Fanatic (1965)

A young woman is terrorized by her deceased fiancé's demented mother who blames her for her son's death.This was the first film from director Silvio Narizzano, a Canadian under contract with Hammer. Narizzano's most successful film was "Georgy Girl" (1966), which received four Academy Award nominations. Unfortunately for genre fans, it seems that Narizzano spent very little time with Hammer or horror, and we have to settle for this one film, which is barely better than average.The standout role goes to Donald Sutherland, not surprisingly. I mean, Sutherland has consistently been the highlight of any film he appears in. While I am not very knowledgeable on his career, this must be one of his earlier roles... and he nails it.

Based on the 1961 novel "Nightmare" by Anne Blaisdell, this is a rather engrossing thriller. It was released in the US under the less subtle title "Die! Die! My Darling!", referring to a line of dialogue used towards the end, while the novel's title had already been used by Hammer for an unrelated film the previous year. This film belongs to the studio's post-"Psycho" cycle of psychological thrillers, which includes one of their absolute best films Taste of Fear. While it was nowhere near in the same league as that film, it nevertheless has a strong script by Richard Matheson which features many highly memorable moments. The weakest part of the film is the subpar, pedestrian and at times hysterical direction of Silvio Narizzano. It would have likely been better if one of Hammer's regular and more capable directors - Terence Fisher, Roy Ward Baker, Seth Holt, John Gilling, Val Guest, etc. - had directed it instead. That said, Matheson's script is able to paper over most of the holes.In her final film before her death in 1968, Tallulah Bankhead is wonderfully over the top as the venomous and deranged Mrs. Trefoile, the religious fanatic to end all religious fanatics. She does not allow any mirrors in her house as they promote the sin of vanity, she considers lipstick to be "filth" and she regards using condiments as an affront to God as the food that he created should be eaten unadorned. Bankhead is often very frightening as Mrs. Trefoile, though less so than Bette Davis as the monstrous title character in "The Nanny", and gets all of the best lines in the film. Mrs. Trefoile was once an actress and describes how her husband rescued her from the "pit of evil" - presumably Hollywood - and saved her soul from eternal damnation. Bankhead had last worked in said pit of evil 12 years earlier and photographs from her 1930s heyday are used to represent her character's previous career. In one of my favourite moments, Mrs. Trefoile matter-of-factly describes the parish's very nice new rector as an "evil man" since he remarried two years after his first wife's death. However, the best line in the film refers to a red dress: "Scarlet again. Destroy it!" It wasn't really meant to be funny but I couldn't help but laugh.In spite of a dodgy start, Stefanie Powers is quite good as Patricia Carroll, who finds herself the victim of Mrs. Trefoile's tyranny. She was never exactly a superb actress but she had become a considerably more polished and engaging one by the time that she starred in "Hart to Hart". The unfortunate Patricia was engaged to Mrs. Trefoile's son Steven before his death several years earlier and, over the objections of her new fiancé Alan Glentower, decides to pay her respects to the aforementioned psycho in her house in a quiet, secluded corner of England. Mrs. Trefoile soon comes to view her as a degenerate Jezebel as she does not attend church regularly, wears lipstick and likes to see her reflection on occasion. She blames Patricia for Stephen's death and is deeply disturbed - not that she had far to go - when she learns that Patricia would not have married him even if he had not died. In order to save Patricia's soul from the temptations of the flesh / salt, she holds her captive in her attic with the help of her servants Harry and Anna and attempts to starve her into repentance. Bit of an extreme reaction, really. Patricia is a very strong and resilient character who refuses to bow down to Mrs. Trefoile even though her life is placed at serious risk for the last two-thirds of the film. There is a great sense of tension between the two women, which has more to do with the performances and the writing than the directing. The way that Mrs. Trefoile says "Patricia" was enough to send a chill down my spine!Peter Vaughan is excellent as Harry, a former criminal who attempts to rape Patricia at one point. Mrs. Trefoile saves her but not out of the goodness of her heart. Yootha Joyce is very good as Harry's long suffering wife Anna, who displays a misplaced loyalty towards her mistress (and her husband) and does the most to assist Mrs. Trefoile in trying to save Patricia's soul. Maurice Kaufmann is perfectly fine but fairly forgettable as Alan. I took an instant and intense dislike to him in the opening scene when he tried to order Patricia around - even using the word "order" - but he redeemed himself towards the end. In one of his first films, Donald Sutherland, who is a superb actor, plays the severely intellectually impaired gardener Joseph but does not have much of an opportunity to display his great skill on this occasion. Although he worked in the UK extensively during this time, this was his only appearance in a Hammer film. Overall, this is a very enjoyable film in spite of the often shoddy and amateurish direction.

As thrillers go, DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! really isn't all that bad; it has all the necessary elements of the genre and the acting is several steps above the average for this kind of film.The plot is a tad bit predictable, but not uninteresting: Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers) comes to London to marry her fiancé Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). One day she decides to pay a visit in the country to Mrs Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead in her final film), the mother of her former fiancé Stephen, who died in a car accident. Why? We're not sure; to pay respects, maybe.BIG MISTAKE. Because the old woman is certifiable, blames Pat for her son's death, and before either we or Pat know what we are about, the old bat has the poor woman locked in a room, refusing to give her food, and reading daily to her from the Bible to "purify" her for her "reunion" with Stephen (whose death we find out at some point was in fact a suicide). And the batty old thing has managed to infect her house servants Anna (Yootha Joyce) and Harry (Peter Vaughan) with her peculiar brand of insanity, or maybe there's money in it for them, but they do her bidding without question. Also on the premises is Joseph (Donald Sutherland, unrecognizable in a sensational performance), a developmentally disabled young man who does odd jobs around the house and who might help Pat but in his innocence he runs everything by the old lady.The hour or so that Powers spends fighting to escape has its moments: when Pat tries to outwit Mrs Trefoile (she comes close a couple of times) the excitement picks up; Powers, as always, is fiercely intelligent even when playing the victim. Which makes her lack of success slightly hard to swallow, especially since it's a while before the old bat finally pulls out a gun. In fact, the moment when Pat informs the old woman that her son killed himself, the loony old thing shouts "LIE!" and belts her across the mouth. And Pat just sort of shrinks away. This to me was the one flaw in the plot: Powers's character is intelligent, strong, and not a shrinking violet; WHY she doesn't just punch the old bat's lights out is somewhat of a mystery, but if she had, most of the movie would not exist.The acting, as is often true of Hammer films, is excellent. Tallulah Bankhead brings her own exceptional style to the Grand Guignol proceedings; as a final film, it is nothing to be ashamed of. She runs the gamut from terrifying to hilarious with her usual panache.Yootha Joyce and Peter Vaughan as the mysterious couple who keep house for Mrs Trefoile deliver splendid performances; just enough weirdness mixed with a drop of humanity to keep the viewer guessing. And Donald Sutherland, as I have mentioned before, is so good I didn't even recognize him and I've been a fan for over forty years.The viewer has only one hurdle to jump: to buy the premise that a strong, healthy young woman could so easily be overpowered by a frail old woman. Bankhead is a formidable presence but Powers is forced to play the shrinking violet in some scenes to make her credible as a victim. Some of that doesn't work all that well, but otherwise the movie is jolly good fun.Pass the popcorn.

Welcome to the Tallulah universe! What a force, what presence, what skill! Right now I can't think of any other actor that has captivated me more than Ms. Bankhead. And I can say that about practically every film she has made. She so completely dominates the screen there is precious little space for anyone else.Now a few words about the film. Other than the at times silly soundtrack there's not much to fault here. It's a solid thriller with its share of surprises and gotcha moments. All the elements are tied together very well. For instance we learn why the caretaker couple, Harry and Anna, stay with their obviously deranged employer (the inheritance). I particularly liked Mrs. Trefoile's retort when Pat offered Anna tons of money to let her go. It's precious, so precious I won't give it away here.This is my third viewing and I must admit to having new-found respect for Stefanie Powers. She more than ably acquitted herself in the face of that on-screen hurricane that is Tallulah Bankhead. Perhaps she was inspired in the presence of excellence.