A really excellent British horror film – up there with the best of Hammer, even though it was from Amicus. It does feature Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, has some wonderful art direction (from an Australian, Bill Constable), some good-looking women, terrific direction (Freddie Francis) and is genuinely scary at times. The script is based on a short story by Robert Bloch, who went on to write for the company a number of times. Basically it’s about collector Peter Cushing coming into possession of the skull of Maquis de Sade, which sends all who own it ga-ga. It really is the basic; indeed, at times the running time felt a little padded – this could have used a subplot or two, fleshing out the character of Cushing’s wife, say (Jill Bennett).
It’s really Cushing’s show and he’s excellent playing a normal man who goes deranged. Lee is only in four or so scenes but they’re staggered throughout the film – Amicus became quite skilled at getting name actors to work for short periods of time. The bit where Cushing goes to kill Bennett but is scared off by her cross is a little too close to vampire films, but there’s plenty of memorable moments, especially involving the skull. Long slabs of this is without dialogue, which is very effective.
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