Picture Mommy Dead

During the early 1970's, channel 05 (KTLA-TV) showed the same movie during an entire week. This film was one of them.

I always enjoy this un-horror film. It was enjoyable seeing the extravagant life-style of a privileged, but not-so-wealthy dysfunctional family.

The late Don Ameche and the not-so-late Zsa Zsa Gabor were a delight. I highly recommend this film for those over 30 years of age.

This is one of schlock producer Bert I Gordon's best films. After watching her mother Jessica (Zsa Zsa Gabor) die in a mysterious fire, young Susan Shelley (Susan Gordon) is sent to a convent/mental hospital where she remains for three years. In the meantime, her father Edward (Don Ameche) has married Susan's former governess, Francene (Martha Hyer) who is also his former mistress. After Susan's release from the hospital, she returns with her father and stepmother to the family estate. Immediately, the familiar surroundings bring back visions of her dead mother, as well as a gnawing suspicion that it was she herself who is responsible for her mother's death. Meanwhile, the money-hungry Francene, who has exhausted her husband's share of his late wife's bequest, begins a campaign to return Susan to the hospital for good--thereby gaining the half million dollar inheritance held in trust for her. Enlisting the help of Susan's cousin Anthony (British actor Maxwell Reed and former husband of Joan Collins), Francene also seeks to learn the whereabouts of a magnificent diamond necklace she is sure Susan has hidden. An atmospheric production, filmed at the old Doheny estate in Beverly Hills, the scene of many subsequent films, an attractive musical score by Robert Drasnin, and fine acting by all (including Miss Gordon, the director's daughter) give this murder mystery spice. And the beautiful Martha Hyer gives it class. Look for screen veterans Signe Hasso (as a nun) Wendell Corey (as the family lawyer) and Anna Lee (as a friend of Jessica). A very good novelization of the screenplay was written by screenwriter Robert Sherman. Incidentally, the pressbook synopsis has a different ending!

I have a strange and inexplicable fondness for horror movies that feature eerie & sinister nursery rhymes… So, in spite of the mediocre rating and overall negative reviews around here, I already knew I was going to love "Picture Mommy Dead" from the very first minutes, because it opens with grim images of a woman's bedroom on fire and Zsa Zsa Gabor lying dead amidst the flames, and we simultaneously hear a kids' choir gently singing: "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out… in your stomach and out your mouth!" All this happens even before the equally macabre opening credits appear on screen. To me personally, there aren't many better ways to begin a horror movie. Furthermore I also shamelessly admit being an admirer of director Bert I. Gordon, even though he's widely considered as one of the worst in the genre and frequently the target of mockery in popular shows like MST3K. Although his oversized animal attack movies ("Food of the Gods", "Empire of the Ants") are undeniably more entertaining, "Picture Mommy Dead" might very well be Mr. BIG's finest achievements. Sure it's still a little rough around the edges, with some very inept editing and far too many dialogs that are overlong and laughably melodramatic, but nevertheless also an atmospheric film with seriously sick & disturbing themes and several powerfully uncomfortable sequences.

Edward Shelley goes to pick up his teenage daughter Susan in the secluded convent where she spent several years in order to process the traumatizing death of her mother. Susan is the primary heiress of her mother's fortune, which unwarily brings her in a lot of danger. Daddy got married again, with Susan's former governess Francine. She's a totally immoral and money-hungry woman who constantly manipulates Susans as well as her own husband, and she even non-stop suggests calling a head-doctor in order to accelerate Susan's return to the madhouse. There's also creepy Uncle Anthony, a nastily scarred freak who whispers in Susan's ear – in great detail – how her mother slowly and painfully burned to death. Even her own beloved daddy behaves mysteriously, because he's completely broke and only has access to the inheritance in case Susan dies or gets declared insane again. The poor girl soon begins to suffer from awful nightmares and vivid hallucinations, but are they real or inflicted on her by her hypocrite family members? Martha Hyer truly gives a remarkable performance as the wicked stepmother! Her exaggeratedly phony and hypocrite attempts to help Susan remember the whereabouts of a valuable necklace definitely form the highlights of the film! Also impressive are the numerous hallucination sequences, which are quite perverse and shocking for 1966. We have bleeding paintings, diabolical dolls, accusing furry animals and even a spontaneously combusting Zsa Zsa Gabor! In order to quickly cash in on the huge contemporary success of "The Birds", Bert I. Gordon is even clever enough to insert a couple of fierce falcon-attack sequences. The climax is deliciously demented and I daresay even somewhat romantic (in a sick and perverted kind of way). Apart from the aforementioned Martha Hyer and Zsa Zsa Gabor, "Picture Mommy Dead" also features notable and atypical performances from Don Ameche and Bert's own daughter Susan Gordon. Recommended, of course, what else did you think?

Glamorous and gowned Zsa Zsa Gabor (as Jessica Flagmore) burns to death as a giggling girl removes her jeweled necklace. Three years later, sullen director's daughter Susan Gordon (as Susan Shelley) is released from a religious sanitarium and convent. The teenage young woman still seems have some mental problems, due to the shock of seeing her mother burned to death. The nuns warn father Don Ameche (as Edward Shelley) and beautiful blonde step-mother Martha Hyer (as Francene) that Ms. Gordon needs tender loving care. Since the young woman inherited everything, her parents seem more interested in getting some money...

An appropriately melodramatic and cartooning delivery help make this a fun "drive-in"-type horror movie. It also found a re-run home on TV during a time when TV movies of this type enjoyed great popularity. Bert I. Gordon's "Picture Mommy Dead" probably inspired producers to put more stories like this on their "Movie of the Week" production schedules. Just enjoy the silliness, TV movie style and snazzy score by Robert Drasnin. "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, in your stomach and out your mouth," is a mysterious clue. It's set in majestic Greystone Mansion. As a bonus, you get to see Zsa Zsa Gabor go up in flames.

****** Picture Mommy Dead (11/2/66) Bert I. Gordon ~ Susan Gordon, Martha Hyer, Don Ameche, Zsa Zsa Gabor

34 years have not dimmed the memory of this super low budget thriller. The special effects remind me of a Mario Bava film because maximum use is made of camera angles and light and shadow. Mind you, I only saw this shocker once at a remote air base but, along with the early Dario Argentos (Bird, Cat & Flies), What's the Matter with Helen?, Who Slew Auntie Roo?, and Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, this flick hit my funnybone and I remember its twisted plot and shocking ending as fondly as I remember those schlocky Bill Castle masterworks, Homicidal and Strait-Jacket. Seriously, the film is a fun ride and if you like Grade B thrillers, you'll get a big kick out of it. So, please, put it on DVD before the film stock dissolves!