News

Horror in Black and White: ‘Strait-Jacket’ (1964)

Published

5 years ago

January 23, 2019

Welcome back to another edition of Horror in Black and White! This week, we tackle the absolutely bonkers William Castle classic, Strait-Jacket!

William Castle was a man with a plan, and when he didn’t have a plan, he at least had a gimmick. This was the man, after all, who put electric motors in theater seats for The Tingler to give audience members a jolt–literally–during pivotal scenes and had used “Illusion-O” during 13 Ghosts which gave the audience the power to choose whether they saw the ghosts on screen or not!

Joan might not have been the gimmick in *Strait-Jacket* but she was certainly used to her full potential by Castle in advertising.

Strait-Jacket boasted the biggest gimmick of them all, however: Joan Crawford.

OK, not really…

Audience members were given fake plastic axes when they entered the theater to see Strait-Jacket, but for my money, Joan Crawford was the biggest gimmick, and boy, was it a doozy.

Strait-Jacket tells the story of Lucy Harbin (Crawford), who comes home one night to find her husband (Lee Majors) in bed with another woman. Enraged and unhinged, she takes up an axe, quietly creeps into the bedroom, and not realizing that her daughter was watching, beheads them both!

Lucy is sent to an asylum for 20 years, and her daughter, Carol, is raised by her aunt and uncle. As the film moves forward in time, Diane Baker, who would later play Senator Ruth Martin in The Silence of the Lambs, is Carol all grown up and ready to marry the man of her dreams, Michael (John Anthony Hayes).

Michael’s family is quite wealthy, but neither Michael nor they, know of Carol’s past. When Lucy arrives, the truth comes out, and slowly their world begins to unravel and the bodies begin to pile up!

The film came just two years after Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Castle, hoping to cash in on Crawford’s appeal to younger audiences who had discovered her through that film and when her movies began to be played again on television.

strait-jacket before — Joan Crawford’s success in *Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?* alongside Bette Davis was what made William Castle pursue her for the role of Lucy Harbin.

Bringing in Crawford didn’t come without its, shall we say, trials and tribulations, however.

The part had originally been written and cast with Joan Blondell (Nightmare Alley). Unfortunately, she had to leave the project after an accident, and Crawford was brought into replace her.

The new Joan agreed to play the role, but also demanded script approval and a major rewrite, changing the ending and the portrayal of her character.

She also fought for and won the product placement of Pepsi on the kitchen counter. For those who didn’t know, Crawford was married to the founder and CEO of the company and hiring Crawford also meant advertising the soda, usually very quietly in the background.

However, in this case of Strait-Jacket it also meant casting Mitchell Cox, the Vice President of Pepsi, as one of Lucy’s former doctors who pays her a visit after she’s left the asylum. This was done, according to rumor, without Castle knowledge.

Many have criticized Crawford over the years, and none so much as her own adopted daughter Christina, but I’m positive there were men making the same demands at the time who were never cast in the same light that she was.

As I noted before, this movie is bonkers, but it does have its moments. Light and shadow are especially used well here, and the black and white spectrum only enhances those oh-so-dark depths.

I especially love those opening scenes when Crawford enters the bedroom and the camera pans to wall where we see her lift the axe in shadow. She brings it down hard, and we see the shadow of her husband’s head fly off the bed from that one mighty blow!

Crawford and Baker have a natural ease with each other on screen, even in moments of tension. The younger woman’s face mirrors the older, and they can both reach those raw, over-the-top melodramatic spaces in their performances.

Joan Strait-Jacket — Joan Crawford and Diane Baker as mother and daughter in *Strait-Jacket*

Still, no one has presence quite like Crawford on screen. Audience eyes are naturally drawn to her as though by magnets, and for all of her grandness, even in a film like Strait-Jacket there are beautiful moments of stillness where she hardly seems to breathe and we are content to hold our breath with her.

That quietness serves her well in the final moments of the film, which honestly plays like the wrap-up seen of a Perry Mason mystery.

The film opened to mixed reviews with many lauding Crawford’s performance while panning the film overall.

“I am full of admiration for Joan Crawford,” Elaine Rothschild wrote in Films in Review, “for even in drek like this, she gives a performance!”

Still, Castle was the man with a gimmick, and whether you choose the plastic axes or Crawford making live appearances at a few screenings, the plan worked, and it was a box office hit!

You can see Strait-Jacket on a variety of streaming services, and if you haven’t, you really should!

Check out the trailer below!

Related: Horror in Black and White: The Bad Seed (1956)

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News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

Published

11 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

Published

13 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film

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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

^Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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