Themes: Death of a Child, Haunted By the Past, Mothers and Sons
Main Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Maurice Kaufmann, Yootha Joyce, Donald Sutherland
Release Year: 1965
Country: UK
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This Hammer film production is a surprisingly frightening horror thriller and a hoot-fest for lovers of over-the-top acting. Young Pat Carroll (Stefanie Powers) goes to the home of her dead fiancé to meet his beloved mother, Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead). There, she discovers that Mrs. Trefoile is not the loving mother she had anticipated, but rather a grieving psychopath who blames Pat for the death of her son. Tallulah Bankhead, in her last film, has never been know for her subtle acting, but in this she lets go of all restraint and gives a performance equal to that of Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Her maniacal intensity is comic, camp, and surprisingly effective. Stefanie Powers, who underplays her role, is a great contrast as the puzzled and then terrified Pat. This movie is a must-see for all lovers of camp horror movies or fans of the memorable Tallulah Bankhead. Die! Die! My Darling! was also released as Fanatic. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
Hammer certainly knew its way around exploitation films, and Die! Die! My Darling! is one of their most entertaining. Great cinema? Not for one moment, but it never pretends to be. What's surprising about Die! Die! is that it is actually a better film than it is reputed to be. Is it camp? Yes, there's plenty of camp here, but it's not an unrelieved camp-fest -- and the camp doesn't get in the way of the suspense and horror elements that are at the core of the film. Is Tallulah Bankhead over the top? Of course, but so is the character, and Bankhead actually calibrates her performance very carefully so that it doesn't become repetitive and wearing. There are any number of moments when Bankhead underplays, which make those moments when she really lets go that much more impressive. In addition, Richard Matheson's screenplay is very well structured, if a bit mechanical, and it mixes the genuinely disturbing with some delicious black comedy. The script's biggest failing, unfortunately, is its inability to make the character of Pat really believable (through no fault of Stefanie Powers, who does a fine job). The viewer can't really accept that Pat would have stayed with someone so obviously insane for so long or that she would not have put up a greater effort to escape when her predicament initially became clear; for that matter, even if wounded, how could Pat not have at least taken advantage of the scissors at her disposal early in the film? These kinds of problems damage the movie, but not fatally. Die! Die!'s thrills may be cheap, but they're thrills nonetheless. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Silvio Narizzano - Director, James Needs - Editor, John Dunsford - Editor, Wilfred Josephs - Composer (Music Score), Richard Mills - Makeup, Roy Ashton - Makeup, Peter Proud - Production Designer, Arthur Ibbetson - Cinematographer, Anthony Hinds - Producer, Richard Matheson - Screenwriter, Anne Blaisdell - Book Author
