Cult classics. Collection 2. Del Mar, CA: Genius Entertainment, c2003. 2 DVDs, ca. 318 min. [AMC Monsterfest Collection]. Contents: Dementia 13; Frozen Alive; The Screaming Skull; Jessie James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.
Performers (Screaming Skull): John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Tony Johnson, Alex Nicol. The Screaming Skull was released by: American International Pictures, Madera Productions, USA, 1958. Summary: A newly married 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. Strange goings on start to happen, which lead the new wife to think she's going mad.
As to the merits of this ‘monsterfest’ collection, volume 2, with no disrespect to Francis Coppola on his debut directorial effort (Dementia 13) or Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (a favorite of mine, reviewed elsewhere on these pages), the true pick of the lot is The Screaming Skull. By the way, Frozen Alive, more a domestic melodrama/murder mystery than sci-fi, comes in a distant fourth.
Skull is a curious amalgamation of William Castle-like showmanship (the opening scene pretty much clinches it here) and the old dark house formula, with a touch of Rebecca and a fairly heavy pinch of the Val Lewton horror films, especially in the middle third when the heroine goes meandering though the house peering into places she has no business, well, peering into, recalling the famed Val Lewton walks [1]. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Skull also somehow manages to suggest The Brain That Wouldn’t Die in that it has a creepy, unsympathetic husband, damaged wife [2], rural setting, B production values, and a leering, near soft-core porn quality, at least by the standards of the era (more on this below). To its credit Skull omits Brain’s luridly smoky saxophone music that accompanies the mad doctor as he cruises for babes.
can a skull scream?
Inasmuch as Skull takes its share of critical beatings online and elsewhere, and admittedly while the technical aspects of present print are so-so at best, for this viewer the film is an easy watch and holds up pretty well to repeated viewings. It has several especially effective sequences and the acting is generally competent if nothing spectacular. Ernest Gold’s score is creepy and intense. Also kudos to cameraman Floyd Crosby for the noirish visuals with well placed shadows. Best of all is leading lady Peggy Webber, who plays the nervous wife Jenni. She’s one of the best heroines-in-peril in the business and has a quality that makes her as likeable as hubby is instantly dislikeable.
Moreover, Skull has an oppressive atmosphere of diseased eroticism that seeps into all the nefarious goings on: case in point, the half retarded gardener, who’s a little too attached to the deceased lady of the house, to the point of necrophilic. The gardener character incidentally is played by Skull’s director Alex Nicol. Thus, and by way of getting back to our, very much alive, leading lady, as the story progresses we get some unexpected quasi-cheesecake moments: in one, there’s an impromptu if fairly bland undressing scene as the heroine gets ready for bed. Far more alluring are the extended sequences of her slinking though the large house in the middle of the night clad only in billowing negligees [3]. Interestingly when Jenni appears during the daytime she’s still attractive but dressed rather frumpy, which I suppose is consistent with the character, who is on the timid and retiring side.
Certainly not a masterpiece, not even a minor one, and not especially different from or superior to other low budget products of its era, The Screaming Skull is nonetheless an enjoyable, scary movie that fills its 68 minutes with enough intelligence and thrills to keep the viewer’s attention [4], at least this viewer’s. However … and for all its good qualities, Skull comes by its reputation as a guilty pleasure honestly, and is best viewed on a dark and stormy night with a fireplace crackling nearby.
Trivia: this was Tony Johnson’s first film (she only made two altogether). A pity. She has a nice screen presence and quiet charisma that lights up the, alas underwritten, role of Mrs. Snow.
[1] Especially praiseworthy in the Lewton context is the highly effective use of sounds – rattling windows, scratching tree branches, screeching peacocks – all of which suggest unseen menace.
[2] In the case of Jan (Virginia Leith) in Brain That Wouldn’t Die, there’s damaged and then there’s damaged! By the way, Brain, like Skull, is available in public domain.
[3] Though tame by today's standards, the strip scene and Jenni’s creeping around the house clad in see-through nightgowns were pretty advanced for 1958. Indeed, and R-rated optical illusions or no, in some scenes the back-lit see-through effects get perilously close to the full monty.
[4] Recently I had the good fortune to catch Screaming Skull on the Horror Hotel television program, a very fine print at that, far superior to my grainy, scratchy, DVD version. It all gave an added gravitas to the story, but more so revealed just how visually striking the film is, especially the beautifully lit scenes at night.
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