The Screaming Skull
Encyclopedia
- For the nickname of the conductor, see Georg SoltiGeorg SoltiSir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
The Screaming Skull is a 1958 American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, inspired by the short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
of the same name written by Francis Marion Crawford
Francis Marion Crawford
Francis Marion Crawford was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories.-Life:...
. The film stars John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway
Russ Conway (actor)
Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...
, and Alex Nicol
Alex Nicol
For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...
, the film's director. The film focuses on a neurotic woman who believes she is being haunted by the ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of her husband's previous wife.
The film was featured and parodied in an episode of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Plot
The Screaming Skull opens with a disclaimerDisclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship...
that the film "reaches its climax in shocking horror"; American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
promises free burial services to anyone who dies of fright while watching the film.
The narrative portion of the film begins as newlyweds Jenni and Eric (Webber and Hudson) move into Eric's palatial country home. Jenni is Eric's second wife; his first wife Marion died when she accidentally drowned in a decorative pond
Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
on the estate. At the home they meet Eric's friends, the Reverend Snow (Conway) and his wife, as well as Mickey (Nicol), the aloof gardener. Eric privately mentions to the Snows that Jenni spent time in an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
following the sudden death of both her parents.
Jenni is disturbed both by Mickey's belief that Marion's ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
wanders the estate and by Marion's self-portrait
Self-portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting...
inside the house, who Jenni believes resembles her mother. When she begins to hear unexplained screaming noises and see skull
Human skull
The human skull is a bony structure, skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 22 bones...
s around her house, Jenni begins to believe that Marion is haunting her. Though Eric speculates to Jenni that Mickey, who was a childhood friend of Marion and thus dislikes Jenni, may be behind the trickery, Jenni worries that she is going insane. Eric then suggests to remove Marion's self-portrait from the home. Eric and Jenni take the painting outside and burn it. While they clean up the remains of the painting, a skull emerges from the ashes. While Jenni panics at the sight of the skull, Eric denies that the skull is there. Jenni faints and Eric withdraws the skull and hides it, revealing that he was responsible for the trickery all along in an effort to get ahold of her wealth.
Believing she has finally lost her sanity, Jenni resolves to be committed. She tells Eric that the entire property will be meticulously searched for the skull as a last resort. Before Eric can retrieve it, Mickey secretly steals the skull and brings it to the Reverend, revealing Eric's plans. That night, Eric prepares to murder Jenni and stage it as a suicide. Jenni sees Marion's ghost in Mickey's greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
and flees back to the house. When she enters, Eric begins throttling her. The ghost then appears and chases Eric outside and about the property; it finally corners and attacks him, drowning him in the decorative pond.
After Jenni regains consciousness, the Snows arrive. Mrs. Snow comforts a 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.