My World Dies Screaming (1958)

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Starting off with the Joan Fontaine like opening narration from "Rebecca", this little thriller is more mysterious than horrific. There's no real haunted house as the alternate title suggests, only a gloomy old Florida mansion that looks like it could be haunted, yet filled with as much mystery as the young Fontaine found in Manderlay. Delicate flower Cathy O'Donnell has been having issues with nightmares, dreaming about this gloomy mansion she claims she has never been to in her life. Her new husband (Gerald Mohr) is a mysterious sort, rather like Maxim De Winter, and perhaps keeping some secrets that make it appear as if he is "Gaslighting" her. They leave on their honeymoon and when O'Donnell sees the mansion she has been dreaming of when they arrive at their destination, she is instantly horrified. Mohr tells creepy groundskeeper (John Qualen) that they've rented the house, and soon it becomes obvious that he knows something more than he's telling, especially when a distant relative of his (William Ching) shows up and begins to plant ideas in O'Donnell's head that Mohr might be out to kill off the entire family to escape a curse, including her.With its two different titles and the advertising reflecting otherwise, this film might disappoint those looking for another "House on Haunted Hill" or 'The Haunting", but if you go in knowing that this is quite different, you might find yourself intrigued by the various thrills that do pop up in this often slow moving saga. Certainly, the house does look creepy, like a vacation getaway for Katharine Hepburn's "Suddenly Last Summer" character, with its ivy covered frame and the unkempt grounds overgrown with dying palm trees and other vegetation that provides plenty of atmosphere. O'Donnell's character is perhaps a bit too fragile to be believable or for some audiences to take seriously, and Mohr's moody character has various moments where he seems both alternately sane and loco. Qualen gives some depth to his groundskeeper, and is perhaps the most interesting character in the film. Ching is obviously influenced greatly by the George Sanders character in "Rebecca". which makes me wonder how this would have been had there been a Mrs. Danvers like housekeeper who knew all but revealed little.

Pretty easy to figure out if you've seen a lot of movies where the poor wife is left to decide whether to go in "that" room. In this one a couple newlyweds come to live in a house. It turns out that the woman has been in Switzerland since she was seven. She has been having recurring dreams and they take place in "this" house. When they get there they are greeted by a spooky caretaker who makes cryptic comments about previous residents. We suspect the husband is up to something shady. Of course, one must question why he would get married just to bring this poor neurotic woman to the place occupying her incredible fear. The owner of the house wants her out of there because he knows it can't be healthy for her. But, while a lot of clichés are here, this is a decent movie with lots of twists and turns. I won't even comment on the stupid subliminal junk that is imposed on the video.

Although the practice of using subliminal advertising--that is, flashing messages on a movie or TV screen for a fraction of a second, too quickly to register with the human brain but capable of having a subconscious effect--was banned by television stations and by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958 (and, years later, was claimed to be ineffective), it wasn't in time to prevent the first big-screen film from using the technique. That picture, originally released under the artier and more appropriate title "My World Dies Screaming," and years later, for home viewing, as "Terror in the Haunted House" (a somewhat misleading appellation), turns out to be an interesting enough little film that hardly requires this tiresome gimmick (presented as "Psycho-Rama" here!). In it, we meet a pretty newlywed, Sheila, who has been going to a psychiatrist in Switzerland to cure her of recurring dreams involving an old house, and, most particularly, of a flight of steps in that house leading to a cobwebbed attic. And when Sheila's new husband, Philip, brings her to America to stay at that EXACT SAME HOUSE, her nightmares become a living reality, and the viewer is thrown into a state of confusion about whether Philip is trying to help his new bride or, a la "Gaslight," perhaps drive her insane....For a cheaply made "B picture," "My World Dies Screaming" is surprisingly effective, and most of the credit for the film's success must surely go to Cathy O'Donnell in the lead. O'Donnell, who most viewers might remember from the 1946 classic "The Best Years of Our Lives" as well as for appearing in the cult item "They Live By Night" and the excellent film noir "Side Street" (both from 1949 and both costarring Farley Granger), is truly excellent here, lovely and appealing, and appearing in every single scene of the film. Gerald Mohr, playing Philip, gives a nicely ambiguous portrayal (many viewers will remember him from the following year's "The Angry Red Planet"), and the film's other three performers (Barry Bernard as Sheila's shrink, John Qualen as the house's uberstrange caretaker, and Bill Ching as Philip's cousin) are all fine as well. Harold Daniels directs his picture competently, eliciting chills on a regular basis, although it must be said that the film seems a bit eerier in its first half. Still, the mystery of Sheila's nightmares, and her familiarity with a house she's never been in, is a fascinating one, and keeps the viewer involved throughout; to the film's credit, the resolution of that mystery entails a surprisingly complex backstory that does manage to tie up every loose end. As to those subliminal messages, they ARE visible, although only a frame-by-frame viewing on your DVD player will reveal their contents. Basically, they consist of demon masks with the following captions: "Scream." "Scream Bloody Murder." "Prepare To Die." And "Die Die Die." (One message, very amusingly inserted by the DVD manufacturer, exhorts us to "Buy Rhino Videos Every Day"!) As I mentioned before, these flashes of...something become hokey after a while, and the film is good enough to stand on its own without them. It's nothing great, surely, but is an engaging entertainment nevertheless. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to wrap up this little review and run down to the grocery store. For some strange reason, I've just developed a sudden urge to purchase popcorn, Goobers and Raisinets....

I saw this under the title Terror in the Haunted House. I didn't know anything about this movie and I didn't bother to look up any information about it. So, I presumed it could be some creepy ghost story like The Haunted. But nevertheless I didn't have to disappoint. Well, maybe a little bit because I learned what is the Psycho-Rama and subliminal message in the film.The story first seems simple but as more the movie grows the more peculiar and more complex it goes. It has so much plot twists that even M. Night Shyamalan would be envious. The film builds up the tension and pace so fast that the ending seems to comes too abruptly. And I will go that far and call this movie little bit Hitchcockian. But remind, this is more a suspense-thriller than a horror film. Otherwise it would have been decent movie but those ridiculous subliminal messages(?). Why were they needed anyway?Overall My World Dies Screaming is nice entertaining B-flick with great performances.