The Skull (1965) on Netflix
Christopher Maitland, a collector of esoterica who writes on the occult, is offered the skull of the Marquis de Sade by the dealer Anthony Marco. A fellow collector warns him off it.
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- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.2/104,304 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Pierre, a phrenologist, digs up the Marquis de Sade soon after the burial and boils the severed head to strip the flesh and leave the bone. In London, Christopher Maitland, a collector of esoterica who also writes on the occult, is offered that skull by Anthony Marco, a dealer in antiques and curiosities. Maitland learns where Marco got it: it came from Sir Matthew Phillips, a fellow collector and a friend. Phillips has no wish to have it back and warns Maitland what the thing can do.
Cast
- April Olrichas French Girl
- Maurice Goodas Pierre, Phrenologist
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Skull (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film's premise has a real counterpart: the Marquis de Sade's body was exhumed from the grounds of the lunatic asylum at Charenton, where he died in 1814, and his skull was removed for phrenological analysis. It was then lost and its fate remains unknown.
- French promotional materials had to be changed at the last minute when legal action by the present-day Sade family forced a new title, Le crâne maléfique ("The Evil Skull"), to be pasted over the original Les Forfaits du Marquis de Sade on posters and lobby cards.
- Once filming started on the 1965 Amicus horror film The Skull, director Freddie Francis rewrote much of Milton Subotsky's script.
