Strait-Jacket (1964, U.S.A.)

Movie queen Joan Crawford gives a terrific performance in this chiller from pioneer horror movie producer William Castle.

Crawford plays Lucy Harbin – a woman who goes berserk when she finds her husband in bed with another woman.  Lucy axes the couple to death.  Unfortunately her three-year-old daughter accidentally witnesses the grisly act.  As a result, she spends twenty years in a mental institution for the double murder.

Upon her release she moves in with her brother (Leif Erickson), his wife and her own daughter (Diane Baker), now twenty-three. Her nightmare is over…or is it? A series of axe murders start occurring suddenly in the neighbourhood.  So naturally police think Lucy has reverted to her old ways. The truth is finally revealed in a rousing, blood-chilling finale.

Black & White print.