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Post by andydecker on Jan 23, 2020 11:35:23 GMT
Robert Bloch - The Skull of the Marquis de Sade  Corgi, 1976 (Orig Robert Hale 1975) Content: The Skull of the Marquis de Sade
A Quiet Funeral
The Weird Tailor
The Man Who Knew Women
'Lizzie Borden Took an Axe ...' (variant of Lizzie Borden Took an Axe... 1946)
The Devil's Ticket
The Bogey Man Will Get You
Stories range from 1944 to 1965. A Quit Funeral is an original for the collection, the rest are culled from magazines. "The Weird Taylor" was adapted twice for the screen, 1961 for the tv series "Thriller" and in 1972 for Amicus "Asylum". The title story also was made into a nice movie with Peter Cushing. also for Amicus as "The Skull". |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jan 23, 2020 16:49:02 GMT
The title story also was made into a nice movie with Peter Cushing. also for Amicus as "The Skull". I think I read somewhere that Amicus were threatened with legal action by the de Sade family in France if they used their name in the film title or publicity materials. |
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Post by dem on Jan 24, 2020 10:40:02 GMT
I thought it unlikely we'd overlooked this selection, and sure enough, there's considerable comment - including a blow by blow account courtesy of Lord Probert - on the Robert Bloch in Amicus thread. |
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Post by dem on Jan 24, 2020 16:59:28 GMT
Been so long since I read Skull & co., it is like rediscovering it anew.  Boris Dolgov: ( Weird Tales, Sept. 1944). Penniless artist Hector Vane pawns his soul to the Devil on the understanding he can reclaim at after 90 days - but only in exchange for a portrait which truly captures the essence of its subject. Vine's fortunes duly take a miraculous upturn, but who to paint and damn for all eternity? Marie, his better half, may be loyal to a fault, but, now he's on his uppers, Vane needs a glam trophy wife befitting his lofty status, so.... The Man who Knew Women: ( The Saint Mystery Magazine, July 1959). Super smooth 'Luis Manuel' targets rich, lonely widows via the Romance Club listings, marries then murders them for their cash. Unfortunately, his latest victim, "fat, ugly" Bessie Carmody, is survived by an unbearable brother, Bert Jackson, who was once big in Vaudeville (cue more reminiscences of how great it was to be young in 'twenties America). Turns out, via a feeble punchline, that of the two, it's bachelor Bert who "knows women" best. A Quiet Funeral: Vetch visits an obscure funeral parlour to say goodbye to Charlie the Printer. Caskets don't agree with him - Vetch has a morbid fear of premature burial - but it wouldn't do not to be seen paying due respect to his best pal. The deceased was the most accomplished counterfeiter in the business. All things considered, it's a shame Vetch had to cremate him alive in that motor "accident." The coffin lid slowly rises .... |
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Post by dem on Jan 26, 2020 11:10:56 GMT
"Something choice, something tasty ..." Pete Kuhlhoff: ( Weird Tales, Sept. 1945). A skull that was distinctly different - for the classic mockery of mirth attributed to all skulls was absent here. Last days of Marco, a Wapping-based dealer in memento mori, and his favourite client, Charles Maitland, obsessive collector of same. The skull in question would be in with a great shout for most malicious inanimate object of them all - were it only to remain inanimate. NB. Christopher Maitland's museum of grisly relics boasts, "a shrivelled Hand of Glory stolen from a graveyard in Mainz." Possibly of interest, The Maitland File.  Fred Humiston: ( Weird Tales, March 1946). That was what was nice about him - the mystery, the not-knowing ... Nancy has dreadful suspicions about tall, pale, pointy-toothed dreamboat, Philip Ames. Like, he doesn't eat, his cottage is free of mirrors, he stays indoors during the hours of daylight, his interest is Demonology, and he may or may not turn into a bat after sunset. That can only mean one thing .... "Lizzie Borden Took An Axe ...": ( Weird Tales, Nov. 1946) A locked room, mouldering books, muttered curses, in a rotting hulk of a house - add up to tragedy. Black Sorcerer Gideon Godfrey is dead, his skull split in two by a blow from an axe. Godfrey was legal guardian to young Anita Loomis and filled her head with so much mumbo jumbo that she believes herself preyed upon by an incubus. Boyfriend Jim is sceptical, but slowly reaches the conclusion that Anita is possessed by the same demon as drove Lizzie Borden to butcher her parents ....
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 7, 2020 12:10:18 GMT
Shocktober 6th - The Skull Of The Marquis De Sade. Out in Social Media land an acquaintance is putting up a still from Denis Gifford's A Pictorial History Of Horror Movies a day during October, and yesterday he went for The Skull (1965). Another put up a link to Horrified online magazine and a great article about Elisabeth Lutyens and her horror film music, including The Skull (1965). What else could I go for? Great story with just two quibbles. Marco telling Maitland he lives in Wapping, then Maitland visiting him by walking up the stairs in a tenement in Soho. Huh? Also, the skull's window on the magic journey from a table to Maitland's bed - no wonder the film went with a floating skull, wires and all. Much pleasure within though, not least the 'orrible description of Marco - all credit to Patrick Wymark who, despite not being bald, manages to capture the man's sleaze. Great stuff. NB my copy of the story is in a tome called Bogey Men which also contains The Man Who Collected Poe. Huzzah!
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