Welcome back to Rotten Ink. As you can see, you find yourself reading another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update here on my little slice of the internet, and for this one we will be taking a look at the 1958 fright flick Screaming Skull that got the comic book treatment thanks to Blood Scream Comics in 2017. Screaming Skull is one of those horror films that was a drive-n theater favorite for many, and now that it is in the public domain can be found on all types of home media as well as many uploads on sites like YouTube. This update will be different as we will not be giving the comic a star rating as my connection to Blood Scream Comics makes it very silly for me to do so, but I really want to talk about The Screaming Skull plus these “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates are a great way to showcase just how cool Blood Scream Comics is and just how cool our comics based on films are! So if you are ready, I can hear the skull screaming so let’s get spooky!
Let’s start by taking a look at The Skull, a cursed and haunted piece of a murdered woman’s body that has its own way of dealing death. Marion Whitlock was a woman who died after slipping on some water and cracking her skull open on the concrete base of a fountain pond found her estate, and then falling into the water and drowning. And now as her husband has taken a new wife, a Skull starts to appear around the home and estate making noises as well as seeming to move objects, and that trio is something that can truly be scary and haunting to the living as the skull’s look, noises and seeming supernatural powers could frighten someone too death as well as drive them mad. The Skull’s other power seems to be to freak someone out so badly that they are plagued with nightmares and are jumpy to every sound they hear, and make such items as paintings seem haunting and scary when they can be connected to Marion. The Skull also seems to be able to move on its own and the shriek it can give off is ear piercing and spooky. It seems to only have the purpose of driving its victim insane with the hopes of death. The spirit of Marion Whitlock is in the Skull and it is seeking justice for her death as it was no accident, and she wants those around to pay. The Skull can also appear as a headless ghost and give chase to its intended victim or for those it wants to warn of danger. And as a Skull, it can also fly and shriek through the air causing pure panic for its victim, and cause them to flee in madness. The Skull will also fly up and use its teeth to bite at your neck causing you extreme pain and in some cases death. The Skull does have weaknesses as it really is just a “haunted” skull and seems to be bound to the Whitlock Estate, as it is the scene of the crime of Marion Whitlock’s death. One would also have to guess that if The Skull was crushed the curse might be broken and this freeing the victim from its wrath. And this is if you truly thank that The Skull is real as many think it was all part of Eric Whitlock’s idea to cover up his first wife’s murder and drive his second wife crazy. But real or fake, The Skull of Marion Whitlock has the ability to drive a person crazy and that is why it’s so dangerous. And if you ask me, while in some moments was fake a tool used by Eric I think most of the time The Skull is real and acted as a way to get ride of Eric and warn his new bride of the danger.
So now that we have taken a look at The Skull, we should take a brief moment to also take a look at the film it’s from and that’s The Screaming Skull from 1958. I will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB, and then I will write about the films production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s take a walk around the Whitlock Estate, but let’s avoid that concrete pond as it has bad vibes around it.
Screaming Skull (1958)
“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. Soon, eerie events lead the new wife to think she’s losing her mind.”
In the late 1950’s cheaply shot horror and sci-fi films were very popular at theaters and drive-in’s. Supporting film actor and Broadway actor Alex Nicol wanted to try his hand at directing one, and Screaming Skull is what he choose to be his test as the film was based on a real urban legend of a cursed skull that once belonged to a slave that is said to make screaming noises. A story that was written by Francis Marion Crawford, and the script would be written by the films producer John Kneubuhl, who had written the film “Hart Of Honolulu” before this. The film would cast Peggy Webber, John Hudson, Alex Nicol, Russ Conway and Tony Johnson and would take about six weeks to film and would be filmed on the Huntington Hartford Estates and would have a very small crew to pull it off. When the film was finished, Ernest Gold would come in to do the score and American International Pictures would be its distributor. The film would be released in August 1958 and would have a disclaimer that would promise a free burial if a moviegoer died of fright watching this film. Over the years, the film was met with very mix reviews as many fans and critics found it to be very cheap and cheesy while others find the simple spooky story to be a frightful watch. The film would end up falling into the public domain and over the years would be hosted by many horror hosts that include the likes of Halloween Jack, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Sammy Terry. In 1958, the film was released alongside such other films as Horror Of Dracula, The Fly, The Blob, IT! Terror From Beyond Space, I Bury The Living and The Revenge Of Frankenstein to name a few, so as you can see it was released alongside some true classics.
I can remember seeing Screaming Skull for the first time when I was a teenager as the film was in the public domain and was being released by many different companies. My brother had bought a DVD that had it and “Werewolf Vs. The Vampire Women” together, and we got some snack food and watched the double feature and had a blast with both films. After that, I saw the film a few more times being hosted by Horror Hosts during the Horror Host Underground boom on Public Access. What has always stood out about this film for me is that it does a good job of making the viewer wonder if The Skull is real or if it was always just terrible husband Eric Whitlock being a scumbag and trying to push his new bride into madness. The film also has a great cast as actors John Hudson, Russ Conway, Alex Nicol and Peggy Webber all do fantastic in their roles. Plus you cannot go wrong with a film that makes a normal everyday Skull the main villain of a horror film, and they are able to mix in great supernatural elements to show that The Screaming Skull’s reign of terror was real, and the highlight of the film is when The Skull of Marion is able to get revenge on her husband who clearly is the one who murdered her and made it look like an accident showing crime does not pay. In fact the film works for me as when you see it for the first time you think that all the spooky events and noises from The Skull were just a set up from Eric, but by the end you see that most of the terror truly was this cursed Skull on a rampage. The final moments of the film that have the ghost version of Marion running around and then her ghostly skull flying through the air screaming is pure cheesy horror goodness. Over the years, thanks to such shows as Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Screaming Skull has gotten a reputation of being a bad film, and while it’s not the best film from the 50’s, I can say that the film is not nearly as bad as people say it is. So if you have not seen Screaming Skull, make sure to give it a chance and a watch, and Hell even watch the MST3K or another horror hosted version as it’s a fun watch and is a perfect late night watch.
