A collector of esoterica, Dr. Maitland, buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source of artifacts. The skull is what remains of marquis De Sade. Much too soon he discovers how the skull affects him: by turning him into a frenzied killer.

The Skull (1965)
  • Rating: (706 votes)
  • Tagline:When the Skull strikes you'll Scream! »
  • Runtime:83 minutes
  • Director: Freddie Francis
  • Country:UK
  • Actors:
    Dr. Christopher Maitland
    Peter Cushing
    Anthony Marco
    Patrick Wymark
    Jane Maitland
    Jill Bennett
    Inspector Wilson
    Nigel Green
    Police Surgeon
    Patrick Magee
    Bert Travers, Marco's Landlord
    Peter Woodthorpe
    Auctioneer
    Michael Gough
    Dr. Londe
    George Coulouris
    French Girl
    April Olrich
    Pierre, Phrenologist
    Maurice Good
  • Genres:Horror, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Max Rosenberg
    producer (as Max J. Rosenberg) 
    Milton Subotsky
    producer  
  • Plots: A collector of esoterica, Dr. Maitland, buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source of artifacts. The skull is what remains of marquis De Sade. Much too soon he discovers how the skull affects him: by turning him into a frenzied killer. Written by Mattias Thuresson <mattias.thuresson@mbox300.swipnet.se>
The Skull
  • User's comment:THE SKULL (Freddie Francis, 1965) *** by MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com)

    This was among the first vintage horror films I recall watching, but it took me this long to re-acquaint myself with it (after I had foolishly abandoned the prospect of a second viewing as part of a late-night Italian TV program hosted by two amiable ghouls – the same thing would also happen with Hammer's FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL [1974], which I then had to wait some 13 years to catch up with!).

    Anyay, though the film's premise, in itself, is rather daft – that of a host of antiquarians being 'possessed' by the skull of the Marquis De Sade – the result is very stylish and altogether one of Hammer rival Amicus' most satisfying outings. Apart from director Francis, the men behind Amicus – Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky (the latter also scripted, from a story by Robert Bloch of PSYCHO [1960] fame) – again recruited Hammer's two most popular stars, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, for this production. As ever, they play extremely well off each other – even if Lee, ostensibly, is only a "Guest Star" – delivering typically committed performances: Cushing has fun acting crazy – under the influence of the skull – towards the end (and also during a surreal nightmare sequence in which he's forcefully taken before a judge who promptly hands him a gun to play at Russian Roulette!), whereas Lee gives surprising poignancy to his role. Supporting them is a splendid cast indeed – led by Patrick Wymark, who actually matches the stars with his seedy supplier of generally weird artifacts, and the brief (albeit equally welcome) presence of the likes of George Coulouris, Michael Gough, Nigel Green and Patrick Magee!

    While Francis creates wonderful atmosphere via the cinematography (particularly when shooting through the skull's eyehole) and the set design (the film starts off as a period piece but then reverts to a modern-day setting for the central plot line), I do feel that the possibilities presented by the nonetheless intriguing theme are regrettably constrained by censorship and budgetary restrictions – so that the Marquis De Sade's legacy seems somehow to have been mixed up with that of Jack The Ripper! In any case, THE SKULL is generally considered nowadays as Francis' best directorial effort – though I personally feel NIGHTMARE (1964), THE PSYCHOPATH (1966) and THE CREEPING FLESH (1973) to be superior to it…


  • Quotes: Inspector Wilson: Hardly. Not in this day and age. Not in this day and age. Pierre: What are you doing here? French Girl: Aren't you pleased to see me?
  • Also known as: A Caveira (Portugal), Dödskallen (Sweden), De duivelse schedel (Belgium - Flemish title), Der Schädel des Marquis de Sade (West Germany), I nekrokefali ekdikeitai (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), I nekrokefali tou Drakoula (Greece - reissue title), Il teschio maledetto (Italy), La maldición de la calavera (Spain), Le crâne diabolique (Belgium - French title), Le crâne maléfique (France), Pääkallo (Finland),

What do you think of this movie? Leave a comment.