The Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake (1959)

A university professor (Eduard Franz) specializing in the occult is the last survivor of the Drake family. The family has a curse placed on them by a Jivaro witch doctor 200 years ago. Each male member of the family will die at the age of 60, his head will be decapitated and shrunk. Directed by Edward L. Cahn, the film's lack of any concession to cinematic style and its studio stagebound sets make it play out like an extended episode of the 1960s TV anthology THRILLER. As an episode of a TV show specializing in horror, it's not bad. As a movie, it's a stiff (like the acting). The film takes itself oh so seriously but it never veers over to "camp". For a horror film, it's very discreet. Although several decapitations are included in the movie, they're all done off camera. For fans of 1950s B horror output, it should be of interest. I'm not sure of anybody else. With Valerie French (JUBAL), Grant Richards, Paul Cavanagh and Frank Gerstle.