How Awful About Allan

Effective psychological "thriller" about a man that has subconsciously lost his sight due to a tragedy that befell him and his family when a child. Little Alan blames himself for setting a fire that kills his mean and nasty father and scars his sister whose bigger loss is her much beloved father. Anthony Perkins gives a pretty good performance of a man torn apart from his past and now lives with his sister after years of being institutionalized. Perkins obviously has experience playing psychotic individuals, and his Alan is not overdone at all. In fact I thought Perkins gave a very restrained performance. Julie Harris is equally up to task as his sister who must deal with her returning brother, her life such as it is, and economic issues. Money is so tight that she must let a room to a boarder...and then things begin to cave in for Alan and his life still only seeing things through a blur. This movie was made for television and it shows. There is not a lot of action and really no performers of any note outside the leads and Joan Hackett as an old flame for Alan. The film was directed by Curtis Harrington, veteran of some older genre films and later What's the Matter with Helen? and Whoever Slew Aunite Roo?. Harrington is always steady behind the lens and ably creates some tension and suspense even though his obvious budgetary restraints shine. All in all, How Awful About Alan delivers a taut examination of how we sometimes internalize the pain that we live with and what must happen to it to cleanse our souls.

Within the limitations of television, this was a tidy little entertainment. How Awful About Allan transcended the crummy cheapness that marred Made-for-TV movies from their historical onset. This pleasantly scary story was better than average because of its workmanlike performances, its unnerving story, and the fact that its main character, Tony Perkins, is not totally sympathetic.

Even if you peg the reasons that Perkins has hysterical blindness (and it's wonderfully frustrating seeing the blurred images he's seeing) from the start, the movie accomplishes what it must do right from the start--it causes you to give a damn. You watch because you must.

Finally, there's a special place in my heart for "Olive," played by the late, great Joan Hackett. She was a lovely woman whose quirky, passionate performances always seemed to lift the quality of a film an extra notch.

Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris are just fine, too.

So, get to a dollar store or the Wal-Mart dollar DVD kiosk, grab a copy of How Awful About Allan and swing by the warm blankey department--you're gonna need it.

I had previously read about director Curtis Harrington in Barron's excellent book for cinephiles, '501 Movie Directors', though I had unfortunately not been able to find any of his films before this. He definitely has fine technique for getting across moodiness and suspense, at least in this type of film. Hopefully I'll eventually find and watch all of his work.

'How Awful About Allan' is a pretty decent moody, intense, creepy psychological thriller with two of my favourite thespians in that department--Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris. It's a tad claustrophobic and difficult to get into at the start, because of this aforementioned intensity, but if you stick with it, it's quite intrinsically rewarding and definitely not a late-night waste of 90 minutes.

When Perkins' 'Allan' picks up a picture and says, 'Mother,' I couldn't help but smile. What an interesting and ill-fated actor.

Right from the start of this film I was captivated. This is one of those family drama films where one of them or someone else near the family is off their rocker - but who and why? It's a film that builds suspenseful steam towards it's climax with a stare at the end that only Anthony Perkins could pull off so well.

There are a couple of moments in the film where you will think of Psycho like when Allan or Anthony Perkins picks up a photo and says "Mother?" and that stare at the end. BUT the character of Allan is not like Norman Bates, you would have to watch "Allan" to see the clear differences in the two characters - which Perkins pulls both off well.

I have seen this film before - it's a vague memory - but was very pleased to see this one again. Well worth watching if you like GOOD made-for-TV films, Anthony Perkins and intense, dramatic psychological thrillers. They don't make 'em like this anymore folks.

9/10

Anthony Perkins became legendary and immortal thanks to "Psycho" in which he portrayed Norman Bates; a mentally very unstable boy with a more than unhealthy bond with his mother. I honestly wouldn't go as far as to call this typecasting, but in this slick and underrated TV-thriller Perkins depicts another mentally troubled young man and once again family issues are to blame for his condition! During the intro of the film we witness how Allan (Perkins) stares almost emotionless at the house fire that kills his father (a profound doctor) and mutilates his sister Katherine. From the shock, and probably also the guilt, Allan spontaneously loses his eye-sight. I didn't know this was possible, in fact, but the physician at the mental hospital carefully explains that Allan's blindness is purely psychosomatic. Eight months after the tragedy, Allan returns – arguably too soon – to his parental house to live with his sister who underwent plastic surgery to cover the burning wounds. Soon after his arrival, Allan becomes convinced that someone is trying to scare him away or even kill him, but his blurry visions can only identify a vague shape that wanders around the house. Is it the student tenant that his sister accepted into the house to generate an extra income? Or perhaps Katherine's old lover who returned from abroad and whom Allan never could stand? Or, who knows, perhaps Allan's fear of getting killed is only psychosomatic as well? "How Awful about Allan" is a typical TV-thriller from the early seventies, meaning that it benefices from a rather simplistic but nevertheless absorbing story, an atmosphere relying on suspense instead of action or gore and a handful of dedicated acting performances. The biggest trump here is that we, the audience, witness practically all the attacks from Allan's point of view and thus also only see vague shapes and blurred faces as well. Through this minor detail, director Curtis Harrington ("Games", "What's the matter with Helen?") upholds the mystery until the climax and makes it difficult for the viewer to make up his/her mind regarding Allan's true state of mind. There are a few powerful and creepy sequences, notably when a petrified Allan tries to drive off in a car and forgets for a moment that he's as good as blind. "How Awful about Allan" is perhaps not entirely on par with the absolute greatest TV-thrillers of the early seventies, but it's a good film and establishes the versatile talents of both its director Curtis Harrington and protagonist Anthony Perkins.