My World Dies Screaming

Married couple Sheila (Cathy O'Donnell) and Philip (Gerald Mohr) travel from Switzerland to Florida for a relaxing break in a rented property. To Sheila's horror, the house is identical to that which features in her recurring nightmares. Coincidence? Or does hubbie Philip have a hidden agenda?

The plot for Terror in the Haunted House feels extremely dated, like a product of the '30s or 40's rather than the late '50s (remember, the groundbreaking horror of Psycho was only two years away). In order to add a little pep to proceedings, the makers resort to one of those lame gimmicks so prevalent of the time, in this case 'Psycho-Rama', subliminal images (a cartoon face with a rat in its mouth!?!) and words (Scream Bloody Murder!) designed to unsettle the viewer. They don't work.

With its uninspired story-line, overly verbose script and overwrought performances, this film is unlikely to set chills running up the spine. Psycho-Rama might be wholly ineffective as a way of creeping out the audience, but it at least provided me with the challenge of trying to pause the film every time an image or phrase appeared—far more fun the film itself.

4.5 out of 10, rounded down to 4 for some of the worst day for night filming I have seen: it looks like they didn't even try.

I will start off by saying that I, personally, enjoyed this movie VERY much. Yes...Sadly, I must place emphasis on the word "personally" because I seem to be the only experimental/nostalgic-viewer that shares this optimism...drag!

I praise this movie for it's decent, but at times in-consistent acting, music-score, and wonderful plot! The male-lead, Philip (Gerald Mohr) was VERY good through the picture especially. The female-lead (and ONLY feature female at that), Sheila (Cathy O'Donnell) had some dull and predictable character moments (characther moments not at all uncommon for Female roles in 1958).

As for the ***"Subliminal Messages"***, they were nothing more than a minor headache at best, and were used VERY sparingly. (Incedently, I own this movie on a Rhino Home Video cassette and took the liberty to view the "subliminal messaging" in slow motion). I found some of the ORIGINAL messages were quite vivid and disturbing once they were slowed-down, but it seems that AT SOME POINT later on, after Rhino Home Video had apparently bought rights to this movie, decided to implement their own messages during the last ten minutes before the climax...("Rent Rhino Videos Every Day" was my favorite) HAHA! Very funny, guys at Rhino! You sure know how to use media...(Kinda scary if you think about it)...

Anyway, after looking beyond the fact that, YES, this movie is OLD, you will discover a VERY true and stirring romance that I REALLY was able to identify with. The idea that you might have met your wife, or girlfriend, or loved-one many many years ago, then became suddenly separated from them during childhood (when young-love is the most impressionable and dream-like)...and then to have met that same person again in the future, not remembering who they were, and yet you fall in love with them just the same :)...if that makes sense!

Seriously, watch this film and try to imagine yourself in Philip's position. What if YOU searched high and low for your long lost loved-one, only to find them decades later in a deteriorating mental state...and only YOU can bring them back to reality! Very moving indeed, I love it!

Many of the reviews I have read complain that this film is boring or mediocre. I think they are forgetting that it was made in 1958. Considering that, I thought it was very exciting for its time. I certainly loved the acting, but that too is very much in the style of the 50s.

It is the plot twists that make the movie worth watching today (That is, for normal people, not just nostalgics like myself.) You know that the woman is not evil, but what about the two men, Phillip and Mark, and that servant Jonah? Just when you think you have them figured out, the movie flips them again. If you follow it, and don't get too easily bored by the 1950s effects and black and white, I think you will be surprised by how it turns out.

I gave it 9 out of 10. It was a masterpiece of its time and still entertaining today, though I might suggest watching it more as a mystery/drama than a horror film. My only complaint is the title itself, for I was hoping for a haunted house, but there was nothing supernatural about it. No ghosts or ghouls or anything. Ah yes, and I stopped noticing the 'subliminal messages' about 15 minutes into it. They really serve no purpose.

