The Screaming Skull

I agree with Shane Man, Screamig Skull may not be the best picture ever made or fine art, but it is a very good scary, chiller movie. All of the parts are taken by fine character actors. The black and white photography, setting and music give the whole thing an eerie atmosphere. The end is pretty scary too. Like I said, it may not be art, but it is the perfect thing to curl up on the couch on a Friday or Saturday night with a bowl of popcorn.

When the producers feel the need to provide a FREE CASKET to anyone that dies of fright from viewing "The Screaming Skull", you know you're in for the longest two hours of your life. If they provided a free casket to anyone who died of BOREDOM, then American International pictures would have gone belly up within two weeks of the film's release. Perhaps this example of visual pollution can be used by third world despots to commit genocide upon its citizens. Maybe it would be just easier if the EPA declared any theater where this movie is shown eligible for Superfund money. Regardless, this movie has no thrills, no chills, and absolutely no suspense. What it does have is knocking doors, and it has them in spades. After viewing this movie, you will hear unanswered doors in your sleep. It also has loads and loads of shots of the inbred gardener longing for the first wife of the man who owns the mansion with the unanswered doors. No one stars in this film...they were just present. Sterno says close the casket on The Screaming Skull.

My sister & I had searched for this movie to see it again after we had nightmares for weeks after seeing this movie some 35+ years ago. I finally founding looking in a database in a video store computer and ordered it. You have to lighten up your screen some, to see all that goes on, and parts of it are too funny now---but it's not a bad premise for a scary story, and images like the skull in the bridal gown I will never forget. I now have to find the 1973 version of this film. I'm curious also to see the double feature---the DVD has a schlocky 70's vampire movie as the 2nd feature. So seeing it this summer after waiting over 30 years for it? It wasn't that bad.

I can't believe the low rating this great film has gotten! I remember watching "The Screaming Skull" on the late show (when TV actually showed decent stuff) and it scared the living hell outta me. It disappeared from TV, and of course years later having found it on video, it's not gonna scare me under the covers but it's still one of the best and most clever horror films of the 50's. The plot is good enough - the ghost of a man's first wife haunts his new wife in their super-large house. But the film has a lot of great horror elements that work in its favor - the big house, the creepy house grounds, the grave on the grounds, the path through the woods area, the "odd" person (the gardener), the howling wind, the noisy windows, the scary painting, and much more, especially the skull that keeps on showing up all over the place. The husband is the guy who played the husband in "50-Foot Woman" and he's just as good here. All the other actors/characters are just fine (there aren't many as the whole film takes place at the house), especially Mickey the Gardener, who loved the first wife (as a friend) and still talks to her as if she was alive. The whole film has great horror atmosphere, one of the best instances ever of such I believe. There are many genuinely creepy scenes in the film, with the topper being the final incredible sequence, especially when the husband hears the knock on the front door. The look on his face is absolutely priceless as he goes to answer the door. Even after seeing the film so many times, when that door knocks, and the husband's face shows pure fear because he probably knows what's behind it, and he slowly goes to answer it, still gives me shudders! It's great that "The Screaming Skull" is on DVD. This film definitely deserves a lot better than the films it often gets lumped in with.

Welcome to a bad ghost story and someone's nightmare. This horror tale finds a newly married husband(John Hudson)and wife(Peggy Weber)haunted by the memory of his previous wife and screaming skulls found throughout their empty mansion and lily pond. Is the husband really trying to drive his already anxious bride insane? Or is it the learning challenged gardener Mickey(Alex Nicol)who has taken care of the mansion's grounds since the death of the original mistress of the house? This low budget horror flick has a story line that keeps you involved all the way the finale. Special effects are pretty bad even at 1958 standards. I swear at times the screaming skull sounds much like it should be in a Godzilla movie. Also in the cast as Reverend Snow is character actor Russ Conway. By the way...the lurking gardener(Nicol)is the film's director. You can catch this as part of AMC's Monsterfest.

