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Die! Die! My Darling
AKA Fanatic
Directed By Silvio Narizzano
Released: 1965
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, and Yootha
Joyce
Running Time: 97 minutes
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Patricia Carroll (played by Stephanie Powers) is
about to move on with her life with her new fiancé, Alan (Maurice
Kaufmann). Before she can break ties with her past, Patricia feels
compelled to visit Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead), the mother of
Steven, her previous fiancé who died in a car accident. Mrs. Trefoile
turns out to be completely mad and imprisons Patricia to force her to
repent for taking her son away with the help of her dedicated staff: Harry
the sycophantic groundskeeper (Peter Vaughan), Anna the maid (Yootha
Joyce), and Joseph the albino idiot (Donald Sutherland). With only the
faintest hope of being rescued by Alan, Patricia must try to outsmart her
religiously zealous and pistol-toting captor.
Die! Die! My Darling!
comes from Hammer Films' glut of Psycho-inspired
horror films of the 60s and starts slapping and kicking the audience (and
Stephanie Powers) almost from the get-go. Silvio Narizzano, director of
films of every conceivable genre (Georgy
Girl?), nails the mountain of tension
required to make this film click without missing a beat. Cinematography,
lighting, sets, and music are all flawless leaving no room for distracting
flubs or blatantly obvious corner-cutting.
There isn’t a second in Die! Die! My
Darling! where Tallulah Bankhead
isn’t completely dead on with her portrayal of Mrs. Trefoile. As simple as
it is, the psychology of her character is still delivered with a dynamic
flair by Bankhead. She oozes nutjob from almost the moment she’s onscreen.
Stephanie Powers really takes a beating as Patricia, a woman driven to the
brink by her psychotic captor. It is through this battle of wills that
both actresses feed off each other creating the bristling tension in their
scenes together.
Peter Vaughan and Yootha Joyce are equally astounding as Mrs. Trefoile’s
staff who will obey her every whim no matter how bizarre or psychotic.
Harry’s limitless greed proves too powerful and it costs him dearly while
Anna’s love for such a complete scumbag is completely inexplicable. Both
are well-written characters perfectly performed by two wildly talented
actors.
Just try and watch this one without yelling at the screen.
Die! Die! My Darling!
is extremely easy to get lost in. The film seems dated today but this is
due to the glut of similarly plotted films since its release over 40 years
ago. The dark humor and morbid charm of a 60s psychological horror film
from Hammer Films will easily win over horror movie fans looking to get a
feel of the classics. Die! Die! My
Darling! (which should have been
called “Run! Run! My Duder!”) makes an excellent double feature with
1963’s Paranoiac.
Dig those wild opening credits, man!
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