Genre:Thriller - Horror Release Date: Run time: minutes Director: Actors:
How Awful About Allan is a 1970 American made-for-television psychological thriller film, directed by Curtis Harrington, the first of two collaborations with writer Henry Farrell (the other was What's the Matter with Helen?), and starring Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris. It premiered as the ABC Movie of the Week on September 22, 1970 and was produced by prolific television producer Aaron Spelling.Allan (Perkins) is suffering from hysterical blindness following a fire that killed his father, a renowned academic who punished Allan as a child. The fire also facially scarred Allan's sister Katherine (Harris). Allan had accidentally left some cans of paint thinner near a heater which caught fire.Returning home partly cured after months in a hospital, Allan tries to adjust to his life back at home. Katherine has an ex-boyfriend who has gone away but who phones the house after Allan's return. She also takes in an odd boarder who she says has a throat injury and hence can only speak in a whisper. Allan is suspicious and afraid of the new boarder and when he begins to hear his name being whispered and partially sees a dark figure coming to get him, wonders whether he is crazy or whether someone is really out to get him. He records his suspicions on a reel-to-reel tape recorder in his bedroom.
