 The Screaming Skull is a motion picture that reaches its climax in shocking horror. Its impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect. It may kill you. Therefore, its producers feel they must assure free burial services to anyone who dies of fright while seeing the Screaming Skull. Is this Whitlock? It's lovely, Eric. You looked disappointed for a moment. It did not. It's really lovely. That's the den, man. That's right. Is that a bedroom? Yes, it is. Can it be ours? It'll need some fixing first. Is her room possible? Yes. Come on along. I'll share the rest of the house. It's fitting now, I suppose. Empty like this. But it was usually this way. Shortly after Mary and I were married, she removed all the furniture her parents had left her. This is our home, she used to say. And we must choose everything carefully. It didn't get very far before she died. But now that you're here, it's going to be lovely again. I'll get the things out of storage tomorrow. We're all in town at the warehouse. And I'll take care of that, too. You have candles. That's where Mickey keeps his gardening things. Who's Mickey? The gardener. He's kept it up. The two years have been away. By himself? That's right. He used to work awfully hard. Oh, he and Mary Ann would spend hours on Ann working here in the gardens. And up in the greenhouse, back there. See, he loved it very much. Sometimes I used to wonder who she was, my wife or Mickey's nursemaid. You know, I don't think he quite believes she's gone. I think he expects her to show up one of these mornings and be scolded for neglecting the gardens. You still love her, don't you? No, I'm not jealous. I'm grateful to him. I think to have loved once, really loved. To learn how to love always. Learning it from her, you give again to me. I wish there was some way to think. Who's that? I don't know. They're driving around the back. Will you stop by to meet your new wife? Oh, Eric, this is a wonderful surprise. It's been a long time. It has. Reverend, good to see you, Eric. Jenny, this is Mrs. Snow. I'm very happy to meet you. Jenny, this is a lovely surprise. And the Reverend Mr. Snow. Hello, my dear. Oh, she's sweet, Eric. I know. I happened to be going into town. I ran into Mr. Maurer. He told me you were getting back today. And we thought we'd just drop by and bring you something for your dinner. Oh, nice. We'll save you all the bother of shopping while you're trying to get settled. Then why don't you stay for dinner? Oh, no, not tonight. Oh, no, no, we wouldn't think of that. Oh, now, please say yes. It's nice for you, too. It would be like old times. All right, on the condition that I do the cooking. You don't have to. You know, I know that, but I'd love to. Well, there's Mickey. Excuse me, honey. Mickey! He keeps this place up like a shrine. Eric told me how he loved Marion. Mickey's father was a gardener here when Marion's mother was alive. Mickey and Marion grew up together here. Jenny, this is Mickey. How do you do, Mickey? I hope he'll be good friends. Well, Mickey, well, shall we all go inside? That's a good idea. Mickey, remember you promised me some of those rose cuttings. I'll sing you again, Mickey. I'm going to have to get you down to the barber shop one day very soon. Excuse us, Mickey. I hope you have more luck in getting your husband to mine than I've had with mine. You know, you've got to admit it does make the room look better. Very well, Tyson. For penance, you can come and help me with dinner. Now, come on. Edward, you keep Jenny company? Yes, dear. No, ma'am. No. Send him away. Oh, she's so very nice, Eric. Jenny? Yes. Isn't she wonderful? She's not at all like Marion, and I think that's for the best. You know, some many men, when they lose a wife, they try so hard to deny the loss they marry someone exactly like the first wife. It hardly seems fair using their living to bring back the dead, does it? No, I suppose it doesn't. We make a prison for ourselves out of the past, at least our sentimental wished-for pasts. Mrs. Snow? Yes, dear. Is there something I must tell you on the Reverend? Well, of course, sir. You see, Jenny has not had a very happy past. Oh? And talking about it, or about something that might strongly remind her of it, she's very impressionable. Is there something wrong, Eric? No, not really. You see, she lost her parents many years ago in a very tragic way. And talking about unhappy pasts only, she's very impressionable. See, I want her to be happy, Mrs. Snow. Of course you do, and so do we all. Now, how did she lose them? Well, I'm not prying, dear. It's just that Mr. Snow and I can help better if we know something about it. They drowned in an accident. Jenny saw it all. Who is Mr. Mauer? Mr. Mauer? Or is a lawyer in town? I thought no one knew we were coming. You said you heard from Mr. Mauer? Well, Eric wrote him. He takes care of the estate or what's left of it. Well, that's right. Eric has to see him tomorrow. Well, Eric's co-executor of the estate, along with Mr. Mauer. You see, Marion's death was so sudden that, well, all it was left to Eric was the house and these grounds. Mr. Mauer told me that Eric had found someone very sweet and very kind, with whom he was very much in love. He didn't say enough. How did Marion die? Didn't Eric tell you? I think the subject's rather painful to him. I'd like to make him talk about it. Would you mind telling me? I'd like to know. It was a rainy day. She and Mickey had been working up there in a greenhouse. She left him to go back to the house for a few minutes. The way we pieced it together after the