The Screaming Skull

The Screaming Skull is a 1958

The film's storyline concerns a newlywed woman who believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her new husband's previous wife. The simplistic musical score centres on the dies irae.

Plot

Over a scene of an opening coffin, a narrator explains that the film's climax is so terrifying that it may kill the viewer, while reassuring the audience that should they die of fright they will receive a free burial service. Inside the coffin is a card that reads "Reserved for You."^[5]

Newlyweds Jenni and Eric arrive at Eric's palatial country home in a gull-wing Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. It is revealed that Jenni is Eric's second wife: his first wife Marion died when she accidentally slipped and hit her head on the edge of a decorative pond on the estate, drowning in the pond. At the home they meet Eric's friends, the Reverend Snow and his wife, as well as Mickey, the mentally disabled gardener. Eric privately mentions to the Snows that Jenni spent time in an asylum following the sudden death of both her parents, who were also drowned, and Mrs. Snow reveals that Jenni is very wealthy.

Jenni is disturbed both by Mickey's belief that Marion's

Believing she has finally lost her sanity, Jenni resolves to be committed, and Eric says he has arranged for them to leave that night. Reverend Snow visits, and Eric tells him that Jenni is going back to the hospital. Later, Jenni tells Eric that Reverend Snow, when saying goodbye, had promised to bring people the next day so that the entire property can be meticulously searched for the skull as a last resort. Mickey secretly steals the skull and brings it to Snow before Eric can retrieve it. That night, Eric prepares to murder Jenni and stage it as a suicide. Jenni sees Marion's ghost in Mickey's greenhouse and flees back to the house, where Eric begins throttling her. The ghost appears and chases Eric outside, corners, and attacks him, drowning him in the decorative pond.

After Jenni regains consciousness, the Snows arrive. Mrs. Snow comforts an hysterical Jenni and the Reverend discovers Eric's body in the pond. Some undisclosed time later, Jenni and the Snows depart from the house. Reverend Snow declares whether or not Marion's death was an accident will remain a mystery.

The film ends with Mickey taking some water from the pond in his hand and placing it on his face before saying "They're gone. Rest." A vision of what may be a woman's face begins to appear in the pond as smoky bubbles cover its surface.

Cast

Production

The Screaming Skull was directed by Alex Nicol, an actor who had roles on Broadway productions and often played supporting characters.^[7] He decided to try directing a film, as he felt that he had not been performing the roles that he desired. Nicol noted that "as an actor, you're in perfect position, if you choose to do so, to watch the directors you're working with setting up the shots, making decisions as to where to place the camera, and so I picked up a lot over the years."^[2]

The film is loosely based on a horror story written by Francis Marion Crawford, which itself drew its inspiration from "folklore surrounding the so-called screaming skull that was kept on display at Bettiscombe Manor in Dorset, England." The skull is said to have belonged to a black slave who was refused a burial in his native country following his death, and "there were strange occurrences and unexplainable shrieking noises that came from the wooden box in which the skull was kept."^[8]

John Hudson stars as Eric, Jenni's new husband. Jenni is played by Peggy Webber. In order to get Webber interested in starring in the film, Nicol told her that he was planning to do a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca and brought a copy of the screenplay to her house.^[9] Other cast members include Russ Conway as Reverend Snow and Toni Johnson as Snow's wife. Nicol also stars as Mickey, the gardener.^[10]

The film's cinematographer was

The film was shot over a period of six weeks at the Huntington Hartford Estate,^[2] (now Runyon Canyon Park) on a small budget.^[13] The film did not have a large crew,^[14] and according to Webber, the actors were paid around $1,000 for their performances. During the production, Nicol promised the actors a cut of the film's ultimate box office earnings, but due to an issue with the film's distributor, this never occurred.^[15] During filming, Webber discovered she was pregnant, and so several scenes had to be re-written, including one where she was meant to fall down a staircase.^[14]

The Screaming Skull's opening disclaimer that a free burial would be provided to anybody who died of fright while watching the film was inspired by a gimmick that had been used by William Castle in his film Macabre (1958),^[16] in which he offered every viewer who bought a ticket life insurance in case they died watching the film.^[14][17] Unlike Castle, Nicol did not actually contact an insurance company.^[16]

