Glamorous and gowned Zsa Zsa Gabor (as Jessica Flagmore) burns to death as a giggling girl removes her jeweled necklace. Three years later, sullen director's daughter Susan Gordon (as Susan Shelley) is released from a religious sanitarium and convent. The teenage young woman still seems have some mental problems, due to the shock of seeing her mother burned to death. The nuns warn father Don Ameche (as Edward Shelley) and beautiful blonde step-mother Martha Hyer (as Francene) that Ms. Gordon needs tender loving care. Since the young woman inherited everything, her parents seem more interested in getting some money...

An appropriately melodramatic and cartooning delivery help make this a fun "drive-in"-type horror movie. It also found a re-run home on TV during a time when TV movies of this type enjoyed great popularity. Bert I. Gordon's "Picture Mommy Dead" probably inspired producers to put more stories like this on their "Movie of the Week" production schedules. Just enjoy the silliness, TV movie style and snazzy score by Robert Drasnin. "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, in your stomach and out your mouth," is a mysterious clue. It's set in majestic Greystone Mansion. As a bonus, you get to see Zsa Zsa Gabor go up in flames.

****** Picture Mommy Dead (11/2/66) Bert I. Gordon ~ Susan Gordon, Martha Hyer, Don Ameche, Zsa Zsa Gabor

PICTURE MOMMY DEAD sees director Bert I. Gordon return to movies after slowing down his output considerably since his 'giant critter' boom in the 1950s. This time around he tackles a LES DIABOLIQUES psycho-thriller style movie with lots of mystery surrounding a traumatic death in the past. It's a small scale production which focuses on a quartet of characters with their own motivations and mysterious pasts. Susan Gordon, the director's own daughter, plays the lead role but isn't particularly convincing in the part, although Don Ameche as her father is okay. Most of the fun comes from the smaller parts like Maxwell Reed's scarred handyman and Wendell Corey's arch lawyer. The film's pacing is rather plodding and it only gets fun at the climax, but it's well shot and lively enough at times.

"Picture Mommy Dead" was poorly written, poorly acted at times and very poorly directed. Other than that, it was terrific.

The film begins with a fire and a lady (Zsa Zsa Gabor) burning to death. In the next scene, years have passed and the dead woman's daughter is being checked out of a mental institution by her father. Apparently, she witnessed the killing and her mind snapped. Once she's home, however, it soon becomes rather apparent that she is rather demented and she keeps having weird hallucinations and recollections about the night her mother died. Her evil step-mother (Martha Hyer) wants to take advantage of these memories, as there was a super-valuable necklace that disappeared that night--and this nasty woman wants it all for herself. Where does all this end? See the film...or not.

The worst acting was Susan Gordon who played the mentally ill daughter. If the name sounds familiar, she's the director's daughter and her acting is highly reminiscent of Sophia Coppola's in "The Godfather III". Surprisingly, Don Ameche (the father) is pretty bad as well, as he seemed awfully zombie-like at times. Only Hyer came off well. But regardless, the dialog was often dumb and the murder with the grappling hook surprisingly stupid. Not at all good but not so bad that it would be of interest to folks due to its kitsch value.