What's the Matter with Helen?

It was interesting to see the comments preceding my entry. I saw this movie when it first came out when I was 11 years old and it was really frightening at the time. The gruesome murders that the sons committed combined with the gory flashbacks and the maniacal ending burned images in my mind that lasted for years later.

I couldn't appreciate or recognize any of the factors that may make it considered camp now. All I can say is that getting that last shot of Debbie Reynolds out of my head while trying to fall asleep took a long, long time.

In New York, the sons of Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds) and Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) are convicted for a dreadful murder. Adelle decides to move to Hollywood to open a dance school and invites the religious Helen to go with her. They change their names to Adelle Stuart and Helen Martin and are successful in the school. When Adelle meets the millionaire Linc Palmer (Dennis Weaver), they fall in love with each other. But soon Helen is haunted by their ghosts from the past and affects her behavior and relationship with Adelle.

"What's the Matter with Helen?" is a great crime film with excellent performances. The plot is mysterious and Shelley Winters is fantastic in the role of a deranged woman. The dark conclusion is perfect for the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Obsessão Sinistra" ("Sinister Obsession")

From the writer of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush .. Hush, Sweet Charlotte," this tail-end of the sixties horror cycle has some eerie and campy fun. Micheál Macliammóir does a Victor Buono-type bit, but too often the movie totters dangerously close to a bad musical ... there's a particularly awful children's recital about halfway through. Debbie taps, tangos and tricks up a lá Harlow, while Winters' religious fanatic has a lesbian edge to her. Agnes Moorehead checks in as an evangelist. Weaver has nothing to do - and even has to pay a gigolo to dance with Debbie.

It has taken me 24 years to find the courage to see this film again. Like another reviewer here, I was too young when I first saw this movie back in 1971 at the tender age of 7 (what were my parents thinking?!), and it's disturbing visuals have haunted me all of my life. This is a gory, gruesome film, all things considered, with quick, effective shots of mangled bodies and cute furry creatures. And that ending! Seeing Debbie's face again in the finale after all these years conjured up my repressed childhood chills once again.

Overall, a very effective film with a "Tales from the Crypt-esque" ending and some superb acting.

The movie takes place in the 1930s--The mothers (Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters) of two murdering sons run away to Hollywood after their sons are convicted. They change their names and open a dance studio for children. Reynolds quickly adjusts to her new life and falls for a nice guy (Dennis Weaver). However Winters keeps having flashbacks to her husband's bloody accident that killed him--or was it an accident? This film looks fantastic. Curtis Harrington was a very good, underrated director and he did a great job here. The settings and costumes are incredible and perfectly fit the 1930s. However the story doesn't flow smoothly. It runs in fits and starts and comes to a screeching halt for THREE musical numbers with the kids and Reynolds! Also a certain murder at the end was drastically cut to avoid an R rating (the director was not happy about it). But the acting saves it. Reynolds is superb in a very dramatic and hard role. I never thought she could act till I saw this. Winters chews the scenery (as usual) but in a fun way. Also, despite the GP (now PG) rating this is pretty bloody and the shock ending is totally ruined by being on the poster AND the theatrical trailer! Still it's worth catching.