Director: Alex Nicol
Screenplay: John Kneubuhl
Cast: John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Toni Johson, Alex Nicol
Country: USA
Running Time: 68 mins
Year: 1958
BBFC Certificate: PG
Following her marriage to new husband Eric (Hudson), Jenni (Webber) moves into his stately country home, a house haunted by the memories of Eric’s ex wife who died under mysterious circumstances. But when Jenni begins to hear piercing screams in the night and has visions of a skull stalking her round the rooms of the house, is something supernatural behind it – or is Jenni’s own mental health to blame?
Alex Nicol’s directorial debut, The Screaming Skull is an intriguing piece of 1950’s independent horror cinema. An actor since 1950, Nicol was becoming bored with the roles he was being offered having been typecast following appearances in predominantly westerns, Nicol was looking for films that would better suit his personal interests and decided to try his hand at directing with this film based (unofficially) on a short story by Francis Marion Crawford.
It feels like somewhat of a spoiler, but the elevator pitch for The Screaming Skull would very much put it as a contemporary reimagining of Rebecca or Gaslight. Indeed, the first half of the film left me wondering why the story felt so very familiar until I realised just how much influence screenwriter John Kneubuhl had taken from Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s classic psychological drama, something that also shows in Nicol’s visuals. There’s also a touch of William Castle at play in an introductory disclaimer from the films producers that they would pay for the burial of any viewers who die of fright while watching the film, something that Nicol himself had no involvement in and something that, needless to say, was never cashed in by viewers or their families!
The Screaming Skull is fairly short with a runtime barely over an hour and manages to tell its story with a fairly small cast. As well as John Hudson and the late Peggy Webber as newlyweds Eric and Jenni, we also have Russ Conway and Toni Johnson in small roles as Eric’s friend, Reverend Snow and his wife. Webber very much carries the film; Jenni is a woman with a history of trauma and mental illness and is very quick to blame her own mental health for her experiences in her new home, something Webber portrays with frank earnestness. On the flipside, however, we have director Nicol himself who appears as Mickey, Eric’s gardner. Portrayed as mentally disabled, this is such a disappointingly stereotypical role next to the more nuanced Jenni, clearly designed to cast suspicions on Mickey as a character from as early as possible and question not only the role he may have had in Eric’s former wife’s death, as well as the phenomena Jenni is experiencing.
Unfortunately this unevenness plagues the film itself; despite a decent premise and some decidedly creepy moments, including a remarkably fun final ten minutes which manages to flip the entire plot on its head, The Screaming Skull as a whole is just a bit too slow which can, at times, make that slim run time feel a lot longer. Thankfully it’s a handsome looking film, something which comes through in Floyd Crosby’s cinematography which looks beautiful on this Blu-ray from Eureka. The picture’s black and white photography really shines through with noticeable grain and blemishes only adding to the experience. Ernest Gold’s soundtrack is also excellent in its subtlety, notably featuring an excerpt from Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, also used to similar effect as the title sequence for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. It is a shame, then, that this otherwise excellent presentation is let down by some unfortunately quiet dialogue in some scenes, however it’s likely that this was also the case in the original release.
Bonus Features
- Limited Edition of 2,000 copies
- Limited edition O-card slipcase and interior packaging featuring new artwork by John Dunn
- 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray
- Original English mono audio
- Optional English subtitles (SDH)
- New introduction to The Screaming Skull by horror novelist Stephen Laws
- Shrouded in Mystery – new video essay on The Screaming Skull and the gothic horror tradition by film and literature scholar Mary Going
- Trailers
- Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the production and marketing of The Screaming Skull by film historian Jon Towlson, author of Subversive Horror Cinema
Sadly this Eureka release of The Screaming Skull is a little light on bonus content, although what is here is definitely interesting enough to add some more depth to the film. The introduction is a fascinating watch which dips into a surprising amount of detail, giving a good background to the film and its making, as is the video essay which digs into the film’s debt to Gothic horror and its influences in Rebecca and Gaslight. The included booklet meanwhile goes into even greater depth with the films production, marketing and release history and is beautifully illustrated with stills and promotional material.
Overall the Screaming Skull is an intriguing entry into American gothic horror cinema and an independent production by a new director which is worth a watch but is perhaps not as essential as some of its peers.