| “ | She died in the water... | ” |
| - Reverend Snow |
- For the episode, see MST3K 912 - The Screaming Skull.
The Screaming Skull is a 1958 supernatural thriller directed by Alex Nicol (who co-stars as Mickey) and written by John Kneubuhl.
Plot[]
The Screaming Skull
Eric Whitlock bring his new wife Jenni to his mansion on lavishly landscaped grounds from his previous marriage, which ended in the sudden death of his wife. Jenni's an unstable heiress who has spent time in a sanitarium due to a traumatic incident in her past in which she witnessed the accidental drowning of her parents. She blames herself for being unable to save them and also for hating her mother and wishing her dead prior to the accident.
Back from their honeymoon, they move into the house without phone, lights, or furniture. They encounter the local Reverend Snow, his wife, and Mickey, a shabby, semi-verbal groundskeeper who can barely make eye contact. He also tends to the peacocks that live on the estate. Mickey was extremely close to Eric's dead wife Marion, having grown up with her.
Reverend and Mrs. Snow welcome the couple with fresh eggs and help them hang drapes inside the residence. Snow divulges to Jenni the story of Marion's mysterious demise. "She slipped on a leaf in the rain and hit her head on a wall and the base of her skull was bashed in and she fell in a pool and drowned," he explains.
The Screaming Skull
While Eric's away, Jenni tries to befriend Mickey. Meanwhile, Mickey talks to the painting of Marion in the lobby of the house. "Send them away!" he begs.
While alone, Jenni hears strange sounds, including knocking, distant shrieking, and doors banging. She also had heard sounds before she went into the sanitarium, so she's afraid she may be getting sick again. A cabinet door opens by itself. She discovers a lily pad from the pond where Marion drowned on the floor of the house, and later sees the image of a skull floating before the portrait of Marion. Eric ascribes the presence of the aquatic vegetation to Mickey, who he suspects of entering their house unannounced at night. Jenni attempts to befriend Mickey, and carries flowers with him to Marion's shrine on the estate grounds. Mickey tells Jenni that Marion "cries at night".
One evening, Jenni hears vigorous knocking at the front door. Upon opening, there is a skull resting on the doorstep, and it appears to roll of its own accord into the house. Mickey observes from outside.
As part of Eric's attempt to soothe Jenni's nerves, he urges Jenni to ritually burn the portrait of Marion because it reminds Jenni of her mother. They do so, and the painting seems to shriek during the process. Jenni and Eric start to bury the ashes, but that unearths yet another skull. Jenni swoons while Eric pretends to see nothing. He abandons Jenni on the lawn and takes the skull, hiding it in the garden pond, secretly observed by Mickey.
Jenni, rattled, prepares to return to the rest home.
Reverend Snow becomes suspicious after hearing of the ashes and skull ceremony. He informs Jenni that he is sending men to search the estate for the skull and she relays the information to Eric. He races to retrieve it from the pond, but it's gone. He violently confronts Mickey who tells him "Marion" took the skull.
Jenni prepares to return to the sanitarium. She takes a final walk to bid farewell to Mickey and espies a figure in the distance - someone in a wedding dress and veiled hat. Believing it to be the specter of the dead Marion, Jenni screams and flees with a shrieking "Marion" in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, Eric readies a noose to kill Jenni and make it look like suicide. Jenni races into the house and Eric proceeds to throttle her.
Suddenly, there is a loud knock at the door. An intruder has arrived. The specter chases Eric to his death. In the aftermath, Jenni, Mickey, and the Snows finally have peace.
Cast[]
- John Hudson as Eric Whitlock
- Peggy Webber as Jenni Whitlock
- Russ Conway as Rev. Edward Snow
- Tony Johnson as Mrs. Snow
- Alex Nicol as Mickey
Notes[]
- Released as the top half of a double feature with Terror from the Year 5000.
- With only 5 credited actors, The Screaming Skull has the smallest cast of any film used on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- This movie opens with a disclaimer offering free funeral services to anyone who died of fright while watching. Director William Castle made the same offer for his movie Macabre in 1958. Unlike Castle, The Screaming Skull's director Alex Nicol did not actually contact an insurance company.
- The movie was filmed on the Hollywood estate of director Huntington Hartford in Griffith Park within six weeks. Each of the actors were paid $1,000 for their performances.
- Director Alex Nicol reportedly got Peggy Webber interested in starring in the movie by telling her it was a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's film Rebecca. The Screaming Skull shares some similarities with that film (which was based on a novel by Daphne Du Maurier), inasmuch as they both deal with the new wives of wealthy men who have mysterious secrets.
- During filming, Peggy Webber revealed that she was pregnant, requiring the ending (which originally had Jenny falling down the stairs to her death) to be re-written.
- The "oom-pah music" in the beginning of the film is the "Dies Irae" section of Berlioz' "Symphony Fantastique". A different arrangement was used in the opening of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining. The composition was also used in the film Sleeping with the Enemy (which also deals with an abusive husband).
- This is one of only three film credits for writer/producer John Kneubuhl. All of his other writing credits are for television.
MST3K Connections[]
- Peggy Webber also portrayed Anne Brewster in The Space Children.
- Russ Conway also portrayed the chief mechanic in San Francisco International.
- Cinematographer Floyd Crosby was also cinematographer for Teenage Cave Man
- Assistant director Maurice Vaccarino was also production manager for Teenage Cave Man and producttion supervisor and assistant director for The Phantom Planet.
- Prop designer John Cengia was also prop designer for Attack of the Giant Leeches and Bloodlust!.
- Sound technician Al Overton also did sound for It Conquered the World, Attack of the Giant Leeches, and The Bubble, as well as sound recordist for Earth vs the Spider and sound mixer for The Phantom Planet.
- Sound editor Mandine Rogne was also sound effects technician for The Black Scorpion.
- Chief grip Charles Hannawalt was also key grip for The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Gunslinger, Day the World Ended, and The Undead, and head grip for Swamp Diamonds.
- Music editor Jerry Roberts was also music supervisor for The Hellcats.
- Script supervisor Betty Fancher was also script supervisor for The Girl in Lovers Lane.