Psycho-biddy
Encyclopedia
Psycho-biddy is a colloquial term for a sub-genre of the horror
/thriller movie
also known by the name Older women in peril, which was most prevalent from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. The genre has also been variously nicknamed by the press as "hagsploitation," "hag horror" and "Grande Dame Guignol."
of many genre
elements and themes: gothic, Grand Guignol
, black comedy
, psycho-drama, melodrama
, revenge
, camp
and even the musical
. Science Fiction
and Western
films have also been part of the genre. None of these, however, nor their combination, mark a particular movie as belonging to this peculiar sub-genre.
A psycho-biddy movie, by its very nomenclature, must possess a psycho-biddy: a dangerous, insane or mentally unstable woman of advanced years. In some cases, the woman may be in jeopardy of some sort, with another party attempting to drive her to mental instability. Often (but not always), there are two older women pitted against one another in a life-or-death struggle, usually the result of bitter hatreds, jealousies, or rivalries that have percolated over the course of not years, but decades. These combatants are often blood-relatives and live a life of relative wealth.
The psychotic character is often brought to life in an over-the-top, grotesque fashion, emphasizing the unglamorous process of aging and eventual death. Characters are often seen pining for lost youth and glory, trapped by their idealized memories of their childhood, or youth, and the traumas that haunt their past.
with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
directed by Robert Aldrich
. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? bolstered the flagging careers of its stars
, Bette Davis
as Baby Jane Hudson
and Joan Crawford
as Blanche Hudson
. The 1950
Billy Wilder
classic Sunset Boulevard shares many thematical and plot similarities with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and can be seen as a precursor to the genre.
Baby Jane set many trends and more-or-less defined the genre: the theatrical performance, the trappings of wealth and Hollywood, and psychologically complex melodrama. Jane goes quite insane over the course of the movie, torturing her crippled sister and venting long-pent up hostilities and guilt. At the end of the film, Blanche makes a confession which details and admits of her own complicity in the whole affair. The film was quite successful, garnering Academy Award
nominations, including one for Davis.
Crawford then starred in director and producer William Castle
's Strait-Jacket
(1964
) as Lucy Harbin, the accused axe-murderer of her husband and his mistress, who is released from the asylum
for the criminally insane after 20 years to be reunited with her beloved daughter and other friends. When a new string of axe-murders begin again, it is naturally assumed that it is Lucy committing them. But is it her?
The two actresses were reunited again with director Robert Aldrich for a Baby Jane "follow-up", Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), despite a hyped, somewhat exaggerated feud. But genuine mutual dislike between the two actresses led to Crawford bowing out. She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland
, who knew how to get along with Davis. Veteran actresses Agnes Moorehead
and Mary Astor
also appeared in the film.
Crawford can be seen in the film. There is a long shot in the beginning of the movie, when Miriam gets out of the taxi upon her arrival at the Hollis plantation, that actually shows the back of Joan Crawford's head and not de Havilland's. "When the taxi pulls up with cousin Miriam inside and stops at the foot of the steps, if you look closely before Miriam gets out you can just for a split moment see it is, in fact, Joan Crawford in the back and not Olivia de Havilland. You can't see Crawford's face but you can tell it's her by the black dress and dark sunglasses that she is wearing. When de Havilland as Miriam is seen in the taxi before she arrives she is wearing a white hat and her clothing is light colored."
In Charlotte, Davis was not only the one going nuts, but the "officially" sympathetic character, who suffers exhausting mental anguish at the hands of her cousin (De Havilland) and her doctor, the cousin's lover (Joseph Cotten
). In this movie, Davis's character is again haunted by guilt, though this time the ante is upped: instead of being responsible for a crippling, she is responsible for the murder of her lover. Charlotte is one of the most successful examples of the genre, using Southern Gothic
atmosphere to great effect.
Mad Magazine poked fun at the genre in 1966 with a movie satire entitled "Hack, Hack Sweet Has-Been" or "Whatever Happened to Good Taste?"
Wealth is a more prevalent theme than revenge in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
(1969
). Claire Marrable (Geraldine Page
), a socialite, finds herself (apparently) penniless when her husband dies. She then begins hiring financially independent older cleaning women, murdering them, taking their savings and planting the corpses in her garden. The corpses apparently make the ground quite fertile, and it's not until the third cleaning woman drops out of sight that someone (Ruth Gordon
) begins to suspect something is amiss. Gordon applies to be Page's maid to figure out what happened to her friend, the third maid. The movie has a certain status as a cult classic
, and is fairly well-regarded.
