Strait Jacket (1964)

Synopsis: Joan Crawford followed up her role in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? with this full-bodied horror film from producer-director William Castle and writer Robert Bloch (PSYCHO). Crawford plays Lucy Harbon, who in the film's opening moments hacks her husband and his lover to pieces with an ax.... Joan Crawford followed up her role in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? with this full-bodied horror film from producer-director William Castle and writer Robert Bloch (PSYCHO). Crawford plays Lucy Harbon, who in the film's opening moments hacks her husband and his lover to pieces with an ax. Twenty years later, Lucy is let out of the asylum to live with her daughter, now played by Diane Baker. Unfortunately, the daughter lives on a farm replete with chicken, pigs...and axes--and before long it's not just the chickens that are losing their heads. Everything is surprisingly effective in this suspenseful film, but Crawford especially is a knockout. She acts whole pages of dialogue with a single pained glance, moving believably from touchingly vulnerable to homicidally enraged with ease. Also noteworthy is George Kennedy as a deranged farmhand and the ripely paranoid score from Van Alexander. Fans of Crawford and PSYCHO will want to do themselves the favor of checking out this inspired, delightfully grim little shocker. [More]