Professor Screweyes

"I am the Master of Fear, and I am not afraid!"

- Professor Screweyes, the self-proclaimed "Master of Fear".

Professor Screweyes is the main antagonist in We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story. He is the kind time-travelling Captain Neweyes' evil twin brother and head of a scary modern-day traveling carnival known as the Eccentric Circus (also known as Professor Screweyes' Eccentric Circus). This self-proclaimed "Master of Fear" is also the inventor of Brain Drain, a grain which is the opposite of the Brain Grain and it drains the intelligence of, and probably devolves, anyone who uses it, and of the Fright Radio, a radio-like device that is the opposite of the Wish Radio and it transmits the signal, soundwaves, and imagery of all people and creatures through nerves, paranoia, and most of all, fear.

He was voiced by the late Kenneth Mars.

History
His name comes from the screw that replaces his left eye. In a deleted scene, he lost his eye as a child when he was snoozing by a berry bush, and after a berry fell upon his eye, a crow pecked for the fruit, while at the same time taking his eye. Ever since then, Screweyes decided to act accordingly to life's senseless ways by using fear to get his way. Because of his incident, he had a fear of crows, and uses this as his act. This way, the crows are under his control.

In the film, the two children protagonists wish to join his circus not knowing the evil behind it. They eventually find it in Central Park and meet Professor Screweyes. With slight manipulation, he gets the children to sign a contract in blood. The dinosaurs arrive to save them. Once he notices the dinosaurs he is delighted. He thinks they will be the perfect attraction for his horror circus. He demonstrates his power of his invention, the Brain Drain, on the children which turns them into dim-witted chimpanzees. Screweyes makes a deal with the dinosaurs; if they take the Brain Drain and become the main attraction in his circus, he'll revert the children back to their normal selves. The dinosaurs accept his offer and are turned back into their natural instinct driven state of mind.

When the children awake the next morning and see the dinosaurs, they form a plan to sneak into Screweyes' circus and rescue them.

After several frightening shows of holograms, lights, and people in suits, Screweyes personally introduces his "main attraction". The dinosaurs are rolled in, chained up on a large cart. Screweyes orders his minions to remove to the Tyrannosaurus Rex's chains around his leg and hypnotizes. He orders it to take giant steps which terrifies the audience. Screweyes laughs and claims he has no fear. But soon after he says this, a crow flies into the control room and, presumably testing Screweyes' boast, pushes the flares button, which the bright lights break Rex free of Screweyes' hypnotic control, and attacks the suddenly frightened Professor. Rex is stopped, however, by Louie who is able to revert him back to his intelligent state by pleading to his true nature and hugging him. The same effort reverts the rest of the dinosaurs back to normal.

Screweyes is furious when the audience is not scared but happy. His brother, Captain Neweyes, then arrives to take the dinosaurs and the children home. Screweyes' clown named Stubbs arrives to quit and humiliates Screweyes in the process.

Neweyes offers Screweyes a chance to come with him on his aircraft but he refuses. At that, Neweyes flies away with the dinosaurs and children. With the audience and act gone, Screweyes is left alone in the darkness with only the crows for company. He admits out loud that he, without anyone to frighten, is just a lonely and frightened man with no real control of fear. And without that control, Screweyes is consumed by his own fear as the crows frenzy around him, devouring him. When the crows fly away, all that is left is his screw eye. Just then the crow that both turned on the flares, and who possibly also took Screweyes' real eye when he was a child, removes the dark spell on the screw, and takes it with him.

Videogame appearance
Professor Screweyes appeared as the main antagonist and final boss of the videogame adaption of We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story on both Super Nintendo and Game Boy.

Trivia

 * Screweyes' defeat is strongly reminiscent of Pitch Black's defeat in the 2012 animated DreamWorks film Rise of The Guardians