Night of the Skull (1976)

- La noche de los asesinos
For a Franco film, it's not too bad, 12 January 2006

It's difficult to know how to rate a Franco film. Do you compare his films with all other films, or do you just compare Franco's films with his other films? Compared with the entire population of movies, Night of the Skull probably isn't that good. But for a Franco film, it's not too bad. And when you consider that this is only one of ten films Franco is credited with directing in 1976, it's amazing that Night of the Skull is at all comprehensible.

I haven't read this anywhere so I have no real basis for knowing this, but Night of the Skull seems to be Franco's attempt to make a Giallo/Krimi type film. A hooded, cloaked, skull-masked killer is offing the members of a wealthy family gathered together for the reading of a will. Almost everyone in the family is a suspect, that is, until they're killed. Some of the scenes are almost expertly handled like the first murder where the elderly patriarch of the family is buried alive with only his hands, which have been tied behind his back, sticking out of the ground. There are also very few scenes where Franco appears to lose his (and the camera's) focus and stays pretty much on course throughout. On the downside, the killer's identity is, unfortunately, too easy to guess and leaves little in the way of a surprise once he/she is finally unmasked. And, while the acting is never as bad as in something like Franco's Oasis of the Zombies, no one was going to win an award for their performance either.

In the end, Night of the Skull is something of a treat for fans of Franco. Non-fans would probably be best advised to steer clear.

5/10