The Screaming Skull

This little known oddity from 1958 combines elements of gothic melodramas with a haunted house scenario. It was the directorial debut of actor Alex Nicol (‘The Man from Laramie’) who turned to directing after finding himself constantly frustrated with his movie parts. Entertaining as it might be, THE SCREAMING SKULL is hardly the hair-raising shocker it claims to be…not then, and certainly not now either!

In typical William Castle-style (who had nothing to do with this independent production), the film opens with a warning of sorts, when a male voice claims that the climax of the movie is so unbelievably terrifying, it might kill the viewer! For those who took the publicity stunt seriously, they were assured that should this indeed be the case, the film production company will receive a free burial service. All this is narrated over the image of a half open coffin, with a card placed inside on which ‘Reserved for you’ is written in black ink.

Just like Joan Fontaine drove up to Manderley as the second Mrs. De Winter in Hitchcock’s 1940’s gothic masterpiece ‘Rebecca’, so Jenni Whitlock (Peggy Webber), who happens to be the second Mrs. Whitlock, drives up with new hubby Eric (John Hudson) to his stately mansion (though nowhere near as grand as Manderley). The first Mrs. Whitlock, Marion, died in a freak accident while taking a stroll around the estate when she accidentally slipped, hit her head on the edge of an ornamented pond, fell inside it and drowned. After her death, her estate (Marion was a woman of considerable wealth) went to her husband. There’s even a little monument built in her honour.

At first, Jenni is terribly excited about her new home and she’s also terribly in love. Oh, did I mention that she too isn’t exactly broke? The only outside contact Eric seems to have is with Reverend Edward Snow (Russ Conway) and his wife (Tony Johnson) who both knew and liked Marion very much and now welcome Jenni with open arms. Then there’s ‘mentally challenged’ Mickey (director Alex Nicol), the gardener who, just like housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in ‘Rebecca’, still worships his former mistress Marion and behaves cold towards Jenni. A short while later, it is revealed that Jenni spent some time in an asylum following the death of her parents, who also both drowned though obviously not in the Whitlock pond.

Just when she thought she’d settled in nicely into her new home, Eric frightens his new wife with tales of Marion’s ghost which supposedly wanders the mansion’s corridors, especially at night time. And then there’s a huge painting of Marion which, to Jenni’s growing unease, somehow resembles her dead mother… Things soon get from bad to worse when Jenni begins to hear screams about the house and wherever she goes, a skull seems to mysteriously appear out of nowhere. Initially, the blame falls onto Mickey, as Eric and even the Reverend Snow and his wife are aware of the fact that he never quite got over the tragic death of Marion Whitlock and thus detests Eric’s new wife. To make her feel better, Eric takes Marion’s huge portrait into the garden and burns it while Jenni looks on. After nothing but ashes are left, Jenni suddenly starts screaming again as she spots a skull amidst the pile of ashes, with Eric reassuring her there is no skull! Convinced that she’s heading towards insanity again, Jenni faints. As she lies on the floor, Eric picks up the skull from the ashes and hides it under a shallow point in the pond, and we come to realise that he has been playing tricks on his new wife all along and has been gaslighting her.

Eric has no idea that his actions are observed by gardener Mickey, who now fishes the skull out of the pond and takes it to his greenhouse. Meanwhile, Eric is preparing a rope to complete the last few steps of his devilish plan but little does he know that the table is about to turn…
It’s from that moment on that the film turns into a supernatural ghost story and yes, there are indeed some jump-out-of-your-seat moments though rest assured, you won’t die of fright! Based on the 1908 short story ‘The Screaming Skull’ by Francis Marion Crawford (the film’s narrative had been changed by scriptwriter John Kneubuhl), this b/w low-budget affair feels like an ensemble piece during the first half, with the second half cranking up the creep-factor considerably. Particularly effective is the film’s basic score, inspired by the ‘Dies irae’ Day of Wrath musical motif, which had been completely reworked by composer Ernest Gold to great effect for the opening sequence. With regards to the performances, the cast make the most of a rather paper-thin plot.

THE SCREAMING SKULL has just been released on HD Blu-ray in a Limited Edition (2,000 copies) O-card slipcase with an exclusive collector’s booklet. Additional Special Features include optional subtitles, an intro by horror novelist Stephen Laws, the video essay ‘Shrouded in Mystery’ by film- and literary scholar Mary Going, plus trailers. Please note the sound is mono.