By Nia Edwards-Behi
I confess that The Skull is a Cushing/Lee collaboration I knew very little about before receiving the screener of Eureka’s gorgeous new Blu-ray release for review. It’s an Amicus film that looks a lot like a Hammer film, boasting Freddie Francis at the helm, and Cushing and Lee in an astonishingly starry cast. There’s further pedigree too: the film adapts a (very) short story by Robert Bloch. The titular skull is the skull of one Marquis de Sade, and comes into the possession of curio collector Professor Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing), despite warnings from his friendly rival, Sir Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee). Maitland is dubious of all warnings but soon finds himself spiralling into a murderous madness under the influence of de Sade’s skull.
The Marquis de Sade functions as a wonderful shorthand for decadent evil in The Skull, but there’s very little more debauched than murder in the film itself. The narrative is indeed particularly slight, and, as Vic Pratt outlines in his piece in the booklet that accompanies this release, the story it adapts is only 8 pages long, and Amicus head Milton Subotsky made little further embellishment. As a result the film sags on several occasions during its relatively brief runtime, however, Francis and Cushing save the day.
The film is surprisingly expressionistic, and almost psychedelic. As the film goes on and De Sade’s skull holds increasing power over Maitland, so the dialogue dies down and the garishness of the action that unfolds increases. Francis repeatedly employs a skulls-eye-view effect which should, I suppose, be a bit naff, but actually works to great effect: particularly when Maitland is then framed within one of the skull’s eyes. The garish lighting of the film is enjoyable too, and again Pratt notes the similarity here to the sort of lighting used by Mario Bava.
The highlight of the film is a terrifying nightmare sequence, in which Maitland is escorted from his home late at night by two policemen, who take him to the home of the man who sold him the skull. Not only does it demonstrate Francis’ immense talents as director, but Cushing’s powerhouse performance in the film. He’s able to steal the show in the many dialogue-light sequences, and none demonstrate this as much as a scene in which he is forced to play Russian Roulette. If you’ve never quite seen someone truly act with their eyes, then this is a masterclass. Christopher Lee delivers a commanding performance but while his role starts off interesting it becomes clear that he’s little more than Mr. Exposition. Elsewhere Patrick Wymark is suitably sly as the black market dealer who sells Maitland the skull, and Patrick Magee plays the police surgeon with an almost unnecessary, but enjoyable, sense of dread.
It’s a shame that the narrative of The Skull was not given a bit more care and attention, as the resulting film is both strangely impressive and disappointing at the same time. Rather than emerging as a truly memorable and classic Cushing and Lee collaboration for Amicus, it feels more like a showcase for the talents of Cushing and Francis than a fully-formed film. That being said, if there’s a way to watch it, Blu-ray is it, and the package Eureka’s put together is lovely, including in addition to the film lengthy interviews with Jonathan Rigby and Kim Newman. This is a release worth adding to your collection on the strength of Cushing’s performance and Francis’ direction, but if you’re not otherwise much a fan of old British horror, then the film as whole might leave you cold.
Eureka release The Skull in dual format DVD Blu-ray on 26th October – pre-order here.