THE SKULL
d. Freddie Francis, 1965

5 February 2009

The skull of The Marquis De Sade causes madness and death as it makes the rounds between collectors of occult artifacts. That's all there is to the plot, really. However, there is so much more to the film.

Until this DVD, I never knew anyone who had ever seen THE SKULL. It was never lost, just completely unavailable. I only ever knew about it through references and stills in old monster magazines. For decades it has lingered as a tantalizing gap in my viewing.

I don't think I was ever really expecting much from THE SKULL, other than to just finally see it. Imagine my surprise, then, when THE SKULL turned out to be a top-notch 60s British horror.

Like BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, THE SKULL is a Hammer Film that isn't a Hammer Film. The production values are similar. The craft elements are obviously British, professional, experienced. The cast are Hammer regulars, as is the director, Freddie Francis. At a brief glance, you would mistake it for a Hammer Film - which was probably Amicus's intention. But it isn't a Hammer Film. The dialogue has a more naturalistic tone, and the direction is more fluid, less stage-managed. The pace, and the single-minded direction of the events are also not Hammer - there are no subplots. The mood builds slowly over a surprisingly long time, and in this the film is, in fact, similar to Hammer's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE or THE GORGON, although toward quite a different goal.

Now, I adore any film which features a levitating evil skull, of course. (Did you have to ask?) But, I don't expect a film with a levitating evil skull to give me the creeps. THE SKULL gave me the creeps. THE SKULL builds and sustains a mood which is downright paranoid in a way I can't quite recall from any Hammer film.

Incredible graveyard set from THE SKULL.

THE SKULL is a drawing room horror film. The main sets are intended to represent the parlors and private museums of obsessive collectors of occult artifacts. In that capacity, the sets are purely functional with regard to the objective dictates of the plot. However, from an expressive standpoint, this is a means of packing the frame with demonic faces and figures - so densely that at times the screen looks like a Bosch painting rendered in rusty earthen tones. Wild eyes and threatening grimaces fill the frame, through which the camera glides with ominous grace. In less professional hands, this could look cheap and silly. British stagecraft makes it look solid. The rooms look real, you can easily believe this is how real occult scholars store and display their treasures.

THE SKULL is a wonderful opportunity to see Peter Cushing really act. It's easy to slip into remembering him primarily for his Van Helsing and Frankenstein roles, or roles which were simple variations on those characters. In THE SKULL, he gets the film almost entirely to himself, and he fills the space in unexpected ways. I've seen Cushing play characters who were defeated, or frustrated, but until THE SKULL, I had never seen him play a character who lost control of himself and his surroundings. Plus, he smokes in it!