The Screaming Skull

Rating:
Summary: SCREAMING SKULL.......eh.
Review: Eh. The Screaming Skull was included in the 50 movie, 12 DVD horror collection I just purchased. I found the movie slow, but there are some nice touches....the peacocks on the estate and the strange sound they make at night, the way the skull lands and rolls on the garden lawn when the women hurls it from her window. That's about it.

Oh yeah,that ultimate creepy music from the opening of Kubrick's The Shining is featured in the beginning. I found that interesting.

Rating:
Summary: SCREAMING SKULL.......eh.
Review: Eh. The Screaming Skull was included in the 50 movie, 12 DVD horror collection I just purchased. I found the movie slow, but there are some nice touches....the peacocks on the estate and the strange sound they make at night, the way the skull lands and rolls on the garden lawn when the women hurls it from her window. That's about it.

Oh yeah,that ultimate creepy music from the opening of Kubrick's The Shining is featured in the beginning. I found that interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Funny Horror B-Movie!
Review: I first discovered "The Screaming Skull" while watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I immediately thought the film seemed interesting, so when the chance arose to purchase the film, I took advantage of the opportunity.

"The Screaming Skull" is about a newlywed couple who come to live in an old vacant house that is owned by the husband after his previous wife mysteriously died. At night a skull haunts the wife all throughout the house. Convinced it's her husband's dead wife trying to scare her, she is viewed as crazy - she had already spent some time in a mental hospital after witnessing the drowning of her parents.

Although the budget is low and the film seems to drag at times, it's good for the fact that it really tried to build suspense and give the audience an interesting story to follow. There are a few twists in the movie that you may figure out early on, but that's the fun of the movie. You also have to laugh at the fact that at the beginning of the movie, the producers announce that they will provide free burial services to those who die of fright while watching "The Screaming Skull".

I would definitely recommend this film to people who love old horror B-movies. This is one the few that will leave you thoroughly entertained!

Rating:
Summary: FYI
Review: I just thought you would like to know that "The Screaming Skull" is a movie that has made an appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000, so if you're looking for a movie of that caliber you will enjoy this one; however, you might as well buy the MST3K edition and get the humerous commentary that accompanies it. If you're looking for a "classic" horror film I would suggest that you keep searching.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Old-Time Horror Flick!
Review: Now, I bought another DVD that contained this film so I wont be rating it for the quality. It is for the film alone. It is a great film with corny acting (hey, its 1958), but I think that adds needed effect.The house the film takes place in is creepy looking, which gives you an odd, unsure feeling of what could possible happen once the two main characters enter. The story is good too. It is corny and all, but I think that is what grabbed me when I first watched it. (I watched it a 12:00 at night. You should too, it gives you a great, spooked out feeling) All I am trying to tell you is that this is a great old horror film, and even if the quality is bad, you should buy it.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for groovy movie, minus 10 stars for lousy DVD
Review: This is an endearing , odd little film directed by industry workhorse Alex Nicol who died recently at the grand old age of 85, and who gave himself the role of the grief-struck gardener Mickey in "Screaming Skull". Smart move; he's the most interesting character in the flick. I remember being scared by the trailer and even the poster when this movie first came out, but then I was 7 years old and a good, lurid poster could scare the bejayzuss out of me. The movie is cheap, moody, and the spare unadorned settings (I should think the peacocks and the flowerpots in the greenhouse took up most of the film's budget)
somehow work to create a sense of jagged paranoia, although you'd think the new bride would be a tad suspicious that her new hubby can't seem to get the electricity turned on in the dark mansion he's brought her to, and she has to manage with the light of one (!) sputtering candle by which to read her Henry James. And it's a mark of the movie's quirkiness that her bedtime reading is Henry James, and not ... well, given the era, Erskine Caldwell...
however, what should at worst be a guilty pleasure and at best a treasured item in your genre DVD collection, is sabotaged by the awful quality of the print. Alpha Video are very hit and miss, for instance their "Brain that Wouldn't Die" and "Killer Shrews" are not half bad, quite crisp with good sound, whereas "Night of the Blood Beast" is a scratchy splotchy mess, and "Hercules Unchained" has great chunks of the movie missing. But if you're keen to have a copy of some rare items, AV are often acceptable given the attractive packaging and LOW prices. In the case of "Screaming Skull", however, they frankly have a lot of nerve charging ANYTHING for the DVD. The print is speckled and scratched throughout, in places badly damaged, it jumps and hiccups, the tonal quality is non-existent; contrast so dreadful the whites flare into a screen-bleaching nothingness while the darker tones emerge as charcoal-dark blotches making the whole thing resemble a monochrome Jackson Pollock. At the most viewable moments, the image is a dull degenerated gray. Even more egregious, if that's possible, is the sound - so muffled that our plucky heroine's dialogue is unintelligible, you have to grab at a word here and there and try to infer what she might be saying. The male voices - lower register - do survive reasonably intact. Alpha Video really should be ashamed of themselves on this one. They can't keep hiding behind "But look how cheap!", eventually fans will wise up and start demanding refunds. On "Screaming Skull" at least, AV should pay us, the eager collecting movie fan public, for taking this dreadful technical travesty off their hands. But hey, I repeat ... the movie is strangely loveable, and hopefully someone will, one day, find a cleaner print.

Rating:
Summary: Do not waste your money!
Review: This movie is a let down all the way around. I am a huge fan of old horror movies, but I cannot find one good thing to say about this one. The print I attained on DVD is horrible. The picture is choppy, out of frame, shows it's age, and the sound is muffled and very low. As to the content, the movie drags all the way through, the effects were very poor, and the acting was worse than plan 9 from outer space. I thought they could have done much more with the plot, but chose a cheap route, even for 1958. To me, it isn't even worth watching for laughs. Should be a dollar store special, but even they have better movies!

Rating:
Summary: LOW BUDGET LITTLE GEM....
Review: You know, I like this little shocker and don't understand why there isn't a better print of it around. It's rather spooky and quite effective. The story concerns a husband bringing his new bride home to his family estate. She's recently out of a mental hospital due to the shock of her parents' accidental drownings. He's a widower and the shadow of his former wife {whom he's killed) hangs over everything. The bride (Peggy Webber, later a "Dragnet" regular on TV) is now rich from her inheritance and the husband tries to drive her insane and/or to suicide to get the money. He plants a skull everywhere trying to scare her and the screeching of his late wife's peacocks that still roam the grounds of the estate add to the spookiness. The screeching of the peacocks is used to emulate screams that Webber thinks is the skull screaming. But the estates' looney gardner (who loved the late wife) is on to everything and has a skull of his own that he keeps hidden in a murky fountain. Just as Webber has screamed herself into a near catatonic state from fright, the ghost of the late wife shows up to exact revenge. This sequence is handled very well as the specter is dressed in a flowing gardening dress and big hat with a skull for a face. It floats out of the greenhouse (her favorite place as she loved flowers) and chases Webber down the garden path and into the house---at night of course and very effective. It's all very low budget but well done in b&w with creepy music and a good performance from Webber. The estate is properly run down and gothic looking and shadows are used to good effect. I hope to see a decent print of this one day. I'd love to own it.