SYNOPSIS

Adapted from a short horror story by Francis Marion Crawford and marking the directorial debut of Alex Nicol (better known for his acting performances in the likes of The Man from Laramie and The Twilight Zone), The Screaming Skull is a hidden gem from the vaults of American International Pictures – an atmospheric and deeply eerie gothic chiller than plays like a meeting between Daphne du Maurier and William Castle.

Following her marriage to Eric Whitlock (John Hudson), the wealthy Jenni (Peggy Webber) moves into her husband’s secluded country mansion, inherited following the death of his first wife Marion. Upon arriving at the house, Jenni begins to feel uneasy about Marion’s fate: supposedly, she drowned after hitting her head on the edge of a decorative pond in the gardens. Jenni then learns that Mickey (Alex Nicol), the groundskeeper, believes that Marion’s ghost roams the estate – and soon Jenni herself has experienced things she can’t explain, terrified that she is in the grip of the supernatural.

Clearly influenced by gothic melodramas such as Rebecca and Gaslight and presaging the disquieting menace of such haunted house classics as House on Haunted Hill, The Innocents and The Haunting, The Screaming Skull is filled with hair-raising set-pieces and deserves its place in the pantheon of independent American horror cinema. Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.