How Awful About Allan (1970)

A young man (Anthony Perkins) returns home from a hospital following the death of his father (Kent Smith) in a fire which also disfigured his sister's (Julie Harris) face. The trauma causes a psychosomatic blindness in the young man. But when a mysterious college student rents a room in the house, he becomes paranoid that the boarder wants to do him harm. Based on the novel by Henry Farrell (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?), this is a neatly done thriller if rather obvious. Since we only see the student through the protagonist's blurry vision, we know the film makers don't want us to see the boarder for a reason. The director Curtis Harrington specialized in these horror melodramas like WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? and GAMES and he keeps the creepy ambience moving along nicely with solid performances by Perkins and Harris though Perkins at this point in his career could do this kinds of parts blindfolded. The weak underscore is by Laurence Rosenthal (THE MIRACLE WORKER). With Joan Hackett and Robert H. Harris.