The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

The film begins with a man being killed by a goofy looking South American Indian. And, after his death, the man's head disappears from the coffin! Well, it turns out that this sort of death and beheading is the norm for this family and when folks turn 60, they have this as their fate. How and why is this family cursed and who is behind all this? Okay...first you need to admit that this movie is NOT Shakespeare or a film you'll see in the Criterion Collection! No, it's a slightly cheesy horror film that is entertaining...and a tad silly. Now this is NOT a criticism--just a fact that the film is entertaining on a basic level. Sure, if you think about it, zombies and head shrinking are a bit silly--but this film manages to make it work. The writing, for what it is, is pretty good and the villain is quite nice. Overall, a good time to be had...provided you know what you are in for and aren't expecting more.By the way, as you watch the knife fights late in the film, watch the blade--it's obviously rubber and you can actually see it wiggling!

Won't bore with the details of the plot; see other reviews.Was in discussion with friends the other night about the TV we watched when we grew up (1960's and 1970's) and of course we all fondly remembered Chiller Theater on Saturday nights. After not thinking about it for nearly 40 years, I recalled that one of my favorites was 4SOJD and wondered if it was even available anymore. Back then in the late 1960's as a 10 year old, I had a strict bedtime during the week, but on Saturday night, my parents were letting me stay up late and we got into the habit of watching Chiller Theater. I remember watching the first few movies, all classic B grade horror at the time, and finding them actually entertaining instead of scary. You could see the zippers on the creatures crawling out the lagoon and the rubber knives and such. Even Dracula (Lugosi kind) and Frankenstein(Karloff) were not all that scary. As a ten year old, I was proud to be able to conquer horror films, but then again, these "horror" files weren't all that scary.Then, one Saturday night, we watched "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake" which started out with many of the much beloved B-grade horror trademarks. Campy shots. Cars coming and going, but the camera never moves from the same mount. Great horror music lead by a crazed organist. But in the end, this movie was different from the rest. It actually scared me. I went to bed that night and could not sleep. Every creak and bump in the night convinced me an ancient South American Indian was lurking in the closet. I kept fearing for my head. I never again assumed a film could not get under my skin and make me worry.I will always remember it as one of the perfect B&W horror films from my youth. Would recommend it to someone who wants to "train" their 10-12 year old in what a good old horror film was like. But it may not have the same effect. Most kids can play video games wiping out zombies with much more bloodshed and violence. Perhaps this film was the gem it was because of the time it was released. Doesn't have the competition as it does today.You probably won't bet scared by this movie anymore, but you should watch it for the better than average acting and acceptable story line. And the crazed organist lead sound track. What you should be scared of is the other movie that came with this one as a double billing from Netflix - Boris Karloff in "Voodoo Island". I love MST3K, but they would not touch this one, because it is THAT bad. Boris Karloff bounding around Hawaii avoiding rubber plants and wearing a hat even the Beastie Boys wouldn't touch. You've been warned.

Aaah!! What a classic!! This movie ranks in my top 10 of scary movies. I first saw this movie WAY back in the day when Black & White TV's were the norm (mid to late 60's). Anyways, Released in 1959, this movie tells the story of the Drake Family & how it is faced with an old family curse. The two Drake brothers try to unravel why the family has such a curse upon it. The make up, visual effects and an "eeree" sounding organ give this movie that certain "umph" to scare you. Especially when your watching this late at night! Note: This movie is not for young kids......they'll get nightmares......like I did....when I first saw it. Enjoy!

I was expecting to give THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959) a *** rating but I had to reduce it by 1/2 a notch because the performances of the two younger leads were pretty lifeless in my opinion: the girl did nothing but lounge around in furs all through the picture, even as her father was having his spells and assassination attempts and the detective was rather ineffectual, particularly in his first meeting with the assassin. But then, in the climax, after he is shown in one shot to be way behind Henry Daniell, in the next one he's on the roof of a cabin ready to jump on Daniell! That was rather silly, in my opinion, which is a pity because, on the whole, I found it to be quite good and enjoyable; the head-shrinking scenes were particularly effective.