Reception and legacy

The Screaming Skull was released in August 1958.^[1] It was never registered with a copyright office, despite the presence of an onscreen copyright notice belonging to Madera Productions.^[5] As a result, it has seen many public domain DVD releases by video companies, such as Alpha Video, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, and Mill Creek Entertainment.^[18]

Erick Harper of DVD Verdict remarked that the film was "of questionable value" and opined it was a "truly awful example of drive-in cinema." He believed that the film was not "worth the time to watch."^[19] Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars, calling it "dreary," but he believed that it became "reasonably eerie toward the end, with a twist that's actually a surprise."^[20] Authors Phil Hardy and Tom Milne wrote of the film: "Nicol, an actor here directing for the first time, lets the action spin out much too slackly, dissipating the grasp of moody tension he displayed in his unpretentiously excellent war movie, Three Came Back."^[21]

Film historian Steven H. Scheuer graded the film one and a half stars, writing "Wife is terrorized by unexplainable happenings. Or is it inexplicable? Both describe the film."^[22] VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever by Jim Craddock also gave the film one and a half stars,^[23] and TV Guide gave it two.^[24] Webber herself did not like the film, stating that "it didn't impress me" and she "wanted to throw up" after watching it.^[25] However, Nicol took a more positive stance, saying "I liked it. It had some nice dolly shots, a good atmosphere. So I was happy with that. It was a nice change from the films I'd been doing."^[6]

The Screaming Skull was featured in a ninth season episode of

, when it aired as a rerun on January 31, 2004. This also makes it the final episode broadcast on cable television.

See also

• List of ghost films

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "The Screaming Skull". American Film Institute. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Dixon 2001, p. 43.
3. ^ McGee 1996, p. 123.
4. ^ "The Screaming Skull". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
5. ^ ^{a b} "The Screaming Skull – Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
6. ^ ^{a b} Dixon 2001, p. 366.
7. ^ Erickson, Hal. "Alex Nicol". AllMovie. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
8. ^ "THE SCREAMING SKULL: Fun 1950s Horror Movies to Watch During Halloween". GeekTyrant. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
9. ^ Weaver 2010, p. 192.
10. ^ ^{a b} "The Screaming Skull – Full Credits". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
11. ^ Weaver 2010, pp. 192–195.
12. ^ Derry 2009, p. 366.
13. ^ Weaver 2010, p. 191.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Weaver 2010, p. 193.
15. ^ Weaver 2010, p. 195.
16. ^ ^{a b} McGee 2001, p. 30.
17. ^ "The Tingler". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
18. ^ "The Screaming Skull (1958) – Releases". AllMovie. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
19. ^ Harper, Erick (March 26, 2001). "Drive-In Discs Volume 1: Screaming & The Giant Leeches Double Feature". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014.
20. ^ Maltin, Leonard. "The Screaming Skull". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
21. ^ Hardy & Milne 1996, p. 116.
22. ^ Scheuer 1989, p. 692.
23. ^ Craddock 2006, p. 752.
24. ^ "The Screaming Skull – Review". TV Guide. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
25. ^ Weaver 2010, pp. 194–195.
26. ^ Corbett, Bill. "Episode 912- The Screaming Skull". Satellite News. Retrieved April 21, 2014.

Bibliography

• Craddock, Jim (14 July 2006). VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever. Gale Group.
  ISBN 978-0-7876-8980-3
  .
• Derry, Charles (29 October 2009). Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century. McFarland.
  ISBN 978-0-7864-5695-6
  .
• ISBN 978-0-8093-2417-0
  .
• Hardy, Phil; Milne, Tom (January 1996). Horror. Aurum Press.
  ISBN 978-1-85410-384-0
  .
• McGee, Mark Thomas (2001). Beyond Ballyhoo: Motion Picture Promotion and Gimmicks. McFarland.
  ISBN 978-0-7864-1114-6
  .
• McGee, Mark Thomas (1996). Faster and furiouser: the revised and fattened fable of American International Pictures. McFarland.
  ISBN 978-0-7864-0137-6
  .
• ISBN 978-0-553-27707-4
  .
• Weaver, Tom (2010). A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers. McFarland.
  ISBN 978-0-7864-5831-8
  .

External links

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