The Skull is a 1965 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus Productions. It starred the frequently paired horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, alongside Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee and Peter Woodthorpe.
It was one of a number of British horror films of the sixties to be scored by avant-garde composer Elisabeth Lutyens, including several others for Amicus. The script was written by Robert Bloch, from his own short story The Skull of the Marquis de Sade.
Plot
The film begins with a pre-credit sequence set in the 1800s, in which Pierre, a phrenologist (Maurice Good), robs the grave of the recently buried Marquis de Sade. He takes the Marquis' severed head and sets about boiling it to remove its flesh, leaving the skull; before the task is done, Pierre himself has met an unseen and horrific death.
The story then moves to the modern day. Christopher Maitland (Cushing), a collector and writer on the occult, is offered the skull by Marco (Wymark), an unscrupulous dealer in antiques and curiosities. Maitland learns that the skull has been stolen from Sir Matthew Phillips (Lee), a friend and fellow collector. Sir Matthew, however, does not want to recover it, having escaped its evil influence. He warns Maitland of its powers. At his sleazy lodgings Marco dies in mysterious circumstances; Maitland finds his body and takes possession of the skull. He in turns falls victim as the skull drives him to hallucinations, madness and death.
Notes
Christopher Lee is billed as "guest star" in the film's credits; his part is brief, comprising only two short scenes.
The film's final twenty-five minutes contain almost no dialogue.
In real life the Marquis de Sade's body was exhumed from its grave in the grounds of the lunatic asylum at Charenton, where he died in 1814, and his skull was removed for phrenological analysis. It was subsequently lost, and its fate remains unknown.[1]
- ^ Neil Schaeffer, The Marquis de Sade: A Life, published 1999.
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