Amiably silly Amicus offering aided and abetted by the Cushing/Lee partnership and an effective 'Russian Roulette' nightmare sequence. Unfortunately, the whole premise of the film revolves around the malevolent skull of the Marquis de Sade. Now I don't know if I'm in the minority but a grinning skull is, on a fright-inducing scale, right up there with an episode of Bod. A good cast always helps, of course, but Jill Bennett, Nigel Green and Patrick Magee have a combined screen time of about 5 minutes. It's ostensibly the Peter Cushing Show with slightly heftier contributions from Lee and a slimy Wymark. Fortunately Cushing has the ability to carry the film whilst keeping a straight face, and it does have a nice look to it-courtesy of director Freddie Francis, who always seems to underplay the horror elements in his films leaving the end results somewhat flat. Nevertheless, well worth a viewing and a widescreen DVD release anytime soon.
