A Killer Inheritance: Night of the Skull (1974)

In a thunderstorm rocked manor in Louisiana, Lord Archibald Marian (Ángel Menéndez) reads a quatrain from his favorite book, Revelation, and soon discovers that his fate is intertwined with the message. Earth to bury us, water to drown, wind to buffet, and fire to burn. It’s a recipe for disasters, which will be realized when a skull masked maniac arrives, chloroforms him unconscious, handcuffs him, and then drags him to a waiting grave for a living burial.

Why the murder? And will there be more? The first question will require plenty of time to answer, but it is tied to the Marian name and legacy. The latter is most definitely “yes.” A maniac has targeted the family, seeking bloody vengeance for  past deeds. The first death will draw many more victims together for the reading of the will.

Marian’s wife Cecilia (Maribel Hidalgo) is a cruel woman, who beats Marian’s illegitimate daughter Rita (Lina Romay) regularly. The Tobiases, Baron Simon (William Berger) and his wife Lady Marta (Evelyne Scott) are hiding secret sadisms of their own … and possible crimes. Marian’s estranged son Alfred (Antonio Mayans) has an unexpected fixation on his half-sister. Servants Rufus (Luis Barboo) is hiding things, and his wife believes him capable of murder. Can local cop Inspector Bore (Vincente Roca) and a detective from Scotland Yard, Major Oliver Brooks (Alberto Dalbés) get to the bottom of the transgressions and illegalities before murder has out? Or will the skull masked maniac have his vengeance?

The prolific auteur Jess Franco helms a whodunit and whydunit in the classic fashion, generally free from the sleazier elements that he’s become known for, with the sadistic mystery, Night of the Skull (1974).

Although the film bears Edgar Allan Poe’s name as the inspiration, it is for a work called The Cat and the Canary which Poe did not actually write. The contes cruel mystery plot echoes Edgar Wallace’s work more than Poe’s gothic and grotesque touches. However, the whole thing smacks of pulp, a salacious plot, an estate besieged by thunderstorms every night (and not ones that sound particularly convincing), and a set of potential victims whose numbers dwindle as the killer has his way with them. Taken at face value, it’s a fine little flick. Perhaps a tad slower than it needs to be (aiming as it does to be atmospheric instead of thrilling), but capable enough.

Fans of Jesus Franco will note that it was one of eleven (!) pictures he made in 1974. Does this lend the auteur some extra leniency for the lackluster elements in a given project? Well, not in most people’s minds. But this particular director’s fans are known for their loyalty and forgiveness. I am not a particularly big fan of the man’s work. His movies that veer into crazier, surreal territory (e.g., 1969’s Two Undercover Angels) reveal goofy charms his more straightforward works lack. And this one is a Spanish made giallo film that seems like a project to pass the time rather than something he seems particularly invested in.

And this is despite the fact that Franco even appears as a comic character (at one point, he asks a character a rather pointed and logical question that echoes the audience’s thoughts precisely). As Akira Kurosawa once said (and named his autobiography), “It is fun to create.” Franco certainly has a lengthy career of indulging his whims and passions, and while this film is less out there than many, it is nothing particularly special either.

The look of the film from cinematographer Javier Pérez Zofio is often at its best when playing up the gothic elements and deep shadows. The daylight hours moments are all right, but when the situations slide into the eerier nighttime side of things, the movie gets a righteous sense of cool.

Franco’s filmography is pretty well impossible to nail down in terms of content. He flows freely through different genres and different styles, sometimes playing with crime pictures and horror, erotica and bizarro fantasy. This is one of the more or less straight-ahead murder mysteries, though it is oddly set in an area no one in North America would take for Louisiana, and involves a British investigator who’s somehow operating in the States? It’s all odd, much more in line with the German krimi pictures than with either the Agatha Christi mode of mystery or even the deeply perverse giallo films of the day.

The Vinegar Syndrome release of the film includes good 4K image and mono soundtrack transfers (though the original elements for both are somewhat sketchy—the thunder machines go silent pretty regularly in the middle of their booming, but this is not likely due to degraded materials so much as original inclusion). The available language is mono Spanish with English subtitles only. Accompanying features include an interview with actor Antonio Mayans and Sitges Festival director Ángel Sala.

That said, viewers looking for a none-too-offensive entry point into the charms of Franco’s wild oeuvre may find some notes of interest here. Viewers looking for a meanspirited murder mystery will also find some parts to enjoy. Very few of the potential viewers will enjoy this one from beginning to end. It’s got a lot going for it, but it also leaves a lot to be desired, overall.

Still, the clutching hands poking up from the mud and sand following the opening murder is memorably staged, shot, and lit. Maximum nightmare fuel for that one. Other killings, which include a woman chained to a rock as the tide rolls in, a drowning in a bathtub, and even a burning are less so. And each of these is given screen time during the opening credits, which invites us to not only wait with bated breath for what is to come but to know well before hand who is going to die.

Providing we have enough time to memorize and later recognize the cast of people who are slain underneath those garish, gothic credits.

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Night of the Skull was available in a standalone DVD edition, though it seems to be out of print. There appears to be no VOD. The easiest way to see the best version of the picture is via Vinegar Syndrome’s Spanish Blood Bath Blu-ray set, which also includes Jorge Grau’s Violent Blood Bath (1974) and Pedro Luis Ramírez’s The Fish With the Eyes of Gold (1974).

Later today, we will take a look at another picture from that set, Grau’s Violent Blood Bath, which has a much better (though less sexy) alternate title, Penalty of Death. It is unavailable in a standalone DVD, Blu-ray, or VOD editions.

Writing for “A Killer Inheritance: Night of the Skull (1974)” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud.

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