Customer Reviews
A must see, for Amicus fans. - By: Peter Desmond, 03 Oct 2008 
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 Cushingin them;in this one he plays the protagonist, an anthropologist with a proclivity towards collecting Black-Arts memorabilia.
A dodgy dealerin 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 superbin 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 expectin a film directed by one of the finest, now deceased cameramenin this industry: Freddie Francis.
Seeing itin it's original widescreen print, as it would appearin the theatre makes all the difference, if you have seen the compressed television-screen version as I did , & were unimpressed, give it a second chance with this DVD release. Eerie & 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. - By: K. W. Wardle, 22 Sep 2008 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 - By: Paul Ess., 11 Sep 2008 
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 & 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 & Peter Woodthorpe make telling cameo-appearances, & 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 Roulettein a mad courthouse, & a devilish, grinning titular villain that floats around his front parlour very stylishly, even with a vicious letter-opener rammedin 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 & entertaining.
It's a combination job, & 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 & peers of the brash, boundary-pushing 1960's. Hopefully, this long overdue dvd release will redress the balancein 'the Skull's favour, & 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. - By: Olivier Lewis, 09 Aug 2008 Yes "The Skull" is on dvd, after a long, long expectation.
All the bad guys, selling here & there, a dreadful & also nasty copy
full 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, & it' s effectively for the first time, a splendid 2.35
image,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' m
concerned), we do not care.
The Skull is & always will be a terrifying nightmare,a story about the
desire, & why it kills you one way or another.
This movie is "untouchable".
It' s true the cover of the dvd is stupid, & rather repulsive.
The original french poster (1m20 x 1m60) the larger blue one whith the gun
against Cushing face, was a "classic" with a doesn' t date style.
A rare Amicus film finally on dvd - By: Mr. D. New, 05 Jul 2008 The Skull was made by Amicus who are probably best known for their series of anthology films such as Tales From The Crypt & The House That Dripped Blood & 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 & 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 & 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 & is presentedin the original 2.35 ratio. The extras are rather dissapointing. All you get is a trailer for the film. This is an American dvd & is region 1 coded so please make sure you dvd is compatable with region 1 dvds. Allin all an excellent dvd & well worth picking up if you (like Me) enjoy classic British horror films.
