1/18/18

Blood Capsule #85

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN (1970)

Why am I reviewing another Anthony Perkins flick?  I don't rightly know.  I do know that this is a favorite of Phil Anselmo, so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.  Ten minutes in, and I realized that I had seen it years ago.  How Awful About Allan is...okay.  Perkins plays that Allen fellow, a music lecturer (???) who enters a mental facility after an accidental fire claims the life of his father and maims his sister.  Eight months later, he returns home under his sister's care.  Oh, and he was blinded by guilt.  Is that a real thing?  Can you be blinded by guilt?  The film never mentions the fact that he isn't 100% blind; his vision is just severely blurred.

Eh, nevermind.  This is a made-for-TV jobby and it looks/smells like one.  It's a fairly bland production.  The acting is understated, even from Perkins.  Imagine that!  I don't want to pick on the man because technically, his performance is character-appropriate.  However, apart from a fistful of pictures (including The Edge of Sanity), he's always in "low key" mode.  A mere observation.  The ending is easy to calculate.  I remember guessing the twist during my first viewing and being let down.  I'm moping to a supererogatory extent, aren't I?  Let's end this fucker on an upbeat note.  How Awful About Allan was directed by Curtis Harrington, a bloke responsible for Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell!  Don't you feel better now?

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