How Awful About Allan

Starring:Johnny Cash, Brenda Vaccaro
Studio: Madacy Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Gets 4 stars because of players, director, and relative obscurity.

How Awful About Allan
Starring: Joan Hackett , Robert H. Harris , Anthony Perkins , Kent Smith , and Julie Harris
Director: Curtis Harrington
Manufacturer: Legacy Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00077BOGA
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Customer Reviews:

Gets 4 stars because of players, director, and relative obscurity........2007-03-14

I saw this film once on ABC over 30 years ago, before VCRs or DVDs were available... and I've wanted another viewing ever since. It holds up quite well with the other Curtis Harrington and Robert Aldrich CHARACTER/QUESTION horror films that featured a characters name, and often a question, in the title, specifically, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?; HUSH,HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE; WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?; WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?; and my favorite, WHAT HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE?. Many of these were based on novels by Henry Farrell. This one holds up pretty well because of Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris, Joan Hackett and Kent Smith... 4 very recognizable and talented performers. Smith's career goes all the way back to the Lewton/Wise CAT PEOPLE pictures; Joan Hackett cut a wide swath through Sixties and Seventies movies before cancer cut her down; and Harris and Perkins are well remembered for many great films, although PSYCHO forever trapped Perkins as an emotionally impaired victim/predator. The budget is strictly "movie of the week," and the plot here is so thin that the few red herrings are VERY transparent and the villain is VERY easily spotted. The main attractions are the performances and the persistant sense of dread that characterizes all Curtis Harrington movies. If you want to see good performers in one that slipped past you the first time, this one is a fairly good bet.

Average customer rating:

How Awful About Allan
Starring: Joan Hackett , Robert H. Harris , Anthony Perkins , Kent Smith , and Julie Harris
Director: Curtis Harrington
Manufacturer: Tango Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000ERVKCQ
Release Date: 2006-05-04

Average customer rating:

Effectively morbid psychological thriller.
Rough in spots, but more often than not delivers the goods.
HOW AWFUL ABOUT THIS TRANSFER
Anthony plays a psycho again

How Awful About Allan
Starring: Joan Hackett , Robert H. Harris , Anthony Perkins , Kent Smith , and Julie Harris
Director: Curtis Harrington
Manufacturer: Madacy Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0006ZXJ5C
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Customer Reviews:

Effectively morbid psychological thriller........2006-04-10

For some inexplicable reason, this telefeature is but rarely accorded the respect it merits. In point of fact, it is a most accomplished, gripping, and well acted affair, from the days when a "made for TV" movie, could still boast performers, writing, and technical credentials of the first water.

The story is an intense, psychological study of a young man suffering from hysterical blindness following the death of his professor father in a fire. Set in a large, shadowy, Victorian house, this very gothic story hinges on the sibling rivalry between the young man and his spinster sister, both of whom blame themselves, in different ways, for their father's demise. Eventually, the young man's sanity begins to give way, in the face of a series of inexplicable hauntings, which may, or may not be supernatural. Only the denouement will tell.

With its pronounced subtext of repressed, family guilt, the film has literary antecedents in the work of Shirley Jackson, Walter De La Mare, and Nathanial Hawthorne.

Starring a cast of major (big screen) movie and stage actors, this film has everything that is conspicuously absent in current television: an excellent musical score, evocative photography, (including characterization through color schemes), muted lighting, accomplished art direction, an interesting premise and script, intelligent dialogue, (gasp!)and a very good sense of pacing.

Add to that, a baseline story that improves on the novel upon which it was based, (yes I read it) and you have a viewing experience very different from the "made for TV's" of today, which are,(I'm told--since I don't watch them) an endless stream of tedious, politically correct, AIDS,[...], and spouse abuse victim propaganda studies--I believe the catch phrase is "victim of the week" stories.)

All in all, "How Awful About Allan" serves as a sad reminder of what was still artistically possible in the world of commercial television, in the not too distant past

Rough in spots, but more often than not delivers the goods........2005-12-13

Anthony Perkins portrays Allan Colleigh, a young man who's psychosomatically blinded by the gruesome sight of his father burning to death in the family house. After spending eight months in a mental institution, Allan returns home to live with his sister Katherine and a mysterious new lodger. Tormented by beckoning midnight voices and sinister hands reaching for him in the shadows, Allan becomes convinced that the lodger wants to do him harm, but Katherine has a difficult time believing her brother's rantings. Is our hero really being menaced, or is he only the victim of his own imagination?

This vintage Curtis Harrington shocker draws inspiration from PSYCHO, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, and HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE in equal measure. The result is simply too derivative to be considered a classic, but its blend of campy thrills and surreal shocks make it a lot of fun. The teleplay by Henry Farrell (author of the BABY JANE novel and co-screenwriter of CHARLOTTE) hinges upon a "surprise" ending that most modern viewers won't find too hard to guess, but his story line offers just enough plot contortions and snappy dialogue to keep things at an entertaining level.