A man brings his new wife to his home where his former wife died of an "accident". His new wife has just been released from an institution and is also VERY rich! All of the sudden she starts hearing noises and seeing skulls all over the place. Is she going crazy again or is the first wife coming back from the dead? You've probably guessed the ending so I won't spell it out. I saw this many times on Saturday afternoon TV as a kid. Back then, I liked it but I WAS young. Seeing it now I realize how bad it is. It's horribly acted, badly written, very dull (even at an hour) and has a huge cast of FIVE people (one being the director)! Still it does have some good things about it. The music is kinda creepy and the setting itself with the huge empty house and pond nearby is nicely atmospheric. There also are a few scary moments (I jumped a little when she saw the first skull) and a somewhat effective ending. All in all it's definitely NOT a good movie...but not a total disaster either. It does have a small cult following. I give it a 2. Also try to avoid the Elite DVD Drive-in edition of it (it's paired with "Attack of the Giant Leeches"). It's in TERRIBLE shape with jumps and scratches all over. It didn't even look this bad on TV!

Some of these reviews are far more inept than the film the "insightful" film lovers are critiquing. Comments about a lack of gore and such are pretty telling as to the age and tastes of those who hate this flick so passionately. The Screaming Skull is a creepy, atmospheric tale that relies on mood rather than effects to generate chills. It won't scare the pants off anyone, but it is suitably creepy for late night viewing. It's also wonderfully fun, in the typical 50s b-movie vein. A soap opera plot infused with horror elements. Classic AIP! One of my all-time favorite "bad" movies.

*WARNING* Possible spoilers below The film is more boring then anything else. There seems to be some attempt to build tension through badly lit shots of empty rooms and empty lawns, but none of it works. MST3K did a fairly good job with it, but on its own the movie is mostly tedious. Funny moments: When the fake skull rolls out of a pile of ashes, the wife becomes hysterical and woozy while the husband (who is trying to drive the wife crazy) says in a deadpan voice "There is no skull there, there's no skull." When the real ghost-skulls have the husband caught in a pickle, as if trapped between first and second base.

"The Screaming Skull" IS NOT A BAD MOVIE! "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is not the ultimate judge of a film's worth. Making fun of the film is one thing, but, if they thought this movie was actually bad, they don't know very much at all about film. I'm certain, if you were able to ask them, they'd tell you that, based solely on the level of "cinema" in the film, this is either the best movie they've ever shown or one of the best. (Hey, they mentioned Renoir's "Rules of the Game," so they clearly have some knowledge of real film, unlike you cretins.) Here's the thing: You people have absolutely zero notion of the concepts of 1) "Suspension of Disbelief" and 2) "Filmmaking." If you could wrap your mind around either of these ideas, you'd be able to tell that this movie is, at the very least, effectively made. The cinematography was top-notch, I felt, and the direction was somewhere north of fair. (And, by the way, "suspension of disbelief" does not mean simply "buying" everything the filmmakers show you, as many people have taken that phrase to mean. It means that you accept that what you are watching is a movie and thus has certain limitations, but, more importantly, that you try you forget that it's a movie and allow yourself to be affected by the music, atmosphere, etc. Basically, in direct opposition to the ultimately judgmental, condescending stance most people take to all movies in general and older horror films in particular.)

Charming widower Eric (solid John Hudson) and his sweet, pretty new wife Jenni (appealingly played by Peggy Webber) move into the gorgeous palatial mansion of Eric's late wife. Pretty soon Peggy starts to see an unsettling disembodied skull all over the place. Is she going crazy? Or is the place really haunted? Director Alex Nicol, working from an endearingly hokey script by John Kneubuhl, keeps the pace stately, but steady throughout, creates a suitably spooky atmosphere, elicits acceptable acting from a game cast, and stages the rousing conclusion with considerable aplomb. Floyd Crosby's moody black and white cinematography makes expert use of crazily tilted Dutch camera angles and gracefully gradual tracking shots. Ernest Gold's effectively eerie score likewise hits the spot. Nice supporting performances by Nicol as weird, slow, scruffy gardener Mickey and Russ Conway as friendly Reverend Edward Snow. Moreover, since the movie is a trim 62 minutes long it's never dull and gets right down to brass tacks with a refreshing dearth of pretense. Good, harmless Grade B fright feature fun.