Skull: The Mask review – a masterclass in over-the-top butchery

An ancient demonic skull mask wreaks havoc on Sao Paulo in a plot almost as messy as the omnipresent, scene-stealing gore

Anyone who wanted more of the human-sacrifice scene in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto will be overjoyed by this silly, uneven but strangely appealing slasher film that leaves no heart unripped from human thorax. A mystifying prologue sees Nazis unearth a grotesque pre-Colombian skull mask, which looks like Darth Maul's Sunday best. The artefact resurfaces in modern-day Sao Paulo where, after chewing up the archaeologist who found it, it attaches itself to one of the crime-scene cleaners. He is transformed into a host for Anhanga, an indigenous demon who loves an old-school blood sacrifice.

Here's hoping the actor in the mask (Brazilian wrestler Rurik Jr) didn't make any earnest thespian inquiries about Anhanga's motivation, because this is a tough one to answer. It's hinted he's on a lumbering journey towards a church where a rival god's femur is kept; Manco (Wilton Andrade) - a fruit-seller who is also part of some ancient order - is determined to intervene. Also following the entrails is detective Beatriz (Natallia Rodrigues), who is blackmailed into cooperating with a gaunt corporate CEO (Ivo Muller) planning to use the mask in a ritual involving abducted Bolivian children.