CFF review: SKULL: THE MASK is a wildly gory Brazilian slasher with insane practical effects

One of the most rewarding elements of watching horror films from around the world is seeing how filmmakers adapt common themes and tropes and filter them through their own cultural lens. Brazil’s SKULL: THE MASK takes the bones of a generic slasher and imbues it with pre-Colombian mythology, creating a unique and extremely bloody film that breathes some new life into the genre.

The film begins in 1944 with the army attempting a ritual with The Mask of Anhangá, a skull said to be the executioner of Tahawantinsupay, a Pre-Columbian God (thank god for press notes, because the sequence is fairly difficult to follow). The rites fail, and we transition to modern-day Sao Paulo where the mask ends up possessing a body and going on a wild murder spree through the city, chased down by a disgraced cop and members of a religious order trying to stop the killings.

There is a lot going on in SKULL, and the various threads become increasingly hard to keep track of as the film progresses. Thankfully, the masked killer looks incredible, and the gory practical effects are pretty astonishing for a film that couldn’t have had a huge budget. The numerous kills are as over the top as they come; victims get their faces flayed and their still-beating hearts ripped right out of their chests by the silent killer who ends up looking like a blood-soaked Jason Voorhees as the kill count quickly ratchets up. There is an insanely violent disco murder spree scene in the film that might be one of the best horror sequences of the year, a totally gore-drenched scene with the killer creatively finding new ways to disassemble a crowd with a machete.

The slasher elements are so creatively done that they can’t help but stand out from the rest of the film which has a much more serious tone. The mythological aspects of the mask are intriguing, but directors and co-writers Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman brush over a lot of details that would help deepen our understanding of the history of the mask and just what’s at stake. Instead, we spend a lot of time with brooding police officers, a creepy businessman looking to secure the mask for profit, and the small religious order trying to stop the carnage.

Despite an overstuffed script, there are enough wild sequences here to make SKULL: THE MASK an easy recommend for slasher fans and gore-hounds; you can almost hear an imaginary late-night audience roaring with approval with each increasingly ridiculous kill. Now that the convoluted backstory is out of the way, hopefully we’ll get another installment that focuses on what THE SKULL does best.

SKULL: THE MASK is screening as part of the online-only edition of The Chattanooga Film Festival, running from May 22-25 (U.S. viewers only). Passes are available via the official CFF site. Stay tuned for more reviews from the festival in the coming days.