I Watch Films: The Skull

The Skull

In a prologue the skull of the Marquis De Sade is dug up* and the man who buys it dies a mysterious death. In present day London (the 60s) Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are rival/friends/colleagues occult-collectors, Cushing writing books about it. Lee over-bids for some statues and can’t explain why. Then a dodgy dealer in antiquities offers Cushing the skull of the Marquis De Sade.

It's revealed that it was stolen from Lee (he and Cushing are playing snooker badly) and he’s quite glad as he’s sure unholy rites were being done, which included the statues. There’s a strange dream sequence and a long weird night when the rite is expected to take place.

Watch This: Cushing and Lee as rivals and friends, the film gets deliciously odd at times
Don’t Watch This: If the Marquis De Sade being possessed by an evil spirit annoys you enough to spoil the film

 

* This bit is true, De Sade’s skull was dug up for phrenological examination and has since gone missing, though a copy was made first and is in Paris in the Museum Of Man