So I had to share this: as I was working on this update my brother was getting rid of some of his DVD’s as he had upgraded many of his films to Blu-Ray and in the stuff he was getting rid of was the copy of The Screaming Skull on which I saw the film for the first time that I had just written about so I had to take a picture of it and add it to this update as seeing the copy again brought a smile to my face and made me feel like a youngster again. So checkout the picture below to see the DVD in all its glory!
The Screaming Skull is a very strange supernatural horror crime thriller film that does a great job of entertaining the viewer. Now is the time when we do the review, and I would like to thank Theresa Daniels and Stephen Alexander, the creative team behind this comic for making this comic for Blood Scream Comics and making this update possible! I would then also like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have read this comic or any other Blood Scream or Sparkle Comics over the years as because of you readers of these comics is why our company is around and is able to make comics like this to entertain and frighten you. I would also like to once more remind you that I will not be giving this comic a star rating due to my connection to the company that released it. So if you are ready, let’s scream out loud with The Screaming Skull in the year 1888!
Screaming Skull: 1888 # 1
Released in 2017 Cover Price $4.99 Blood Scream # 1 of 1
In 1888 Victoria Brown is walking home alone when she is attacked by a killer who slits her throat and guts her in a back ally. The police think it was another killing for Jack The Ripper. A year later her husband Reginald Brown is running a hat shop to honor the memory of his late wife, and while working one day he meets Edith Springdale, a woman who is wanting to get a new hat, and once she finds out his tragic story, the two become friends that quickly turns into a relationship and shortly they get married. Shortly after the marriage, Reginald is visited by Inspector Peter McNally who is investigating the Ripper killings and finds the death of Victoria a little off from the other killings in the Ripper case. This causes Reginald to get nervous and usher the Inspector out of the shop. From there Reginald starts to hear a screaming and even starts to see a Skull, and it’s driving him mad. His strange behavior is noticed by not just by the Inspector but also Edith who notices that he also seems to get angered very quickly when asked about the crime and the law looking to ask him questions about his wife’s death. More and more Reginald is seeing and hearing things and goes insane at one point beating Inspector McNally to death when thinking he was his dead wife! Later after covering up the murder he just committed, Reginald snaps again and tries to kill Edith but the Screaming Skull that is possessed by Victoria’s vengeful spirit comes to her rescue and causes him to fall backwards and impale himself. In the end Edith has had enough of all the bad things she lived through in England and is now heading to America for a fresh start and in her bag is The Screaming Skull!
The Scream Skull 1888 is a comic that acts almost as a prequel to the 1958 film and shows another cursed skull that belonged to a murdered woman who gets revenge on her husband who was the cause of her death. And this time around our setting is in England and during the time of the Jack The Ripper murders adding more horror to our already supernatural tale of terror. Reginald Brown is a man who owns and works in a hat shop, who appears to be a grieving widower that tries to keep doing his best after his wife’s murdered, but in reality he is very evil as he is the one who killed his wife brutally and weirdly enough we never find out his motivation. The best thing is that Reginald gets what he deserves and pays for his crime with his life. Inspector Peter McNally is clearly a good officer who is looking to solve the rash of murder cases in the Whitechapel area, and to him Victoria’s case just doesn’t seem right and not like a Jack The Ripper victim, but while his hunch is right, he ends up being brutally killed when his head is bashed in! Edith Springdale is a caring woman who is worried about her new husband’s mental health, and lucky for her while being attacked by her crazed husband the spirit of his deceased wife comes to her aid as a screaming skull and saves her and causes Reginald to finally meet his maker. The comic has that creepy classic horror feel to it and plays up on mood building and a downbeat atmosphere all the while given us some bloody moments of carnage. It’s a good mix of horror, thriller and even slight crime making for a solid quick read that will make you wonder what is next for The Screaming Skull as in the end of the issue the cursed thing is making its way to America. The cover for this issue is great and has a kind of indie comic gothic look to it, with Theresa Daniels doing the interior art and her style is very cool as to me it has a Rick Geary feel to it. For those who don’t know, he is an artist who does graphic novels about killers and crime from the past. And I have to also point out that the story for this comic was written by Stephen Alexander, who is also known as horror host Baron Von Porkchop and is also an indie actor who was in films like Bark At The Moon: Scars, Amityville No Escape and Wolf Hunter 2.5 to name a few. This is a really cool take on the Screaming Skull legacy and was supposed to be the start of a series that would have taken place over the years with the final issue being an adaptation of the film. Will this ever happen? Only time will tell. Checkout the artwork bellow to see the style that Theresa used when making this comic, and make sure to get your copy from the Blood Scream Comics online store.
The Screaming Skull is one of those films that I think made for a great comic book as I think Theresa and Stephen did a great job of adding to the film’s story by showcasing another tale of a murdered wife getting her revenge. And once more I have to say, who knows if more issues are coming, but one thing is for sure we have this one entertaining one to keep the Screaming Skull alive…or is that undead? With this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update coming to an end, I think it’s time for me to tell you about our next update as it will be the start of Dog Month here at Rotten Ink with the first K-9 to take the spotlight being Top Dog, the amazing original character created for Star Comics! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. Before you go, I have to say I am very much looking forward to talking about Top Dog!
