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Die Die My Darling!! (1965)

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Cast:

Tallulah Bankhead is Mrs. Trefoile
Stefanie "I'll be considered big when Hart to Hart is on TV" Powers is Pat Carroll
Peter Vaughan is Harry
Maurice Kaufmann is Alan Glentower
Yootha Joyce is Anna
Donald "I'll be starring on 24 next season..." Sutherland is Joseph


What the IMDB says:

A young woman is terrorized by her fiance's demented mother who blames her for her son's death.


Plot:

Pat Carroll and her boyfriend, Alan arrive in England. She’s nervous about going to meet her dead fiancée’s mother. Alan doesn’t want her to go but she does.

Pulling up at the mansion, a creepy guy spies on Pat. Mrs. Trefoille greets her and mentions she’s glad that Steven died a virgin. A religious discussion ensues. Mrs. Trefoille isn’t happy with Pat’s lack of church attendance, etc…

Mrs. Trefoille is talking to Steven.


Who may resist my come-hither look?
Pat learns that she was an actress that was taken from the evil. Pat is starting to get thoroughly creeped out. Later, Pat attends the mansion’s religious service. Finally, they serve dinner. Pat learns they’re vegetarians who don’t use salt. Trefoille sends Pat upstairs to take off her lipstick. She wants Pat to stay for morning service.

The next morning, Trefoille makes Pat change clothes because she was wearing a red dress. They walk to the church. Trefoille is angry about people who marry after their spouse had died. That would lead to multiple wives, etc…Trefoille believes Pat should stay single for Steven’s soul. Pat reveals she was engaged to him but would never have married him.

Pat rushes back to the mansion but is locked up. Trefoille will keep her because she’s evil. Breaking a window, Trefoille pulls a gun on Pat. The maid hauls Pat to the attic.

Harry and Anna are not sure what to do. They know Trefoille is nutty.

Harry takes Pat’s bags to her. Later, Trefoille pays a visit. She has most of Pat’s clothes shredded. Pat is stabbed in the shoulder by Anna. That night, Trefoille does another religious discussion. Pat tries to bribe Anna. Pat reveals she’s going to be married.

Pat tries scaling down the window and runs through the fields. Harry chases him who’s doing his cat and mouse pursuit. Swimming across the lake, Harry catches her.

Pat wakens back in the mansion. Trefoille wants her to learn to be respectful.

The next day, Trefoille pays another visit. Pat versus Anna. Trefoille wants Pat to write a note to blow Alan off or she’ll slash her face. Later, Pat tries luring Harry up, but it doesn’t work. Trefoille fires Harry and cries out for Steven.

Harry follows Trefoille who shoots him. Really wigging out, she starts partaking of the booze and smearing lipstick all over her face.

Trefoille tells Anna that Harry’ll be gone for a few days. Trefoille brings oatmeal for Pat who wolfs it down and will start another lesson soon.

Pat has a postcard for Alan and gives it to Donald Sutherland to mail. Trefoille sees the postcard and smacks Pat around. Pat reveals that Steven killed himself in a car crash. Trefoille is getting angrier. Pat is taken to the basement where she sees Harry’s corpse.

At the town, Alan is looking for Mrs. Trefoille’s mansion. Anna overhears him.

Trefoille tries more prophesying. Anna warns Trefoille about Alan being in town.

Alan reaches the mansion. Trefoille explains everything which leads Alan to driving off.

Trefoille must reunite Pat and Steven.

Alan heads back to the town. Still worried, he heads back to the mansion.

Trefoille is still sermonizing and grabs the knife.

Alan has to battle Donald Sutherland. Anna learns that Pat’s car is still in the garage so Harry couldn’t have gone to London. Suddenly, Alan and Donald try to break down the basement door. Donald gets shot by Trefoille. Alan has to evade Trefoille’s knife. Reaching Pat, he’ll go for a doctor.

Trefoille is crying and got a knife in her back. Anna freaks out when she discovers Harry’s body. Alan and Pat drive off. Trefoille dies clutching the painting of her son.

Where did I pick up the painting of Billy Drago?
Where did I pick up this painting of Billy Drago?


What I say:

A woman goes to visit her dead fiancee's mother. I won't say that hilarity ensues. Well, after enough time to realize the mother is about a few anti-psychotic medication doseages from reality, she imprisons her son's girlfriend. Once again, I won't say that hilarity ensues. This is the kind of movie you expect to get remade currently. Why? If the violence got amped up it would become sort of a knock-off of most Saw or Eli Roth Hostel movies or Cabin Fever. To my little pocket reality, that isn't a good comparison.

When one mentions Hammer Films, there is a pretty fairly understandable idea of their films. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Hammer is known for its gothic horror until the 1970s when they starts doing more and more sequels Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell and Satanic Rites of Dracula. Though the mid 1960s, Hammer also tried to do some thriller-suspense type movies. This was before Italy started making the giallo genre in the late 60s and early 70s. Die, Die, My Darling! sounds like the English translation of an Italian giallo movie.

Crazy woman believes that she must keep her son's former fiancee chaste never mind the fact the son has a a slight case of dead. The 1970s and 1980s started to have almost enough movies to be considered a sub-genre: movies like Flowers in the Attic and the other thrillers with a very deranged religious bend.

Donald Sutherland is doing his impression of Frankenstein's monster without being reanimated from the dead or the monster's charming wit and intelligence. He showed up in the Robert Heinlein adaptation of Puppet Masters. He doesn't take up much space in the movie and unless specifically told to look for him, you'd probably not pay any attention to him.

Stephanie Powers may be best known for Hart to Hart but she still has to atone for a-hemmmmmmmmmm, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. She's not the only one who has that movie to answer for... John Candy, Isaac Hayes, Yvonne De Carlo, Anthony Newley... However, Stephanie Powers was in John Wayne's McClintock which can make up for a lot.

This was Tallulah Bankhead's last movie and apparently her only color film. It is almost on par with Joan Crawford's last movie, sci-fi opus: Trog. Of course, that's not meant as any kind of compliment. Just a notice how so many of the real big 1940s actresses seem to fall so low. It is more understandable that some of the big horror stars last movies were bad genre flicks. We saw Bela Lugosi's last movie: Plan 9 From Outer Space and the 4 Mexican movies that claim to be the last movie of Boris Karloff (anyone who respects Karloff will just watch Targets and consider that his last movie, good movie...)



2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"It is not an automatic. Use the clutch!!!"
"Patricia, you are a virgin, aren't you?"
"How monstrously inconceivable!"
"That's naughty!!!"


Morals of the Story

Mirrors are evil.
Acting is evil.
Salt is evil.
Lipstick is evil.
Potato peelings are tasty.
Basements have blue, green, and purple lighting.


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