Les Diaboliques (1955)

***Spoilers For Les Diaboliques (1955) Within***


***uh...and possibly The Screaming Skull as well...but there's nothing to spoil***











I watched the MST3K episode for the Screaming Skull when it was last played on Sci-Fi (how long ago was that?)...and I just got finished watching Les Diaboliques for the first time and...well, I just submitted it for "Referenced by" (cough>ripping off>cough) Screaming Skull.

Release Dates:

Les Diaboliques, France, 1955 - popular

The Screaming Skull, USA, 1958 - eh...



Imagery:

The filthy pool imagery of Les Diaboliques is simply replaced with the mossy pond of The Screaming Skull (very similar in appearance and cinematography...well, kinda the cinematography...they tried)

Plots:

Les Diaboliques: A wealthy woman with a heart condition owns a boarding school where she works with her husband and his current mistress. The mistress pretends to hate the husband and then pretends to team up with the fragile (still) wife in a plot to murder him. The murder is fake and the body vanishes. Many signs are planted that suggest he is still living or is an angry ghost (kinda). It is all a plot to murder her by her own heart condition so that the husband and mistress can inherit the woman's estate. A doctor is brought by often to add legitimacy to the story. The husband is apparently absent, so there is no reason to suspect him or the mistress who appears to have sided with the wife.

The Screaming Skull: A wealthy woman with a mental condition is brought home to the house where he lived with his former (deceased) wife. The man toys with the woman with scares and skulls and noises in the night. He is "absent" when these things occur, so there is no reason to suspect him. It is a plot to exploit her mental condition in order to send her back to the asylum so that he can inherit her estate. A doctor is brought by often to add legitimacy to the story.

uh...then it turns out there is a ghost it gets it's revenge...yeah.

Some of my Screaming Skull may be shakey because I haven't seen it in so long...but, does anyone else see this?




Patriots always talk of dying for their country,and never of killing for their country