The Skull [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
£5.90
A must see, for Amicus fans. - This Amicus film from 1965, is one of their least seen, by the general public. To my mind this flick is unsurpassed, by any of this company s other films, including their anthologies , which is what they are most renowned for (if your new to Amicus or haven t seen them, they are Dr. Terror s House Of Horrors [1965],The Torture Garden (1967),The House That Dripped Blood [1971],Tales from the Crypt/Vault of Horror (REGION 1) (NTSC), Vault Of Horror [1973],From Beyond the Grave [1973] (REGION 1) (NTSC)). Most Amicus films have Peter Cushing in them, in this one he plays the protagonist, an anthropologist with a proclivity towards collecting Black-Arts memorabilia. A dodgy dealer in sinister merchandise, played by Patrick Wymark , sells our unfortunate hero the brain-scaffold, that once housed the notorious Marque de Sade, which is possessed of sorcerous qualities. Christopher Lee, is superb in a cameo, proving he can play the frightened as well as the frightening.A considerable portion of the film has no dialogue at all, this is compensated for by excellent cinematography that we might come to expect in a film directed by one of the finest, now deceased cameramen in this industry: Freddie Francis.Seeing it in it s original widescreen print, as it would appear in the theatre makes all the difference, if you have seen the compressed television-screen version as I did , and were unimpressed, give it a second chance with this DVD release. Eerie and intense, netherworldly, or funny, with strings showing, I reckon it ll be worth your while if you enjoy Peter Cushing films.
A gem of a horror film. - This long overdue DVD release of The Skull may be short on extras, but if you enjoy classic 60 s horror films this is a must! More please Legend Films, maybe a DVD release of The Psychopath or, Dr Terror s House Of Horrors ? RECOMMENDED!
Get Ahead - For the life of me, I can never work out why the Skull isn t better thought of across the horror world . It s moody, it s got inclusively great performances and a kickin soundtrack.Cast-wise, it s nigh on untouchable, Peter Cushing plays Maitland, a fool-hardy collector of occult curio s who comes to own the possessed skull of the Marquis de Sade, Patrick Wymark is brilliantly squalid as the shady antiques dealer, Marco, Christopher Lee and Peter Woodthorpe make telling cameo-appearances, and the deeply sexy (and good actress(!)) Jill Bennett plays Cushing s terrified wife, pushed to her limit by his obsession.It s got Hammer-esque cemetery scenes, bulging-eyed insanity murders, a brilliantly trippy dream sequence where Cushing is forced to play Russian Roulette in a mad courthouse, and a devilish, grinning titular villain that floats around his front parlour very stylishly, even with a vicious letter-opener rammed in it s eye.There may be typically cryptic 60 s drug metaphor s abounding here,(I can sense them, but I m damned if I can coherently uncover one for you.) but that s not why the Skull is so watch-able and entertaining. It s a combination job, and with all it s component parts firing so finely, it can t do much else but work beautifully. It s an elegant film, totally out of sync with many of it s rivals and peers of the brash, boundary-pushing 1960 s. Hopefully, this long overdue dvd release will redress the balance in the Skull s favour, and bring it to a modern audience, it s unavailability being the only reason I can see why it s not being hailed.
Le Crâne Maléfique. - Yes The Skull is on dvd, after a long, long expectation.All the bad guys, selling here and there, a dreadful and also nasty copyfull screen, 4/3, Pan & Scan, with only a third ? (more or less) image still visible, made from a vhs out of ages, can throw the object through the window pane.The Legend Films dvd is enhanced for the 16/9, it s not even written on the back cover, and it s effectively for the first time, a splendid 2.35image, in the full respect of the original Techniscope.Doesn t matter really if the movie is this, or that, or short, or long, and the wire when the skull moves, (I never saw the wire as far as I mconcerned), we do not care.The Skull is and always will be a terrifying nightmare,a story about thedesire, and why it kills you one way or another.This movie is untouchable.It s true the cover of the dvd is stupid, and rather repulsive.The original french poster (1m20 x 1m60) the larger blue one whith the gunagainst Cushing face, was a classic with a doesn t date style.
A rare Amicus film finally on dvd - The Skull was made by Amicus who are probably best known for their series of anthology films such as Tales From The Crypt and The House That Dripped Blood and is at last available on dvd. Firstly, do not let the awful cover design put you off this dvd. Why the manufacturers didn t use the original poster art or a decent still from the film is beyond me. However this is only a minor gripe.The plot is very simple - Christopher Maitland a collector of rare accult items played by Peter Cushing comes into possession of the skull of the Marquis de Sade (the infamous sadist). Fellow collector Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee) warns him that the skull can cause horrible things to happen. Needless to say Maitland fails to take his advise and is plunged into a series of nightmarish events. Can he escape from the power of the skull ?The film moves at a nice pace with good performances from Lee and especially Cushing who carries the last third of the film very well. The special effects are rather dated - you can see the wire holding the floating skull, still it does make a nice change to all the cgi effects we are subjected to nowdays. The print is sharp with good sound and is presented in the original 2.35 ratio. The extras are rather dissapointing. All you get is a trailer for the film. This is an American dvd and is region 1 coded so please make sure you dvd is compatable with region 1 dvds. All in all an excellent dvd and well worth picking up if you (like Me) enjoy classic British horror films.