Featured Audience Ratings

• William D

  
  Two years after their huge success with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), director Robert Aldrich teamed up once more with Bette Davis to make "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte." The films are so similar that they're often spoken of in the same breath.… More
  Two years after their huge success with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), director Robert Aldrich teamed up once more with Bette Davis to make "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte." The films are so similar that they're often spoken of in the same breath. They both embody the same type of gothic horror, and both depict two middle-aged women in a battle royale. In "Baby Jane," Davis starred opposite Joan Crawford. (Davis won her 11th and final Oscar nomination for her work in "Jane.") Here it's Olivia de Havilland up against Davis. Both films also have a campy aspect, making them very popular with middle-aged gay men. But the campiness is not extreme. Straight men fear not: "Jane" and "Charlotte" are serious works of psychological horror that shouldn't be missed. Remember that Aldrich mostly made "guy movies," including "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), and "The Longest Yard" (1974). Aldrich is no Douglas Sirk. ***************************** Charlotte, played by Davis, is a woman who has spent most of her adult life as a recluse, after a gruesome murder occurs when she is about 20. She was having an affair with a married man (a very young Bruce Dern), outraging many people, including her father (Victor Buono, who was also in "Baby Jane") and the man's wife (played beautifully by Mary Astor). When the man dumps her, Charlotte goes into a tailspin of rage and despair, exclaiming, "I could just kill you!" Ten minutes later, the man is attacked by a maniac with a meat cleaver. The big mystery is, Who killed him? The whole state of Louisiana thinks it was Charlotte, and she is shunned by just about everyone. But the case goes unsolved. This all happens in the first five minutes, in a very quick overture. The vast majority of the film takes place 40 years after the tragedy. Charlotte, who has barely ever left her gloomy mansion in four decades, struggles to keep her home as the state tries to demolish it to make way for a modern highway. Charlotte's only companion is a maid named Velma (brilliantly played by Agnes Moorehead, who should have gotten a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work here). The semi-educated Charlotte asks her big-city cousin (de Havilland) to come back to the old plantation and help save it. Meanwhile, Charlotte is having more frequent delusions, hearing the voice of her long-departed lover in the spooky, gothic mansion at night. Is someone trying to scare her to death or drive her insane? Or is there something supernatural going on in the house? Or is Charlotte just suffering from a guilty conscience? All I'll say is that the truth is uncovered, and it's startling. "Charlotte" keeps you guessing to the very end and keeps you on the edge of your seat through some rather macabre goings-on. "Charlotte" has a significant body count and many colorful characters. Davis's performance is at times over-the-top but alway magnetic. Her Charlotte is like a tornado, destroying everything in her path. Like Davis herself, Charlotte is a force of nature. But is she a victim struggling mightily against those trying to torment and kill her, or is she a cold-blooded maniac getting her just comeuppance? And who's going to end up dead?

• _kelly .

  
  "So Fucked Up" highlight: the plot twist

• Cindy I

  
  I saw this the first time -- or was at least exposed to it -- when I was 4. Parents went to the movies with me and my brother in tow, not realizing what kind of film it was. All I remembered for years was a head rolling down a staircase and a whole lot of screaming. This film could… More
  I saw this the first time -- or was at least exposed to it -- when I was 4. Parents went to the movies with me and my brother in tow, not realizing what kind of film it was. All I remembered for years was a head rolling down a staircase and a whole lot of screaming. This film could have been the reason I was so scared of horror movies until I was about 15. When I finally saw the whole film as a grown-up, I was surprised on how gruesome it actually is for 1964. Still pretty scary in places too. Good flick.

• AJ V

  
  This movie is advertised as being for people who liked What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, but you don't really need to have seen that movie to appreciate this one. The story is brilliant, and so are the actors, it's a modern murder mystery movie, one of my favourites.… More
  This movie is advertised as being for people who liked What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, but you don't really need to have seen that movie to appreciate this one. The story is brilliant, and so are the actors, it's a modern murder mystery movie, one of my favourites. It's very intense and exciting, I highly recommend it.

• Tim S

  
  At times, very creepy and always engaging.

• Devon B

  
  Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964): Starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead Alot of very old hollywood stars come out of the woodworks to appear in this 60s horror film. Music was written by Devol, who wrote the theme songs to the Brady Bunch as… More
  Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964): Starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead Alot of very old hollywood stars come out of the woodworks to appear in this 60s horror film. Music was written by Devol, who wrote the theme songs to the Brady Bunch as well as My Three Sons. The movie begins in 1927, as Charlotte's father puts the kibosh on her romance with a married man. Someone runs off with a meat cleaver, and the next thing you know, the married man is hacked up and charlotte's party dress is covered in blood. Jump ahead to 1964, and the city is going to demolish Miss charlotte's house to make way for a new bridge. Charlotte's embarrassed to be wearing her hair in long braids when her cousin shows up at the house not looking like a hillbilly, but like an update modern 60s woman. Thelma the housekeeper thinks everybody is a snooty city slicker (except for Miss Charlotte, of course). These old broads are still pretty attractive, and they chew up the scenery with some very campy (yet very enjoyable) acting, especially Thelma (Agnes Moorehead). It's not a horror film in the traditional sense of the word, but it's enjoyable for no other reason than seeing the performances.

• Jason V

  
  Not necessarily a horror film as defined in 2011, nor is it truly a mystery, Hush..Hush, Sweet Charlotte is something entirely different I'm not sure how to name. Southern 1960s thriller? A complete mind frack? A study in long, slow torture of an individual without resorting… More
  Not necessarily a horror film as defined in 2011, nor is it truly a mystery, Hush..Hush, Sweet Charlotte is something entirely different I'm not sure how to name. Southern 1960s thriller? A complete mind frack? A study in long, slow torture of an individual without resorting to Saw-like shenanigans? See, the film doesn't really let on what's going on until late in the picture, as it should. Until that point, we assume Charlotte is the crazy one. Why? Because we're told she is. Everything the camera shows leads to that conclusion in one way or another. Some parts are underutilized, such as a British insurance investigator, which is a pity, considering how pivitol he turns out to be in the end. I can certainly understand wanting to throw the audience off the scent (so to speak), but HHSC comes off a a bit schizophrenic because of it. However, any deficiencies are easily made up by the actors on screen, all of whom try to overact the others. Davis and de Havilland take the cake in this regard, though Agnes Moorehead is almost campy fun as well.

• John M

  
  The pacing of the story in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" runs a little slow, and the film tends to be slightly longer than necessary and somewhat confusing but the direction, acting and a few atmospheric scenes make this worth seeing at least once. The opening hatchet… More
  The pacing of the story in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" runs a little slow, and the film tends to be slightly longer than necessary and somewhat confusing but the direction, acting and a few atmospheric scenes make this worth seeing at least once. The opening hatchet murder is (for its time I was not expecting that scene) pretty shocking and bloody.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings