Diane Baker, Edith Atwater, George Kennedy

Lucy Harbin has been in an asylum for 20 years after axing her husband and his mistress during a crime of passion, witnessed by her young daughter, Carol. While trying to renew ties with Carol, who is...( read more  read more... ) now a young woman about to be married, heads begin to roll again.

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73% liked it

1,323 ratings

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80% liked it

5 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: William Castle

Release Date: January 1, 1964

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DVD Release Date: March 12, 2002

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Stats: 118 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (118)


  • October 26, 2009
    omg hilarious. actually i felt a little sorry for joan. this is what happened to female stars who were considered too old to play romantic leads. i would love to own this poster tho :p
  • May 26, 2008
    inspired by "whatever happened to baby jane," william castle approaches joan crawford to star in his ax-swaying camp classic "straight-jacket" which accidentally turns into the muse for christina crawford to write "mommie dearest"(which tina shows to joan one year before she dies...( read more) that leads to the nullification of tina and christopger's heritage.) as well as its faye dunaway's movie adaption.

    admitted by crawford herself, except "night gallery," every flick after "baby jane" stinks, and she does them for boredom and the urgent need of money. and in 1964, movie theater actually dispatches card-board ax to the audience with a slyly smirking humor. if one pays attention, the comlumbia lady's head is chopped off in the end sequence.

    the story is predictable, crawford plays lucy harpin who chops off her husband and his mistress's heads with an ax after discovering his infidelty on bed, then lucy is inflicted with maniac insanity ever since for twenty years. lucy returns home when her daughter grows up as a young lady. then several decapitated murders occur, suddenly lucy is in the tainted spot of suspicions again.

    unknown to most, the script is actually created by the classic writer of hitchcock's "psycho", robert bloch. you might find the remnant cheese of "psycho" in it: the perversion of oedipus complex, transvestite schizophrenia and the titilating suspense before the murder.

    as for crawford's performance, it's sheerly campy fun to the maxium since castle requests crawford to go full throttle, and she does. crawford shifts from the timid mom in plain matron suit to floral-dressed trampy brunette with a vulgar bang. one moment, she's fragile and coyly demure, next moment she tries to behave flamboyantly with a sedative wink, teasing her daughter's boyfriend with fingers upon his lips, flirting with a man young enough to be her son by attempting to place her fingers into his mouth. that is astounishly jaw-dropping, lighting off a matchstick by scratching the gramophone record. simply classic!!!! but when she shifts to the state of norm, her frailty seems genuine and there's an residual of elegance in her when she combs her hair neat to bare the contour of her well-proportioned profile.

    "straight-jacket" is hilarious and the beheading looks so laughably fake, and it's designed for those hard-core crawford likers and aficinados who appreciate camp horror and william castle.
  • July 25, 2008
    Interesting story plot. Gotta love Joan Crawford.
  • July 17, 2008
    Good piece of William Castle cheese.
  • October 30, 2009
    Joan Crawford in full on crazy mode as a woman released from an asylum after chopping off her cheating husband's head 20 years ago.

    She has trouble acclimating to normal society and life with her grown daughter, but when heads start rolling things get a lot more complicated.

    Wo...( read more)rth a rental.
  • June 15, 2009
    Absolute gem. Lopped heads a-plenty.
  • March 30, 2009
    I thought it was interesting and well acted.
  • March 5, 2009
    Joan Crawford classic
  • November 2, 2008
    Probably the greatest poster on planet Earth.

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