a movie can do no wrong. He can take the stupidest script and make it sound believable. From skulls to finger bones to Van Helsing he was always on the mark. The world of film and the world at large is poorer for his passing in 1994. I have tried to collect his films but there are so many that it is hard to find new quality DVD transfers of all of them.I have heard many people talk about him, from Christopher Lee to unknown co-stars. Not one had anything to say except what a loving and giving person he was. Not a soul I have heard has a bad memory of him. There is a worthwhile documentary called "Fanex Films - Hammer Films" where many people who worked with him are interviewed and speak at length.