The Screaming Skull

OK, I could easily bash this film for its many...many flaws. Looking for scares, then steer away from The Screaming Skull. Aside from a scene where you hear knocking on a door with or by a skull, nothing in this film is even remotely chilling. The story is the biggest problem as we know what is going to happen way before it happens. No creativity here. The acting could be a lot worse though for a movie of this type. Lead actor Tony Hudson is below average, but everyone else is at least mediocre. Well, that means the other four in the cast of the entire film. Peggy Webber, busting out literally, plays a woman that was scarred seeing her parents drown as a child. Now, she moves into her new husband's estate where his wife died under questionable means. We then find out he has no money of his own and his new wife is loaded and has a history of mental hysteria. Where is this film going I wonder? Though it is short on scares, has grossly cheap special effects, and a story with virtually no "flesh," The Screaming Skull is one of those fun, bad movies to watch. A lot of other viewers were bored with all the talking, but I found the incompetence in this film quite charming for some inexplicable reason. Director Alex Nicol, also playing the "not-quite-there" Mickey, uses what few resources he has and at the very least makes a film with some unity and flashes of mediocrity at times. I have seen much, much, much worse!

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.

C'mon, people. This one's just fun all the way. The main villain is a skull who is rather unconvincingly underhand-pitched towards his enemies by an off-screen technician. Plus, free coffins if you die of fright from the movie! What's not to love?

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.

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.