CFF 2020 Review: World Premiere - Skull: The Mask

Skull: The Mask
Directed by Armando Fonseca & Kapel Foreman. 

Review by The Great Muji

“Skull: The Mask” is a super gory movie about a crazy skull mask. That’s enough for this guy

In the first 5 minutes of Skull the Mask we see a guy in mask with chains on it hit two guys with an Attitude Adjustment, dropkick, and Rock Bottom (Google pro wrestling if you don’t know) who then proceeds to decapitate 2 more guys and cut another’s hand off. This is followed by a ritual that results in one guy’s heart being pulled out and another dude’s head exploding. Needless to say, I was immediately in. 

Skull: The Mask is a blood-soaked supernatural slasher. The film starts in 1944 in the World War 2 era Amazon jungle. A group, who appear to be Nazis, have gotten control of an ancient artifact called the Mask of Anhanga and conduct a ritual that goes horribly wrong. Anhanga was the executioner for an old god named T’Uxlu, who is a guardian of the underworld. The mask is gone until it is uncovered by archaeologists and brought to present day Sao Paulo, Brazil where it finds a new host and starts ripping hearts out again.

Now, there are times when the movie slows down a bit with it’s competing plot threads. There is a lot going on in this movie. We have Beatriz Obdias (Natallia Rodrigues), who is attempting to find the skull and some missing children both because she is attempting to make up for a checkered past and because she is being blackmailed. There is Munco Ramirez (Wilton Andrade), who is son a man who attempted to defend the skull back in 1944 and has anticipated the return of the artifact. There is a sword wielding priest, an evil museum curator, and some missing children. But the most important character is the man the skull has taken over who runs through downtown Sao Paulo reminiscent of Jason in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, ripping the hearts out of everyone he runs into.

Despite the somewhat convoluted plot directors Armanda Fonseca and Kapel Furman’s film really shines when there is blood and violence on the screen- lucky for us there is plenty. The stunning practical effects make this movie. There are exploding heads, hearts and intestines being ripped out, decapitations, a Stonecold Stunner, and a sword fight between the slasher in the skull mask and a priest. That’s right. I said there is a sword fight between a demonic slasher and a priest!

Skull: The Mask is most effective when it sticks to being an over the top gory slasher. When it dips into another genre it does not quite work as well. Luckily, there is a lot of slashing in this film. This is such a fun movie that my only regret is not getting to watch it with a live crowd. As much fun as I had it could have only been made better by watching this with 100 of my drunk friends.