HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN (1970)

Allan (Anthony Perkins, pictured) wakes up in the night to find the family house on fire. He is urged by his sister Katherine (Julie Harris) to save their father, but Allan freezes. Katherine runs into Dad's room but the flames have engulfed the room, and it's possible the fire was caused by Allan leaving a can of paint too close to his dad's space heater. Dad dies, Katherine's face is scarred, and Allan winds up with psychosomatic blindness. Months later as Allan is about to be released from the hospital, his doctor tells him that he needs to overcome his guilt over his father's death and his sister's scarring to regain his sight. He goes back to the family house to live with his sister who seems to have adjusted well and wants to help Allan recover, which also feeds into Allan's guilt. Also staying in the house to help with expenses is a graduate student named Harold who, due to a throat injury, speaks with a pronounced rasp. We never see his face except when we see him through Allan's eyes, and then all we see is a murky blur. Allan's former fiancée Olive (Joan Hackett) shows up to lend a helping hand, but Allan begins sinking into paranoid fantasies (or are they?) involving Harold whispering his name and spying on him at night. Katherine's former boyfriend Eric has moved to Australia, but Olive reports seeing him around town. And guess what: he has a throat injury just like Harold. Is Harold Eric? Is Katherine getting revenge on Allan for her disfigurement? And is Olive part of it? This horror film from the golden age of TV-movies is pretty tame but generally works as a mood piece. Even at the relatively short length of 75 minutes, it's a bit slow, but luckily revelations into motives and backgrounds keep popping up, and though there are some plotholes, it has a satisfying ending, though I don’t really like the gimmicky final moment. Perkins isn't given much stretching to do in his acting—he's just another less deadly version of Norman Bates—but we're in good hands. Harris doesn't seem totally committed to her part, and Joan Hackett has a fairly thankless role. Classic-era actor Kent Smith (Cat People) appears briefly in a flashback as the father. Cult director Curtis Harrington (NIGHT TIDE, QUEEN OF BLOOD, GAMES) handles this one as an assignment and not an inspired personal work, but it’s entertaining enough. [YouTube]