Tonight on MeTV- we face a cranial catastrophe when a scholar and collector of supernatural artifacts obtains one that has unexpected power – which influences him to do dark deeds! Peter Cushing is the unlucky man who is plagued by “The Skull”!

We begin the story in the past-the 19th century- in a graveyard where Pierre, a phrenologist ( one who believes in the supposed science that claims that a person’s character, personality, and mental abilities could be determined by feeling the bumps and contours of their skull, as different brain areas were believed to control specific traits) has hired a couple men to dig up a grave for him- and he proceeds to open the uncovered coffin and sever the head of the occupant!

He then proceeds to his home (where he is greeted by his lady friend who is taking a bath!) and dips the head in acid- rendering it to a fleshless skull- which leads to a horrific consequence for him.

We now go to modern-day London, where two friends are bidding against each other for a set of demonic statues. Christopher Maitland loses out to Sir Matthew Phillips, while a slimy individual named Anthony Marco offers condolences to Maitland for not winning the items.

Soon, however, Marco shows up at Maitland’s residence with his own offer of collectibles- including that skull we saw at the start of the movie. It turns out to be the skull of the evil Marquis De Sade- indeed a rare artifact. Maitland is unsure if it is legitimate or worth the price, but is given time to think about it.

He is visiting with his friend from the auction, Sir Phillip, and it is revealed that the unscrupulous Marco actually stole the skull from Phillip- and it is legitimate-but, strangely, he does not want it back. He warns Maitland that it has terrible powers and that he himself was lucky to escape its evil influence. Maitland seems skeptical and still ponders buying it.

Marco is eventually made aware of the skull’s power in horrible fashion- and Maitland ends up with it in his possession- only to find that it is indeed taking hold of him, bringing hallucinations, causing him to take deadly actions, and endangering his own wife. He learns all too well that what Phillip warned him about is true-and is forced to do whatever the skull bids him to do!

This 1965 film was made by Amicus studios in an attempt to rival Hammer in the field of horror films, going as far as casting two of Hammer’s stars- Peter Cushing as Maitland, and Christopher Lee as Sir Phillip. The plot itself comes from a short story by none other than “Psycho” author Robert Bloch. It should be noted that, in real life, though the Marquis De Sade was into all kinds of unsavory things- he was NOT into Satanism, as the movie suggests. We’ll give you background on the production, introduce you to the cast, and find our Sven Squad trying to sell me their own bony bill of goods. We’ll also have a game show with some of our favorite boneheads (NOT Nosty and Imp) as contestants- bring you a new song- and, throughout the show, treat you to highlights of our live talk show from the Flashback Weekend horror convention- as we chat with Freddy Krueger himself- Robert Englund!

“The Skull” starts at 8 pm eastern/pacific time, 7 central on MeTV. You can join in the live commenting during the show on Bluesky, or the live Tweeting on Twitter/X- just be sure to include the hashtag #svengoolie on your posts on either one. For our local Chicago area viewers, we have an encore of the Hammer horror “Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb” (with Valerie Leone somewhat more attractive than a skull) at 11 am on WCIU the U.

The new Svengoolie 3-D poster, with art by our pal Christopher Jones, is getting a lot of attention-this lenticular art print thankfully does not require any 3-D glasses to enjoy the effect! Both that and the new Sven collector trading cards are available in our store right now- check them out!

Please remember that next week, Gwengoolie, Nostalgiaferatoo, and Ignatius Malvolio Prankenstein will be taking over our timeslot with the high-flying horror of “Flight 7500”- as the Sven Squad offers coffee, tea, or terror! I’ll be back the week after with a monstrous match-up viewers have been asking to see!

Make sure you “head” to MeTV tonight for a chilling tale that could go right to your head ( or inside it)!