Must See Movie...

Good movie but grossly overrated

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I watched this realizing it was a "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" knock-off, and that it might offer some campy thrills. It does, but not to the extent that I expected it would, and somehow the whole thing just falls kinda flat. Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds are excellent, and the characters are well-realized and interesting. But the film is surprisingly slow: long stretches of dance recitals and plodding dating scenes between Debbie and Dennis Weaver interrupt the building tension far too often, and one could claim that not much happens for the first 50 minutes or so. It feels like a ballsy horror concept that was ultimately neutered, which has some basis in reality: apparently NBC forced the violence to be toned down so that it could eventually air on television. It doesn't approach the greatness of Baby Jane, but fans of the actresses or aficionados of the sub-genre will find it interesting.

Curtis Harrington is the most. i'd say to die for but that would be a pun that waxes ironic. but Harrington makes creepy psychological horror that is hard to resist not only because of the morbidity of their fascination but because they are so elegant, refined and obviously tailored to be so entertaining and fun.'What's The Matter With Helen' is a lot of creepy fun but it is also very stylish and extremely well crafted stuff. not only are Reynolds and Winters outstanding and memorable, but the production design and screenplay are above par. not to mention one of the wickedest and slyest sense of humour in dark comedy. the humour is so sly and subtle that it never relies on obvious or out and out gags. most people would hardly even realize there is even humour at play here.there have been complaints about there being too many plot holes within the story here. i disagree. you just have to pay more attention to the situation. if there is any fault here with the story is that there is possibly too much happening for the viewer to comprehend easily on one viewing. but the plot is coherent and tied together correctly, it just gets a little hard to follow with all the events that transpire. but in the long, it all makes perfect sense. there is also a real sense of believable timing here like in the suddenness of Helen's homicidal rage.as with Harrington's 'Auntie Roo', i feel like i'm giving short change by only rating this with eight stars. his film's have so much quality you feel they warrant more consideration. possibly so. maybe time will tell. where i'm concerned, Harrington's film's feel too entertaining and are too much fun, and that seems to be the ultimate point to them, which makes their contributions seem somewhat light and superficial. as far as entertaining fun goes, they are cinema classics.at any rate i think this film is a real hoot and holler. there may be better horror films and thrillers than this, but few as perfectly done and few are as fun as this.

Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds moved to California to escape from the scandal of their boys who killed a girl and went to prison for it, and all the gossip. Once there, they're still hounded by a stalker who keeps calling them. This all gives Shelley Winters a nervous breakdown. But, when did it really start, the viewer is thinking as the movie progresses. Shelley Winters is great as usual, as she is in everything she's in. And, the movie is successful in capturing the time period of the 30s/40s.But still, the movie, seen once, doesn't really require or demand a second viewing, in my opinion of course. Henry Farrell was obviously trying to emulate the success of "Baby Jane" and "Sweet Charlotte", both of which he wrote and became huge box office hits, and this is similar in tone. But it is in no way as good as either of them. If you want to see it, you'll be glad you did, in order to complete the horror genre with big stars in them. But, once you find out about Helen's problem, she's better left alone.

Besides being the usual strange, this movie although entertaining was everything and I do not mean that in a good way. The movie was cult,psychological thriller, musical, film noir, horror,spoof. It could have been written by anyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Stanley Kramer to Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorcese. Although this movie seemed to cover every genre from A-Z and probably did this intentionally... I believe this detracted from the movie. Sometimes this works but it did not in this film. I managed to make this movie the whole way through. I must say I did it in 'chapters'. I saw this film in 4 sittings. I thought the plot, truly was a good one. I also thought the actors were fine, except for the Shirley Temple wannabe, she was talentless and casting could have been better for her. Maybe it was rushed or they needed her on the cheap to keep in budget because of the other higher priced actors. Incidentally there was good acting from some veteran actors. One major twist in the last 15 minutes that was superb, other parts of the ending were expected. This was a fair film and worth watching but certainly lacked. Maybe best way to explain this. Going to a swank restaurant where everyone is wearing cutoff shorts, ripped t's and sandals and the food is only so so.