The film is primarily a vehicle for Anthony Perkins, who has a grand old time portraying the harried title character. Allan Colleigh isn't quite as off-the-wall as Norman Bates, but Perkins manages to make him a fairly interesting horror figure nevertheless. Even though it's mostly Anthony's show, that of course doesn't prevent Julie Harris from providing rock solid support as his sibling. The finale gives Harris an opportunity to gnaw at the scenery herself and she does so with tremendous relish; it's a brief moment that you won't easily forget. Joan Hackett, a fine talent who never quite received the recognition that she should have, makes a welcome appearance as their concerned neighbor. The picture also benefits from vigorious direction by Curtis Harrington, who uses the limited number of locations to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that smothers the audience with dread.

HOW AWFUL ABOUT THIS TRANSFER.......2005-04-28

This review is of the notrious Madacy version. Madacy has been known over the years to release extremely poor copies of movies that almost look like they were taped from a VHS. The colors are grainy, the sound is muted, and the overall enjoyment is hampered. For instance, in this version, a key scene at the end is overpowered by the musical score so we don't really know what the character was saying. As for the movie itself, one can only respect Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris and Joan Hackett for rising above their lame material. Scripted by Henry Farrell and directed by Curtis Harrington, HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN is an Aaron Spelling television movie made in 1970. As typical of that time frame, the movie is slow and tries to build suspense with endless shots of Perkins' view of the world through his psychologically blinded eyes. After his release from a mental hospital following the burning death of his father, Perkins returns home to live with his scarred sister Harris, whose face was disfigured when she tried to rescue her father. Harris' relationship with the father is veiled with suggestive innuendo and an unnatural desire to please "this great man." Hackett is the neighbor Olive who obviously has her own desires for Perkins, and why we don't ever really know. He's obviously Norman Bates-ish, and what woman in her right mind would want to spend her life with him. Anyway, the movie plods along with the chance that Perkins is seeing and hearng things, a mysterious roomer who never shows up, an old boyfriend of Harris' who does show up, and an ending whose ambiguity is frustrating.
Not a total dud; it's always nice to see the three stars work, but it's not that suspenseful and the transfer is criminal.

Anthony plays a psycho again.......2005-02-27

After burning down his house, Anthony Perkins spends some time in a mental instiution. (Deja vu? This same scenario was used in his 1968 movie Pretty Poison.) His sister Julie Harris takes him in reluctantly. Her father died in the fire and the two had an unusual relationship. Pretty soon Anthony is starting to go mad again. Or is someone just playing with him? For a tv movie this is pretty good. Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris both give nice laid back performances. Running time says 90 but actually it's 70 minutes. 2.5 rounded to 3

2 Feature Films- Murder Mansion (1972) & How Awful About Allan (1970) (2005 DVD)

Average customer rating:

2 Feature Films- Murder Mansion (1972) & How Awful About Allan (1970) (2005 DVD)
Director: Francisco Lara Polop , Pedro Lazaga , and Curtis Harrington
Manufacturer: DVD Family Value Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Description

MURDER MANSION (1972 ITALIAN)- Four women and three men are forced to spend the night in an eerie mansion due to inclement weather, and they soon wish that they had stayed outside. Inside the horrible structure, terror and mayhem reign. AKA Maniac Mansion. *Not to be confused with the 1946 suspense film "Murder Mansion". HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLEN (sic) (1970 TVM)- A blind man tormented with guilt for his father's death by fire is manipulated by his sadistic sister.

Average customer rating:

How Awful About Allan

Manufacturer: Synergy Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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amazon.com

A young man who is tormented with guilt over his father's death years before starts hearing strange voices and feeling the presence of an unknown force that seems to be menacing him.

Average customer rating:

Not Too Awful...

How Awful About Allan
Starring: Joan Hackett , Robert H. Harris , Anthony Perkins , Kent Smith , and Julie Harris
Director: Curtis Harrington
Manufacturer: 905 Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000HDZKD2
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Customer Reviews:

Not Too Awful..........2006-09-12

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLEN is a 1970 TV movie that brings together Anthony Perkins (Psycho) and Julie Harris (The Haunting) as a brother and sister w/ major problems! Allen (Perkins) ends up in a mental institution after witnessing his father's death in a house-fire. He now suffers from a blindness, brought on by the incident. Upon his release, Allen moves back in w/ his sister, and the fun begins! Because of his condition (he can only see light and dark, everything is foggy), Allen "sees" things that may or may not be what he thinks they are. This becomes fairly creepy when someone begins messing w/ Allen's mind about his father's demise! A mysterious boarder adds to the mystery, nearly sending poor Allen back to the bin! Both Perkins and Harris are quite good in their roles. Joan Hackett (lovely as ever) plays the helpful neighbor. Enjoy...

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