SYNOPSIS

After making a number of successful Hammer Horrors in the early sixties, Director and Academy Award winning cinematographer Freddie Francis (Paranoiac, Tales From the Crypt, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors) moved to the fledgling Amicus Productions and produced an incredible run of horror titles that would make them the only studio able to rival the ascendant Hammer Pictures during the peak years of British horror filmmaking. Of these films, the most chilling is The Skull.

Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Christopher Maitland, a writer and collector of occult items (with a preference for those with a somewhat macabre history), who is offered the chance to purchase a highly expensive and unusual item the skull of the Marquis de Sade. Warned against obtaining the item by fellow collector (Christopher Lee in a rare non-villainous role), the skull s influence draws Maitland in, madness and death soon follow…

Adapted from a short story by Robert Bloch (Psycho) and featuring a score by avant-garde composer Elisabeth Lutyens, The Skull is one of the most expertly crafted British horror movies of its era.

Reviews:

“surprisingly adventurous, surprisingly frightening and consistently intriguing The Skull really holds up and is a minor classic of British horror cinema, actually surpassing many of the Hammer movies that were being made at the time 8/10″ – Horror Cult Films

“the film’s secret weapon is Cushing ★★★★☆” – SFX