1965 British film by Silvio Narizzano
Fanatic
(U.S. title:
Die! Die! My Darling!
) is a 1965 British
horror
thriller film
directed by
Silvio Narizzano
for
Hammer Films
. It stars
Tallulah Bankhead
,
Stefanie Powers
,
Peter Vaughan
,
Yootha Joyce
,
Maurice Kaufmann
and
Donald Sutherland
.
[1]
Released in theaters on 21 March 1965 in
United Kingdom
, it was filmed at
Elstree Studios
and on location in
Letchmore Heath
,
Hertfordshire
, during the summer of 1964. It was Bankhead's final feature film.
Plot
[
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]
An American woman, Patricia Carroll, arrives in London to marry her lover Alan Glentower. Before tying the knot, however, Patricia pays a visit to Mrs. Trefoile, the mother of her deceased fiance Stephen, who died in an automobile accident several years earlier. Trefoile resides in a secluded house on the edge of an English village. She is fanatically religious, and it soon becomes apparent that she blames Patricia for her son's death. Indeed, when Patricia reveals to her that she never actually intended to marry Stephen, Trefoile enlists the aid of her servants, Harry and Anna, in holding Patricia captive so she can exorcise the young woman's soul. After several attempts to escape the Trefoile house, one of which nearly results in Patricia's being sexually assaulted by Harry, she is rescued by Alan; and in the end, Mrs. Trefoile winds up dead with a knife in her back, the same knife with which she earlier attempted to murder Patricia.
Cast
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]
Critical reception
[
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]
Variety
wrote that the film "should click with fright fans," praising Narizzano's direction as "imaginative" and the script as having dialogue that was generally "fresher than most pix of its class" while giving Bankhead "numerous chances to display virtuosity, from sweet-tongued menace to maniacal blood-lust."
[2]
The Monthly Film Bulletin
wrote: "Though uneven in tone (to put it mildly), this piece of extravagance is at least consistently enjoyable ... One suspects here a laudable determination in Miss Bankhead not to be outdone by
Bette Davis
'
Baby Jane
. Still, why cavil? There is enough here to give horror addicts a field day on various levels."
[3]
A. H. Weiler
of
The New York Times
wrote that although Bankhead "towers above the cast and story, her present effort adds little to her record."
[4]
The film maintains a 50% rating on
review aggregation
website
Rotten Tomatoes
based on 10 reviews.
[5]
See also
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References
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External links
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