How Awful About Allan (1970) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Allan suffers from psychosomatic blindness, a physical loss of vision with no organic cause. His blindness developed after the traumatic fire that killed his father. The fire occurred when Allan, as a child, left cans of paint thinner near a heater, an act that triggered the blaze and led to his father's death. This guilt-ridden trauma manifested as a psychosomatic response, causing him to lose his sight.

Foreshadowing: The film hints at his blindness being psychologically rooted through his nightmares about hiding in dark cupboards and his father's punishments.

• psychomatic blindness
• fire trauma
• allan colleigh
• guilt

Katherine orchestrates the entire campaign against Allan because she blames him for their father's death. She disguised herself as the whispering boarder and set the fire in the pantry to either kill Allan or drive him further into madness. Katherine had even removed the facial scar she received from the fire, arguing it should have remained as permanent proof of Allan's crime, the death of 'the greatest man who ever lived.'

Foreshadowing: Katherine's constant pressure to have Allan institutionalized and her denial of seeing her ex-boyfriend foreshadow her personal vendetta.

• katherine
• attack
• pantry
• confrontation
• sibling rivalry

Allan's father died in the fire that scarred Katherine and caused Allan's psychosomatic blindness. As a child, Allan accidentally started the fire by leaving paint thinner cans near a heater. His father, described as a renowned academic who punished Allan harshly during childhood, perished in the blaze. The tragedy became the foundation of the family's collective trauma and Allan's profound guilt.

Foreshadowing: Allan's recurring nightmares about his father's punishments and the dark cupboard hint at the abusive dynamics that shaped the family.

• father death
• fire
• paint thinner
• killing

The whispering boarder is actually Katherine in disguise. She fabricated a throat injury to explain why she could only speak in whispers, allowing her to roam Allan's house unseen while terrorizing him with whispered threats. This elaborate scheme was designed to convince Allan he was losing his mind, providing Katherine with justification to have him committed back to the psychiatric hospital.

Foreshadowing: The boarder's arrival immediately after Katherine takes him in, combined with Allan's suspicion that someone in the house wants him institutionalized, sets up the reveal.

• boarder
• katherine
• whisper
• disguise
• plot

Katherine wants Allan permanently institutionalized because she blames him for their father's death and views his presence as an unbearable reminder of her trauma. After years of caring for him, she reaches her breaking point and tells Olive she will send Allan back to the hospital the next morning. Her plan is to finally be free of the brother she holds responsible for destroying their family.

Foreshadowing: Katherine's persistent pressure for Allan to seek psychiatric help again, combined with her refusal to acknowledge her own boyfriend's presence, reveals her growing desperation.

• hospital
• psychiatric
• katherine
• institution

Allan destroys the tape recorder in a moment of rage and despair after discovering that the whispered voice, his primary evidence of the conspiracy against him, can be heard on the tape even when Olive is not in the room. This proves the voice exists but also suggests his recordings may be unreliable or manipulated. The destruction represents his final attempt to hold onto concrete evidence being shattered by his own doubt and frustration.

Foreshadowing: Allan's recordings throughout the film build toward this moment of reckoning with the reliability of his own perceptions.

• tape recorder
• whisper
• evidence
• frustration

Allan's psychosomatic blindness returns after he receives a letter from Katherine, who is now institutionalized in a psychiatric facility, begging him for help to secure her release. The letter triggers a psychological relapse, demonstrating that his condition remains deeply tied to his unresolved guilt and family trauma. The cycle of trauma between the siblings continues, leaving Allan's recovery fragile and uncertain.

Foreshadowing: The brief normalcy of his music appreciation course and dinner with Olive is undercut by hints that the past remains unresolved.

• relapse
• blindness
• letter
• katherine
• psychomatic

Olive is Allan's former fiancée who tries to renew their relationship after his release from the mental hospital. She genuinely wants to help Allan recover, asking her to watch for the mysterious lodger. However, their relationship is complicated by Allan's paranoia and his inability to fully trust anyone. Despite this, Olive remains supportive and helps Allan after the cab accident, though she eventually sides with Katherine's plan to have him institutionalized.

Foreshadowing: Olive's attempts to reconnect and her role as a mediator between Allan and Katherine establish her as a figure of potential salvation or betrayal.

• olive
• fiancee
• relationship
• support

Katherine had the facial scar from the fire surgically removed because she viewed it as a symbol of her martyrdom, a visible mark proving Allan's guilt for their father's death. She believed the scar should have remained as permanent evidence of Allan's crime. Removing it represents her rejection of the narrative that she was merely a victim and her transformation into an aggressor willing to punish Allan herself.

Foreshadowing: Katherine's obsession with Allan's culpability and her refusal to discuss the fire openly foreshadow her extreme measures.

• scar
• facical scar
• katherine
• removal
• fire

Allan slashes his own arm in a startled reaction when a delivery boy appears at the kitchen window. His extreme response reflects his heightened paranoia and fragile mental state. The incident further convinces Katherine that Allan is unstable and needs to be returned to psychiatric care. This self-harm moment demonstrates how his fear has escalated to the point of physical self-destruction.

Foreshadowing: The attack occurs during one of Allan's paranoid episodes following the whispers and escalating disturbances in the house.

• self harm
• delivery boy
• arm
• panic

While alone in the car outside the university library, Allan hears the whispered voice again and panics, believing he is being hunted or manipulated. In his desperate attempt to escape, he tries to drive away but crashes the car. This incident intensifies his paranoia and reinforces his belief that someone is deliberately tormenting him.

Foreshadowing: The crash follows Olive's refusal to continue investigating the lodger directly, leaving Allan isolated and vulnerable.

• car crash
• panic
• whisper
• escape

Eric is Katherine's boyfriend who works as a cab driver. When Allan needs to travel to meet his psychiatrist, Eric arrives as the cab driver, but his croaky whispering voice, which he attributes to a cold, triggers Allan's intense paranoia. Allan immediately suspects Eric of being the whispering figure, though Eric is ultimately not the disguised boarder. Eric's involvement represents another instance where Allan cannot distinguish between real threats and his own psychological distortions.

Foreshadowing: Eric's presence is foreshadowed by Olive's claim to have seen Katherine's boyfriend in town, which Katherine denied.

• eric
• cab driver
• katherine
• boyfriend
• whisper