FANATIC aka DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! Hammer psycho pic! Free on Tubi and YouTube

‘The ultimate in stabbing suspense! The intimate in shear shock!
Fanatic is a 1965 British horror thriller film about a young American woman being terrorised by a religiously obsessed old woman. In the United States, it was released by Columbia Pictures as Die! Die! My Darling!

Directed by Canadian Silvio Narizzano from a screenplay penned by American writer Richard Matheson (Duel; The Legend of Hell House; The Devil Rides Out; et al) based on a novel by Anne Blaisdell, the Hammer Films production stars Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers (Crescendo), Peter Vaughan (Symptoms; Straw Dogs), Yootha Joyce (The Night Digger; Burke & Hare), Maurice Kaufmann and Donald Sutherland. It was produced by Anthony Hinds.

The quirky soundtrack score was composed Wilfred Josephs (The Uncanny; Dark Places; Cry of the Banshee; The Deadly Bees).

Plot:
A young American woman, Patricia Carroll (Stephanie Powers), arrives in England to marry her lover Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann).

Before tying the knot, however, Patricia pays a visit to Mrs Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead), the mother of her deceased fiancé Stephen, who died in an automobile accident several years earlier.

Mrs Trefoile resides in a secluded house on the edge of a village named Letchmore Heath. 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 (Peter Vaughn) and Anna (Yootha Joyce), in holding Patricia captive so she can exorcise the young woman’s soul…

“Matheson’s script is more tightly constructed than Sangster’s often gimmicky stories and the characters are given psychological depths which amplify both suspense and audience involvement. Bankhead, Powers and Joyce seize every opportunity to breathe life (and often subtle humour) into their roles.” Cagey Films

Choice dialogue:
Patricia: “They’re all insane. All of them!”

Cast and characters:
Tallulah Bankhead … Mrs Trefoile
Stefanie Powers … Patricia Carroll
Peter Vaughan … Harry
Maurice Kaufmann … Alan Glentower
Yootha Joyce … Anna
Donald Sutherland … Joseph
Gwendolyn Watts … Gloria
Robert Dorning … Ormsby
Philip Gilbert … Oscar
Winifred Dennis … Shopkeeper
Diana King … Woman Shopper
Henry McGee … Rector (uncredited)

Filming locations:
Letchmore Heath, Hertfordshire, England (village green and Three Horseshoes pub scene)
Associated British Studios, Elstree, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England (studio) in summer 1964

Release:
21st March 1965 in the UK.

Notes:
The film is part of the psycho-biddy sub-genre (also known as Grande Dame Guignol, hagsploitation and hag horror) which features a formerly-glamorous older woman who has become mentally unbalanced and terrorises those around her. The genre was inaugurated in 1962 by the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and lasted until the mid-1970s.

Guest review by our colleague James, The Midnight Woodsman:

US trailer:

Clip:

Free to watch online on YouTube [1080p HD]:

Free to watch online on YouTube [480p]:

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