accident is that, while she was coming down this path, apparently it began to rain very hard. She must have run along here. We don't know, of course, what happened then. Perhaps she slipped on a leaf. Face of her skull was smashed. It was thought that she hit her head on the edge of the cement wall where we're sitting. And she fell in there. She died in the water. That's where Eric found her 10 minutes later. You said, Mickey, wait here. I'm going down to the house for just a minute. Wait here, Mickey, you said. And then you went away in the rain. And you didn't come back to play. And don't forget that you and Eric are coming for lunch day after tomorrow. We'll do better than that. We'll come to church on Sunday as well. Oh, getting back to church is like moving a mountain. You'll come. Come along, my dear. It's getting late. Thank you very much for bringing Jenny into our lives. Thank you for the dinner. It was a pleasure. Good night. Good night. Did you know that Jenny is very wealthy? Yes, Mr. Ma told me in town today. Well, she's not at all like Mary, you know. She's so gentle and timid as if she were afraid of something. I knew you'd like my friends, dear. It's this. Oh, just happy. Just in the jungle. It's all about a man who waited all of his life for something great, wonderful to happen to him. He had only one good friend. It's a woman whom he confided. And she died at her grave. He suddenly realized that she was the great and wonderful thing that he'd waited for all of his life. But it's too late then. His memories like a beast in the jungle rise up out of the past, overwhelming. He doesn't know what he missed. That bad kid is coming. Who are you to talk about it? How did she look like that, Eric? My mother looked like that. Jenny, Jenny. I can't help it, Eric. You're just talking yourself into those same old fears. That'll talk about it, Eric. I have to talk about it. I forbid you to talk about it. Just that with you beside me I'm alive again. I don't want to be sick anymore. All right, how could a very poorly done self-portrait upset you so much? I know it's only my own fear. It's my own guilt that I can't get away from. Eric, I'm sorry. Now, you were sick once. Yes, but you were cured. Mickey caused this. You may as well know. He does look for Mary at night after night down by that pond. And he probably comes here afterwards. I'm going to speak to Mickey in the morning. You see, simply it's all explained away. But if I also heard a scream, Eric, before when I went to the hospital, I was hearing things. I'm hearing them again. What did you hear? It was a high, strange scream. High, strange scream? Like a peacock's cry? What's that sound like? Come here. Feeling better now? Yeah. Pick him into the house. I was just nervous last night. I wish he wouldn't take it out on Mickey. Now, he's a child. Must be disciplined. I'd like him to feel I'm his friend. Why don't you do some gardening with him while I'm in town? If he sees you're interested, you wouldn't move it quickly enough. Wait a minute. He lists the staples mostly. Are you sure you don't want to come in with him? I've got to see about the lights, the phone, the bank, and the warehouse people about that furniture. You know that cost just about broken my back. Don't forget to see Mr. Maurer. I have to see him this evening. It's a bore, but I'll have to see him. Will you be home in time for dinner? I'll wait for you. Now, if I'm not, don't you worry, darling. Getting out of Maurer's clutches sometimes requires an act of God. I love you. Oh, look how he almost cut him. The handsome one, isn't he? So cuddly and warm. When I was a little girl, I used to want to be a caterpillar. So I was a very little girl. There you go. Marion must have loved her gardens. We'll keep them lovely for her always. You know what I'd like to do, Mickey? I'd like to pick some of the nicest flowers and take them to her. Would you like that? Yes. Eric told me she was near here. Would you show me where? Yeah, all right, Mickey. I'm sure it was a great loss to all of you, Mickey. He cries. He cries. In the night. Dead people don't cry, Mickey. I heard her. I heard her show up one of these mornings. Mickey says Marion cries at night. We both hear the peacocks. He out of his love for Marion wishes to cry to be from her. I out of my sickness. We've been all through that nonsense last night. I've never imagined seeing these things before. Just stand there and see it. Have it turn out to mean that. I want you to call Dr. Rand tomorrow in New York. I want you to take me back. No, Jenny. It may sound selfish to be having you to love, but I'm happy too. I don't want to lose that. I think Mr. Snow will be here and we'll tell him. He's very company. I think he'll agree with me. About what? I think it's Mickey. You see, he hated me from the first. Friend and I married her. He thought I was taking her away from it. And now that she's dead, taken away from him forever, I suppose in that Charlie's mind of his, I'm responsible for that. And now because you're my wife and at Marion's house, he hates you too. I don't think Mickey is responsible. He's not quick enough or clever enough. And who? Myself. It's all in my own mind. We do need somebody else, darling. We need somebody outside of the confusions of our love for each other. Now, the Reverend Snow will be here in the morning. This much is real anyway. Look here, Jenny. This is how you gouged your hand. You say you threw the skull down here where Eric is looking? Yes. Did you find anything, Eric? Nothing yet. You must agree with me that anything