Although the practice of using subliminal advertising--that is, flashing messages on a movie or TV screen for a fraction of a second, too quickly to register with the human brain but capable of having a subconscious effect--was banned by television stations and by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958 (and, years later, was claimed to be ineffective), it wasn't in time to prevent the first big-screen film from using the technique. That picture, originally released under the artier and more appropriate title "My World Dies Screaming," and years later, for home viewing, as "Terror in the Haunted House" (a somewhat misleading appellation), turns out to be an interesting enough little film that hardly requires this tiresome gimmick (presented as "Psycho-Rama" here!). In it, we meet a pretty newlywed, Sheila, who has been going to a psychiatrist in Switzerland to cure her of recurring dreams involving an old house, and, most particularly, of a flight of steps in that house leading to a cobwebbed attic. And when Sheila's new husband, Philip, brings her to America to stay at that EXACT SAME HOUSE, her nightmares become a living reality, and the viewer is thrown into a state of confusion about whether Philip is trying to help his new bride or, a la "Gaslight," perhaps drive her insane....

For a cheaply made "B picture," "My World Dies Screaming" is surprisingly effective, and most of the credit for the film's success must surely go to Cathy O'Donnell in the lead. O'Donnell, who most viewers might remember from the 1946 classic "The Best Years of Our Lives" as well as for appearing in the cult item "They Live By Night" and the excellent film noir "Side Street" (both from 1949 and both costarring Farley Granger), is truly excellent here, lovely and appealing, and appearing in every single scene of the film. Gerald Mohr, playing Philip, gives a nicely ambiguous portrayal (many viewers will remember him from the following year's "The Angry Red Planet"), and the film's other three performers (Barry Bernard as Sheila's shrink, John Qualen as the house's uberstrange caretaker, and Bill Ching as Philip's cousin) are all fine as well. Harold Daniels directs his picture competently, eliciting chills on a regular basis, although it must be said that the film seems a bit eerier in its first half. Still, the mystery of Sheila's nightmares, and her familiarity with a house she's never been in, is a fascinating one, and keeps the viewer involved throughout; to the film's credit, the resolution of that mystery entails a surprisingly complex backstory that does manage to tie up every loose end. As to those subliminal messages, they ARE visible, although only a frame-by-frame viewing on your DVD player will reveal their contents. Basically, they consist of demon masks with the following captions: "Scream." "Scream Bloody Murder." "Prepare To Die." And "Die Die Die." (One message, very amusingly inserted by the DVD manufacturer, exhorts us to "Buy Rhino Videos Every Day"!) As I mentioned before, these flashes of...something become hokey after a while, and the film is good enough to stand on its own without them. It's nothing great, surely, but is an engaging entertainment nevertheless. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to wrap up this little review and run down to the grocery store. For some strange reason, I've just developed a sudden urge to purchase popcorn, Goobers and Raisinets....

Terror in the haunted house resembles a William Castle horror film it has gimmicks,subliminal messages during the film.they flash images of skulls and cartoon monsters and even the word scream in blood red colors,but this movie is pretty good without the subliminal messages.its creepy and pretty entertaining,it stars Gerald Mohr who a few years later starred in the great b movie the angry red planet.and Cathy O'Donnell(related to Rosie?)and William Ching.a new bride is having visions of a haunted house,well nightmares and is later on a trip with her new husband to America from Switzerland.to an old plantation mansion that turns out to be the house from her nightmares, its kind of like the screaming skull only much better.i seen this years ago on VHS from rhino video when they redid all the subliminal messages.and if you run it in slow motion you can clearly see these goofy and cartoonish subliminal images.as a fan of b movies and old horror movies i enjoyed terror in the haunted house,even though it is not as great as the infamous house on haunted hill.but alas it is better then the screaming skull and yes the really inept hillbillies in the haunted house.i recommend terror in the haunted house.7 out of 10.