Mr. Spinks came through again for us this evening, with the straightforwardly titled "Terror in the Haunted House" (1958), which reminds me of "plain wrap" products that were sold briefly in the 1980s. Remember the white packaging and blue labels? They read "beer" or "peanut butter" or "napkins". There was no question about what you were getting, and no attempt to "sell" it. There were only simple nouns to describe each product. That's what this title reminds me of, plain wrap packaging. "Terror in the Haunted House". If you saw it in the store with a blue label, you'd know it contained Terror, and that the Terror took place inside a Haunted House. 'Nuff said, right?
The problem is that the title is misleading, because it sounds like a full-on horror flick, but it's actually more of a gothic melodrama. Also, that isn't the original title of the movie. It was first called "My World Dies Screaming", which is slightly more fitting for the subject matter but may have caused confusion years later with a movie called "The Earth Dies Screaming", which we saw early on in our Quarantine Cinematheque. My guess is that "My World Dies Screaming" was retitled for tv distribution around the time "Earth Dies Screaming" was released in theaters, in 1964. Finally, in the original version the movie was 85 minutes long. In it's retitled form, it's been edited down to 79 minutes, further suggesting a cut for television.
Cathy O'Donnell stars as "Sheila Wayne", a young woman being treated for suppressed memories at a Swiss sanitarium. She has a recurring nightmare of walking into an old house, which we retrace with her as the movie opens. Through Sheila's eyes we see the weed strewn yard, the peeling paint. The front door opens and she ascends the staircase, turning at the landing where she screams! at a shadow on a billowing curtain. It resembles a ghost. Sheila is awakened by her psychiatrist, who had her under hypnosis. "Once again you were unable to proceed to the next floor", he tells her. "There's some trauma up there that's blocking you. We'll continue to try to work through it, I'll see you again tomorrow". He won't have the chance, though, because that very afternoon Sheila's husband "Philip" (Gerald Mohr), an American like herself, checks her out of the sanitarium and takes her back to Florida.
Sheila barely knows Philip. She brings up their "whirlwind courtship" and marriage. "I don't even know your last name", she tells him. "Does that matter"?, he replies. "All I know is that I love you, and I guess that's all I need, if you love me too", she says.
"Of course I do, baby. Of course I do". Mohr is doing his Humphrey Bogart impersonation once again, but more on that later.
Sheila is a very fragile girl. Her psyche nearly cracks when she sees the house to which Philip has brought her. "Ohh, Philip! That's the house from my dream! How did you find it? Why have you brought me here"?
Sheila doesn't want to enter the house, so Philip uses logic to persuade her. "It's just a house, made of wood and nails. A house can't hurt you. If it looks like the one in your dream, that's just a coincidence". But when Sheila goes inside, everything is exactly the same, right down to the flickering shadow on the curtain. She feels her panic rising. "I can't stay here, Philip, I have to leave"!
Suddenly a man appears from a doorway. "That's right", he says. "You'll both have to leave right now".
Philip is outraged. "And who are you"?, he demands.
"My name is Jonah Snell. I'm the caretaker here. This house is not for rent. No one's lived here for seventeen years and the owner wouldn't want you on the property. You must go immediately".
Snell (John Qualen) is old and frail, so Philip bullies him. "We're not going anywhere", he says. "In fact, we're going to live here"!
Sheila recoils at this news, but Philip continues to placate her, sometimes Gaslighting Sheila to get his point across. "Darling, you aren't well. You've just gotten out of an asylum". What he doesn't mention is that he's the one who removed her, before she was cured. In moments alone with Jonah, Sheila asks him about the house. "There was a family who lived here named the Tierneys. There was a curse on 'em, I think. They all died except one. Folks called 'em the Mad Tierneys. The owner believes in the curse, too. That's why he don't want nobody living here".
For much of the film, we can't guess Philip's intent. Is he trying to get rid of Sheila, to scare her to death, or is he trying to help her to face the past? They move into the house, despite Jonah's protests. Sheila's nightmares begin anew. In one, she sees an old palm tree in the yard. On it are carved the initials "SW + PT". The next morning, she goes outside to discover the tree is still there. "Sheila Wayne.....that's me", she whispers. At breakfast she asks Philip again about his last name. "It's Tierney, isn't it? SW plus PT. You're Philip Tierney, the last of the Mad Tierneys. Now I know why I fell in love with you at first sight. I knew you as a child! We carved those initials ourselves"!
