Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

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.

This is drive-in fodder. Cathy O'Donnell, born Ann Steel in Siluria, Alabama, appeared in some impressive movies in the post-war years -- "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "They Live By Night." The role of the girlish, loving figure fitted her. She was always winsome and delicate and had an attenuated but compelling beauty. She'd never have done "Mommie Dearest" or "MacBeth." She looks as youthful as ever here. Any normal man would want to mutter vacuous reassurances in her frightened ear, while cuddling her and biting her neck. Alas, she didn't have much of a life ahead of her and died at 48 of cancer and a stroke.Unfortunately, her husband here, Gerald Mohr, is only barely normal. You have to stretch the definition. He turns sinister the moment they arrive at the isolated mansion he's rented for them. He delivers his lines as if reading them for a male enhancement product and he has a high forehead. I immediately suspected him of being an illegal alien. All the aliens from outer space in the 50s drive-ins had overdeveloped frontal areas. But, no. I should have known. The aliens always have names like Gort, while his name is just plain Phil. His motives are benign. It's just that he believes in psychoanalytic mumbo-jumbo about repressed memories.Well, O'Donnell is scared to death of the house. This is not an old haunted mansion with cobwebs all over the place and Victorian tchotchkas on the shelves. It's a pedestrian modern house, only bigger than most. John Qualen has been the day caretaker but all he does is gulp, bug his eyes out, and act half crazy.The movie was shot in "Psycho-Rama," meaning there are instantaneous inserts of Halloween masks, unreadable subtitles, and other jokes. The 50s were the age of subliminal perception. The unconscious mind can grasp an image that's so brief that the rest of the mind doesn't see it. It seems to work, too, within limits but no one is playing with their stachistoscopes anymore.I won't get into the plot because it's so twisted I couldn't really follow it and because the entire movie is not worth the effort it would take to paper over the holes. O'Donnell gets to scream four times, I think, and faints once.It's hard to imagine what the kids were doing in their cars while this cheap and ill-written garbage unfolded on the drive-in screen. Maybe playing canasta.

I saw this movie years ago with a group of friends. It's been awhile but I can still remember what the basic idea of the film was. A guy we know swore on his life that this movie would scare the hell out of us because of the subliminal messages cut into the film. We realized about half way through the movie however that he may or may not have been high when he watched the film (he had a bit of a drug problem at the time). We found the movie more funny than scary due to the subliminal cuts being very noticeable and goofy looking, and the plot and overly dramatic dialogue was the standard fare for a 50's horror film. That being said though, I do remember the film being interesting as a technical ground-breaker for the genre. "My World Dies Screaming" would defiantly be worth a look to someone who was into the work of guys like Ed Wood (this film is better put together than Ed's work, but still unintentionally hilarious).