as fragile as a skull would have been smashed to bits down there. And Eric has found nothing. And you assume that the skull would move of its own all the way from there to the driveway door. Don't you see, I agree with you. Didn't Eric tell you I spent over a year in a sanitarium? Rick told Mrs. Snow that you were very impressionable. But that's all. I know lots of people needing a red screw to sanitarium. This wasn't quite that kind of sanitarium. I grew up loving my father and hating my mother. Well, she never knew it. Something I kept to myself. She was very beautiful. Very gay, like her. Very much. And I knew she resented that I was not more like her. I used to lie awake at night and wish she were dead. I understand many children go through such a period. I was no longer a child. But I wish I could still hear her scream. I was all alone on the little beach. And all I could see was the overturned boat on the top of the waves. And I kept trying to reach them. And the waves kept throwing me back. I could hear her cries no more. And then hours later, men came and searched for the bodies that we never found. That's when this bad feeling started. This feeling that if I really wanted to, I could have saved them, but I didn't. That I really killed them. I couldn't make this feeling go away. That's when they took me to the hospital. They told me I was cured. They told me I was cured. I'll be there in time for lunch. But where do you think he's gone off to, Eric? Who knows about Mickey? He might be hiding. You looked at Marion's grave? Where's Jenny? She's with Mrs. Snow on a patio. I think I should tell you that Jenny has confided in me about the sanitarium. Does your wife know? I told her Jenny was impressionable, but not that. I haven't said a word to her. Mrs. Snow, you can do both Jenny and me a great favor by forgetting she ever told you that. But, Eric, if it helps explain, it explains nothing. If I were you, Eric, I'd take her away. If she's so impressionable and that house frightens her so much, why subject her to it? Look, I can't do a thing like that. Be the worst thing for her. Mrs. Snow, it would be admitting she was sick again. I want her to be happy. We'll stay here. Perhaps you know best, Eric. See, I've got a simple and old-fashioned piece of philosophy. The only cure for her fear is to teach her she's loved. I mean, really loved. I love her so much. God bless you for that, Eric. She's a very fortunate woman having someone like you to care for her. Be nice and sorry. Donnie, you've got to believe it will not happen again, ever. Now, I know you'll like me, Mickey. I know you don't need to get us to leave here. This idiotic attempt of scaring us is that we were children. It was you, wasn't it? Wasn't it? No, not me. Not me. That's how you saw it. Now it has you all preoccupied with memories of the past. The picture means nothing to me. I want you to be happy. We can't be until this fear is out of our lives. Go on, Jenny. Yes. But can't let those ashes stand overnight. And the brush in these hills are a regular tinderbox. You want to help me? It's as if I destroyed her with my own hands. She'll come back, and she'll come back. Darling, if you go on talking that way, you destroy the whole purpose. Or the thing is out of the house, and it's over. You just give it half a chance. You'll begin to forget it. If you just spread those ashes out a little for me, I'll get the water to it. There's no skull there. There's no skull there, darling. There's no skull there, Jenny. Darling, there's no skull there. There's no skull. Mrs. Snow's hens thought you might like some fresh eggs for your breakfast in the morning. Hello, Eric. This is a surprise. Those hens labored mightily, as you can see. Fine. I'll take them. Well, excuse me, dear. Because she was in before. It happened again? I thought it would help her if we got rid of that portrait. You know the one? Yes. We burned it. She saw a skull in the ashes. Are you with her? I saw nothing, of course. Of course. And I thought it was Mickey. But when I was there myself and I saw her, Mr. Snow, there's something I've never told you. I've never told anybody. But when Jenny was put away in that hospital, she tried to do away with herself. I'm terribly afraid. You think she might try it again? I know she will. Unless I get her back to that hospital. When are you going? Tonight. Mrs. Snow and I have grown very fond of Jenny. Yes, and she of you. I don't suppose you'll be coming back here again, Eric. No. Never. I'll miss him and his wife. I said goodbye to him just now. He tried to talk me out of what I saw. No. He said he thought the skull was real. He was going to bring some men in the morning to search the estate. Where? Everywhere. He's just talking, trying to be kind. I suppose. I'll go upstairs and pack. You want to come with me? I'll be up in a minute. You saw me put it in the pond. You must have. Where is it? I don't know. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Where is it? I don't know. Tell me the truth. You took it. I didn't see it when Jenny saw it. I know. Oh, but why would Eric lie like that? Mickey, those other times with the skull. Did you do it? Mickey, you've never lied to me before. Lying is a sin. You understand that? You must not lie to me now. Did you do it, Mickey, all those other times? No. I simply do not understand that if it wasn't Mickey. And it wasn't her imagination. But why would Eric do such a thing? I don't know. What do you think we should do about it? We should go back to that house. I'd like to say goodbye to your friend, Mickey.