This horror film from the British company Amicus shows how much can be done
with a skull, music, lights and clearly not much of a budget to generate
a creepy atmosphere and a few chills. No special effects really to speak
of and a minimum of gore. It is a class act all the way with a great cast
of British actors, a good director and an experienced studio. Amicus was
in production at the same time as the much better known Hammer and never
reached their level but they put out some decent horror often in the form
of anthologies with a few short stories filling up the movie.
This one though has only one story and stars Peter Cushing along with other
familiar names in much smaller roles - Nigel Greene, Patrick Magee, Michael
Gough and Christopher Lee. The scenes between Cushing and Lee are always
enjoyable. Director Freddie Francis had worked for Hammer doing The Evil
of Frankenstein, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Paranoiac and Nightmare.
Cushing plays a staid and sophisticated collector of ancient artifacts who
would not jaywalk. A seedy seller gets him to purchase a book written by
the good old Marquis de Sade with a cover of human skin. If that isn't bad
enough he next purchases the skull of the Marquis. He feels compelled to.
Because the skull is pure evil! With a direct line to Satan. Lee warns him
to stay away from it but collectors will be collectors. The music which adds
a lot to this film was composed by Elisabeth Lutyens who was the first female
to score a film. She has an atonal modern sound that seems apt for horror
films and also scored Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, Paranoiac, Dr. Terrors
House of Horrors and The Earth Dies Screaming.