"Yes", he replies. "And you lived here too. Now you're beginning to remember". He encourages her to work through her dreams in order to rebuild her memory. It seems as if he really does love her. Then one day the owner shows up, a man named Mark (William Ching). He too orders the couple to leave, but his words have little force. Mark seems intimidated by Philip. Do they know each other? Something very strange is going on. Kindly old Jonah urges Sheila to protect herself. Earlier in the movie, someone removed the distributor cap from Philip's car, preventing them from leaving. But Philip never wanted to leave in the first place. Who can Sheila trust? She takes Jonah's advice and steals Philip's pistol, keeping it close at all times. Who is this Mark, anyway? He claims to own the house, but why does he kowtow to Philip? And what is Mark's last name? Is he a Tierney also? In Jonah's words "they all died, except one". The survivor is supposed to be Philip. Sheila has no escape. Now her memory is coming back, little by little, and it's more terrifying than ever. Will she be able to cross that psychological barrier in her nightmares, the one blocking her ascent on the staircase? The story boils down to that question.
Very early on, you discover that "Terror In The Haunted House" is not gonna be the Thriller Chiller you were expecting. There is plenty of spooky atmosphere, even a jump scare or two, but there are no ghosts or hobgoblins, none of the denizens you'd expect in your typical haunted house. Really, the haunting is all in Sheila's head. We're dealing with something similar to what we saw last night in "The Creeper". In that film, the Nora character was having nightmares of a childhood event in the West Indies. Here, Sheila is also recalling a horror from childhood. In both cases, the truth is being hidden from the young women. The only way they can get well is for it to be revealed. As with Janice Wilson last night, this is Cathy O'Donnell's film all the way. She is an incredibly sympathetic actress with a gift for portraying vulnerability. On a side note, she was in two Best Picture winners, "Ben-Hur" and "The Best Years of Our Lives". She is in every scene of this movie, so - just like Janice Wilson - the level of fear instilled in the audience depends entirely on her performance. She really has to sell it and she does. The excellent photography and shadowy lighting helps, too. The house is nicely rickety and overgrown and the other actors are generally good...........howwwwever :
This brings us back to Gerald Mohr. I like him; he's a good actor, and he's okay here. He's "okay", but really, he isn't right for the part. Mohr's main problem isn't that he looks like Bogie. It's that he's more suited to play tough guys or suave Lotharios. The thing about Humphrey Bogart is that he had great range. Watch his movies, see what he can do just with his eyes. He was incredible, could play all emotions with great nuance. Mohr is a serviceable actor, but I wish they'd stop putting him (or wouldn't have put him) in sci-fi and horror movies. We saw him in "Invasion USA", where the world was being bombed to smithereens, and what did Mohr do? He pulled his Frank Sinatra act, pouring Martinis and saying, "Don't worry, Baby. I'll getcha outta this". And that's more or less (or "Mohr" or less) what he does here. He's either menacing poor Shiela or turning on the charm, New York, New York-style. He goes from a grimace to a toothy smile, eyes twinkling, with nothing in between, no nuance. He's also at least fifteen years older than O'Donnell, so it's hard to believe their characters could have known one another as children. His casting doesn't ruin the film, and as I say, he's okay in the role, but he always does his Sinatra Thing and it doesn't work in scary movies. Someone should tell him that less is Mohr.
There is a murder in "Terror In The Haunted House", but I can't tell you who gets killed or who does it. Much of the plot development is revealed in great heaps through expository dialogue, so you can go a long time wondering what's happening, and then "all-at-once" there will be a scene where the characters bring you up to date. That happens a couple of times, but - like Mohr's performance - it doesn't take away from the overall effect of the movie, which builds up a palpable level of tension, mostly through O'Donnell's reactions to her surroundings. Because of her, it's a success. I give "Terror In The Haunted House" Two Solid Thumbs Up (almost Two Bigs) and recommend it, as last night, for fans of psychological horror and unknown gems. One final note : when you watch it on Youtube, you will notice some frames that flash by very quickly that at first seem to be damaged (I thought) or are just overexposed. Then this happens again......and again......and you finally realise what it is. The filmmakers used a gimmick they call "Psycho-Rama", where - in the Grand Tradition of subliminal advertising - they actually inserted single frames, into the scary scenes, that depict "cartoon" images of demons, with captions saying things like "Get Ready To Scream"! and "Die, Die, Die"! I attempted to freeze frame them but it didn't work. You'd need to go frame by frame on a dvd player; can't do it on the computer. Anyway, keep an eye out for the Psycho-Rama when you watch, lol. That is all. /////
I had a nice hike at Aliso this afternoon, and I finished "The Tower of Babel Moment" by Doctor Joe. Next I'm gonna begin his "Giza Death Star", the very first book he wrote, back in 2002. That's all I know for the time being. See you in a few hours at the Usual Time. :)
Tons and tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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