Lower Decks

This movie, also known as My World Dies Screaming, was released in 1958 and utilized a process called “Psycho-Rama” in an attempt to make the movie even more frightening for viewers. The title card exclaimed: “The FIRST picture in… PSYCHO-RAMA! The Four Dimension! Using Subliminal Communication!” At certain intervals during the movie — I noticed them mostly during the first few minutes — images were flashed on the screen. Subliminally, these images supposedly would instill within viewers an unconscious fear in addition to the more conscious fear they should feel thanks to the storyline.

These subliminal images are hilarious. And the storyline? I thought it was more or less a solid suspense thriller but not frightening at all. And to be quite honest, it wasn’t much of a horror movie. There were no supernatural elements to speak of, no paranormal events or monsters. In fact, Terror in the Haunted House is really something of a misnomer and I actually prefer My World Dies Screaming.

The movie stars Gerald Mohr and Kathy (Cathy) O’Donnell as Philip and Sheila Justin, newlyweds with a big ole problem. Sheila has terrible nightmares of a house and a staircase. She doesn’t know what is so frightening about the staircase but it terrifies her to no end. So, when Philip takes her back to the United States and drives her right up to the house from her dreams, she’s understandably unnerved. There’s a creepy man named Jonah taking care of the house who apparently sabotages Philip’s car so they can’t leave.

For Philip, the house offers an opportunity for Sheila to work through her nightmare. But Sheila doesn’t feel the same. The owner of the house, Mark Snell, eventually shows up. He knows Philip and decides to stick around for a few days. He insists that Sheila should leave. Philip is eventually revealed as Philip Tierney, the last of the Mad Tierneys, who lived in the house decades before. Sheila lived nearby and played with Philip, falling in love with him in the process. But Mark and Sheila determine that poor Philip is just as mad as his grandfather was when he killed is own sons with an axe.

Whew. What a lot of family drama. Does Philip really want to kill Sheila? The movie certainly makes it seem like he does. Mark is forced to leave Sheila alone in the house with Philip. But she can’t shoot him when he makes his way into her room. Instead, she declares her love for him. Astonishing. Maybe she’s the crazy one (she did spend some time in a sanitarium as a child). She offers to do anything to help Philip. Anything but go up into the attic. But that’s just what Philip wants!

It was about this point in the movie that things started falling into place. Philip wasn’t crazy at all. Mark (his cousin) was. And it wasn’t Philip’s grandfather who killed his father and uncle, it was Jonah (Mark’s father, married to Philip’s aunt). Sheila had been in the attic when Jonah attacked with the axe and the experience gave her a mental breakdown. Mark, who had earlier killed Jonah, attempts to kill Philip but instead impales himself on the back end of an axe. Philip and Sheila live happily ever after and the world knows that the Tierneys weren’t mad.

I was amazed at the resemblance between Gerald Mohr and actor Pernell Roberts (of Bonanza fame). At times I honestly thought it was Adam Cartwright on the screen. And during the climactic showdown between Mark and Phillip, actor John Qualen (who played Mark) looked an awful lot like Adam West. It made for unusual viewing. Cathy O’Donnell was suburb as Sheila, especially her screams.

Here’s one of the subliminal images:

Subliminal Image from Terror in the Haunted House

Horrifying.