The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake

I'm always nearly stupefied when browsing through the career overview of director Edward L. Cahn. This man directed low-budget horror treasures at an incredibly immense pace; - sometimes up to eight or nine movies per year. No wonder he dropped dead at the age of 64! But unlike other people who directed hundreds of films, like Jess Franco or Cirio H. Santiago, the efforts of the sadly unknown and underrated Cahn were always reliable and competent B-movies. Like "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake", for instance, which is a short and straightforward (barely 70 minutes) but grimly compelling tale about tribal voodoo, shrunken head routines, floating skulls and ancestral curses! When, after his grandfather and father, also his brother unexpectedly dies from a sudden heart condition at the age of sixty, Jonathan Drake is convinced that the curse placed upon his great-great-grandfather by a witchdoctor in the Amazon jungle is still active. The floating skulls of his ancestors keep appearing in his nightmares, and there truly is a native tribesman (with his lips sewn shut) strolling around to kill the masculine Drake family members and cut off their heads to perform a voodoo shrinking rite. There's absolutely nothing to dislike about "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake". The plot is simple but effective, with a proper explanation regarding the family curse's origin and a good mixture of believer & non-believer characters. Several of the ideas and sequences were quite gruesome and explicit for their time (like the headless corpse in the coffin or the uncanny resemblance between the victims' faces and their shrunken potato versions) and there are many more and even nastier little gimmicks coming to the surface as the story unfolds itself further. The acting performances are more than adequate for a late fifties' B-movie, with particularly Henry Daniell stealing the show as the mean & vicious Dr. Zurich. Recommended and fun, just like other Edward L. Cahn horror efforts such as "Invisible Invaders", "It: The Terror from Beyond Space" or "Invasion of the Saucer Men"

The movie concerned the death of Jonathan's brother and the brother's missing head. Of course the fact that his head is missing isn't discovered until the funeral. Then the realization hits that the brother's death and decapitation is because of a curse put on their grandfather by a South American tribe he had cheated. At this point Jonathan considers there is a strong possibility that he is next. That thought occurs when he awakens in the middle of the night to discover a rather gruesome looking native, with his mouth sewn shut, standing over him with a long, sharp knife. Now he, family and friends must find a way to save his life. It's too bad most of you will never see this in the theater. (Eduard Franz and Henry Daniell were great actors!)

Seeing it again a few years ago (over 50), I could see all the fallacies and the real lack of anything to be afraid of, it was pretty phony in loads of places. And, compared to what the producers and directors put out today, it, also, was pretty tame. But one more thing I will say scary though it might have been then, now I consider it fun.

I just recently viewed this film for the first time and was surprised at some of the more gory elements of this film. It was made in 1959, and it dealt with decapitation and shrunken heads. Although it didn't actually show the decapitation, it did show the skin being removed from a decapitated skull. By today's horror standards it was pretty mild (this picture was filmed in glorious black and white so you don't get the blood red effect of today's films) but nonetheless, it was pretty gory for it's day.

The story revolves around Jonathan Drake (portayed by Eduard Franz), the remaining male survivor of his family. His family has been cursed since his grandfather's time by a tribe of Amazon indians that were slaughtered by his grandfather and several other men.

Henry Daniell is just great as the creepy Dr. Zurich. There are several other strong supporting performances by Grant Richards as the stalwart Detective Jeff Rowan and Paul Cavanaugh as Kenneth Drake, Jonathan Drake's brother, who unfortunately loses his head to fulfill the "Drake Curse".

I did laugh a few times during the movie...Paul Wexler portrays Xutai, one of the Amazon indians, and he has to be seen to be believed. Even with his mouth sewn shut he looked more funny to me than menacing. Also you can tell that this movie was filmed on a very low budget. The sets are pretty substandard.

Despite these minor flaws I found this movie to be highly entertaining.

Wow! For a relatively obscure late fifties programmer, this minor little film has gotten a lot of rave reviews in this forum. Thankfully, this film was not (apparently) ripped on an episode of MST3K. If that were the case, I'm sure this site would be filled with negative and mostly silly, smart-alecky comments by persons who would rather come across as sounding clever than providing informed opinions and interesting comments. I'll beat them to it; how about "The Four Numb Skulls of Jonathan Drake"?

Having seen this film for the first time since the early seventies, I can only say that most of the raves about this film are influenced by nostalgia. I should know, there are many unremarkable films that bring back fond memories to me as well. Its not an unsung classic, but it has it moments. The Jivaro witchdoctor with his mouth sewn shut because he doesn't have to breath or eat (apparently, he doesn't have to talk either) was rather creepy. Although a bit slow at times, the film is not cluttered with any extraneous material. Every scene in the film has to do with the supernatural goings on. There is a hint of romance between the police detective and Drakes daughter, but it is kept to a minimum. The writers seemed to have done their homework on shrunken heads, the process described in the film is correct, although it takes a lot longer than shown here.

The films direction is rather poor. Edward L. Cahn seemed only interested in getting the film done quickly. The cast looks as if they were on their own. Now, this doesn't matter to much for seasoned professionals like Henry Daniel or Ed Franz, but rest of the cast looks lost. The film is shot on only a handful of sets. Everyone wanders in and out of the house through out the film. Overall, THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE is a not bad programmer horror film, despite Cahn's direction. This film was paired with the Cahn helmed INVISIBLE INVADERS when it first came out. I would say FSKOJD was clearly the superior of the pair.

Hilarious little horror film involving a curse on the Drake family--each male member of the family is killed at age 60 and decapitated! There's more but it's really too complicated (and unbelievable) to go into.

I originally saw this on a local TV station on a Saturday afternoon in the 1970s. I was in the fourth grade and it scared me silly! A shot of a headless corpse in a coffin really did it for me. I saw it again in high school and just thought it was silly. Seeing as an adult it still IS silly---but in a good way.

This is a LOW budget film with tacky looking sets (obviously borrowed from another picture) and a cast of virtual unknowns. The only name here is Henry Damiell who looks miserable. Also Valerie French is just terrible. Good acting is given by Grant Richard (as Lt. Rowan) and Eduard Franz (as Jonathan Drake).

This is not a good movie but worth seeing--for laughs. The plot is really out there (especially a twist at the end). Also notice the vault with electric lighting (!!!) and a knife used at the end that is (pretty obviously) rubber. LOVED the way it shook! A camp classic!