"When the Skull strikes you'll scream!"

1965

1h 23m

6.1(114 votes)

Horror

Thriller

Overview

Esoterica collector Dr Maitland buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source; the artifact is what remains of the Marquis De Sade. Much too soon, Maitland discovers that the skull is turning him into a frenzied killer.

Where to Watch

Rent

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Peter Cushing

Dr. Christopher Maitland

Christopher Lee

Sir Matthew Phillips

Patrick Wymark

Anthony Marco

Jill Bennett

Jane Maitland

Peter Woodthorpe

Bert Travers, Marco's Landlord

Nigel Green

Inspector Wilson

April Olrich

French Girl

George Coulouris

Dr. Londe

Maurice Good

Pierre, Phrenologist

Patrick Magee

Police Surgeon

Creative team

Directed by: Freddie Francis
Written by: Robert Bloch
Milton Subotsky
Produced by: Milton Subotsky
Max Rosenberg

Similar Movies

3.7

2013

D Company

An anthology of three stories which portray various shades and motives of violence through different characters that are dissimilar in nature.

Movie

3.6

2024

An Angry Boy

Having escaped a sadistic cult as a child, Owen must confront his past as his tormentors enter his new life. This time there's no escaping for anyone.

Movie

7.3

2016

The Conjuring 2

Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.

Movie

7.8

1932

Freaks

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Movie

8.2

2000

Memento

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

Movie

6.0

2013

The Sinners

Two homicide detectives investigates the murder of a woman ...

Movie

5.9

2018

The Nun

A priest with a dark past and a novice nearing her final vows are sent by the Vatican to Romania to investigate a nun's death and face a demonic force.

Movie

6.4

2025

Diabolic

A woman's hope for a miracle cure turns into a nightmare when she confronts the vengeful spirit of a cursed witch, determined to claim her as a vessel for her evil power.

Movie

2017

The Things They Left Behind

A year after 9/11, a pair of red glasses and other things lost on that horrific day haunt a World Trade Center worker who suffers from severe survivor's guilt.

Movie

6.0

2012

Out of Focus

A young woman with unusual mind powers will become the greatest shaman of all time, if she accepts the challenge made by a mysterious visitor - to defeat a supernatural evil that knows no boundaries in its insatiable thirst for human souls.

Movie

6.9

2016

The Karma Killings

"The Karma Killings," is a modern-day crime thriller mixed in with Indian mythology and class warfare. The documentary delves into India's most infamous serial killings and its impact on a nation. Told through the people directly involved, the film unravels the complexities of the case and goes beyond the sensational headlines to present a suspenseful and scary mystery. And has a huge twist - one of the killers maybe innocent?

Movie

6.6

2019

Dragged Across Concrete

Two policemen, one an old-timer, the other his volatile younger partner, find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics becomes the media's cause du jour. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due, but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows.

Movie

7.0

2005

Heads or Tails

Four interlinking stories about a benign native american legend that has been distorted throughout the years into something much darker.

Movie

6.4

1980

Friday the 13th

Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

Movie

6.0

1987

Best Seller

Hit man Cleve approaches writer/cop Dennis about a story for his next book: How Cleve made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians in the country. To get the story right, they travel around the country to gather statements and evidence, while strong forces use any means they can to keep the story untold.

Movie

5.5

2006

Jindabyne

Outside the Australian town of Jindabyne, local man Stuart Kane is on a fishing trip with friends when they discover the body of a murdered girl.

Movie

5.7

1975

Hustle

The body of teenager Gloria Hollinger is found dead on a Los Angeles beach, and Lt. Phil Gaines is in charge of the investigation. Gaines learns that the girl, a stripper and prostitute, committed suicide, but he ignores the connection between her and a powerful mob lawyer, Leo Sellers. Hollinger's father, however, is not satisfied with Gaines's results, and attempts to investigate the case on his own.

Movie

6.1

2001

Impostor

A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.

Movie

6.2

2003

Gothika

After a car crash, criminal psychologist Dr. Miranda Grey regains consciousness only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. She's been accused of murdering her husband Dr. Douglas Grey — but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham, of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.

Movie

5.5

1981

Absurd

A priest-doctor chasing a man with supernatural regenerative abilities, who has recently escaped from a medical lab, reaches a small town where the mutant goes on a killing spree.

Movie

Recommended Movies

6.7

2024

Oddity

After the brutal murder of her twin sister, Darcy goes after those responsible by using haunted items as her tools for revenge.

Movie

6.0

2024

The Deliverance

Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her family into a new home for a fresh start. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.

Movie

6.0

2012

Maniac

As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.

Movie

5.9

1989

I, Madman

A bookshop clerk starts seeing the disfigured killer from her favorite 1950s pulp novels come to life and start killing people around her.

Movie

6.5

1999

The Ninth Gate

A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.

Movie

5.9

1981

The Hand

Jon Lansdale is a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident. The hand was not found at the scene of the accident, but it soon returns by itself to follow Jon around, and murder those who anger him.

Movie

6.5

2009

Drag Me to Hell

After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend is skeptical. Her only hope seems to lie in a psychic who claims he can help her lift the curse and keep her soul from being dragged straight to hell.

Movie

7.0

1980

Dressed to Kill

After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.

Movie

7.7

1941

The Maltese Falcon

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Movie

7.3

2021

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.

Movie

5.8

2018

Nightmare Cinema

A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.

Movie

6.2

2009

The Haunting in Connecticut

When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover.

Movie

6.5

2007

Dead Silence

Jamie returns to his hometown in search of answers to his wife's murder, which occurred after receiving a weird package containing a ventriloquist dummy named Billy, which may be linked to the legend of ventriloquist Mary Shaw. Destined to find out the truth, Jamie goes to the town of Raven's Fair, where Shaw used to perform and is buried. But Jamie is in for more than he expected.

Movie

6.7

2022

Smile

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain.

Movie

6.1

2024

Compulsion

Two women—Diana, a flamboyant and ruthless thief, and Evie, a seemingly innocent young woman with a troubled past—become embroiled in a series of horrific murders on the island of Malta.

Movie

6.8

2022

Prey for the Devil

In response to a global rise in demonic possessions, the Catholic Church reopens exorcism schools to train priests in the Rite of Exorcism. On this spiritual battlefield, an unlikely warrior rises: a young nun, Sister Ann. Thrust onto the spiritual frontline with fellow student Father Dante, Sister Ann finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young girl and soon realizes the Devil has her right where he wants her.

Movie

7.1

1987

Angel Heart

A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.

Movie

6.9

1987

Hellraiser

A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.

Movie

6.1

2022

Play Dead

Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.

Movie

6.8

2022

The Pale Blue Eye

West Point, New York, 1830. When a cadet at the burgeoning military academy is found hanged with his heart cut out, the top brass summons former New York City constable Augustus Landor to investigate. While attempting to solve this grisly mystery, the reluctant detective engages the help of one of the cadets: a strange but brilliant young fellow by the name of Edgar Allan Poe.

Movie