The Screaming Skull (1958)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Alex Nicol

Writer:

John Kneubuhl (writer)

Release Date:

January 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

FREE!! We guarantee to bury you without charge if you die of fright during SCREAMING SKULL!

Plot:

A newlywed couple arrives at the home of the husband's late wife, where the gardens have been maintained by a gardener faithful to the dead woman's memory. Soon eerie events lead the new wife to think she is going out of her mind.

Plot Keywords:

Newlywed | Gardener | Mansion | Mental Illness | Skull

Cast

John Hudson	...	Eric Whitlock
Peggy Webber	...	Jenni Whitlock
Russ Conway	...	Reverend Edward Snow
Tony Johnson	...	Mrs. Snow
Alex Nicol	...	Mickey

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | UK:X (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005)

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

The score this film features some of the earlier work of celebrated composer Ernest Gold, who would later go on to win an Academy Award for the soundtrack to Exodus (1960).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the birds are apparently scared by the skull, a rock is visible being thrown up to scare them.

Quotes:

Jenni Whitlock: Eric, when you found me, what else was there?
Eric Whitlock: What do you mean, 'What else?'
Jenni Whitlock: A skull?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)

Ridiculous.

Yeah this was just a bad movie. I remember reading the back of the DVD cover and thinking "This will suck." And when I watched it, I was right. That's kinda unusual for me. Normally when I think a movie is going to be good, it's bad and when I think a movie is going to bad I either walk away saying "That was really good." or "Eh, better than I thought." But this time, no dice. The movie is just boring. The acting isn't that bad for the era, or genre, and neither is the directing. But it all came across as very boring. And the ending was very ridiculous. Some say it was suppose to, but it didn't seem campy to me. It just seemed bad. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. However, I never seen the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" version. And I'd like to check out "The Drive-In Discs Vol. 1" which is a double feature with "Attack of the Giant Leeches", which also sounds like a bad movie. But the Drive-In Discs also includes cartoon shorts, trailers for other bad movies, concession commercials, and Distort-O! audio which simulates the real drive-in experience. So if your going to watch it use either the Drive-In Discs or Mystery Science, but steer clear of the actual movie.