Henry Farrell
, who wrote Baby Jane and Charlotte, also wrote What's the Matter with Helen?
(1971
), and while not the most inspired entry in the genre, it does stand up as an archetypal, if not exemplary, entry.
Helen features two older women, Shelley Winters
and Debbie Reynolds
, who move out to Hollywood during the heyday of Shirley Temple
. Their sons have gone to prison for a Leopold and Loeb
like murder and the two mothers are on the run from a man who threatens to kill them in revenge. The eponymous Helen (Winters), an increasingly unstable and violent religious fanatic
and repressed lesbian, may have murdered her husband years before (and possibly led to her son's criminal behavior). Helen's increasing obsession with her roommate, Adelle (Reynolds) leads to a graphically violent climax, which would recur in future excursions into the genre.
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
(1971
) has only one older woman (Mrs. Forrest aka Auntie Roo, played by Shelley Winters
) featured prominently in the cast. A young orphan becomes a surrogate in the troubled woman's mind for her own long-dead daughter. Roo visits the mummified remains in her daughter's bedroom. The themes of deep-seated past guilt and youth are explored. The story is a variant of the Hansel and Gretel
theme, but Roo is not evil, but seriously unstable, subject to con-artist clairvoyants and blackmailing servants. She tries to keep the young orphan who reminds her of her daughter, but the girl and her brother fight back, and are quite cunning, having stolen, by the film's end, the woman's valuable jewelry. Roo dies in a fire the children set while trying to escape.
Most movies in the genre conform to the Question word Verb Character name titling convention. There are, however, a few exceptions, such as 1965's Die! Die! My Darling
with Tallulah Bankhead
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/thriller movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
also known by the name Older women in peril, which was most prevalent from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. The genre has also been variously nicknamed by the press as "hagsploitation," "hag horror" and "Grande Dame Guignol."
Definition, themes and influences
Psycho-biddy thrillers are a bricolageBricolage
Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process...
of many genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
elements and themes: gothic, Grand Guignol
Grand Guignol
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol — known as the Grand Guignol — was a theatre in the Pigalle area of Paris . From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962 it specialized in naturalistic horror shows...
, black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, psycho-drama, melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
, camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
and even the musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
. Science Fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and Western
Western
Western may refer to:* Western , a category of fiction and visual art centered on the American Old West** Western fiction, the Western genre as featured in literature* Western music, a type of American folk music-In geography:...
films have also been part of the genre. None of these, however, nor their combination, mark a particular movie as belonging to this peculiar sub-genre.
A psycho-biddy movie, by its very nomenclature, must possess a psycho-biddy: a dangerous, insane or mentally unstable woman of advanced years. In some cases, the woman may be in jeopardy of some sort, with another party attempting to drive her to mental instability. Often (but not always), there are two older women pitted against one another in a life-or-death struggle, usually the result of bitter hatreds, jealousies, or rivalries that have percolated over the course of not years, but decades. These combatants are often blood-relatives and live a life of relative wealth.
The psychotic character is often brought to life in an over-the-top, grotesque fashion, emphasizing the unglamorous process of aging and eventual death. Characters are often seen pining for lost youth and glory, trapped by their idealized memories of their childhood, or youth, and the traumas that haunt their past.
History
The genre began in 19621962 in film
The year 1962 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May - The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government....
with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell...
directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...
. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? bolstered the flagging careers of its stars
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Baby Jane Hudson
Baby Jane Hudson
Baby Jane Hudson is a fictional character and the antagonist of Henry Farrell's 1960 novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? She was portrayed by Bette Davis in the 1962 film adaptation and by Lynn Redgrave in the 1991 made for TV remake...
and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
as Blanche Hudson
Blanche Hudson
Blanche Hudson is a fictional character in the thriller novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell and in two films which are based on it...
. The 1950
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
classic Sunset Boulevard shares many thematical and plot similarities with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and can be seen as a precursor to the genre.
Baby Jane set many trends and more-or-less defined the genre: the theatrical performance, the trappings of wealth and Hollywood, and psychologically complex melodrama. Jane goes quite insane over the course of the movie, torturing her crippled sister and venting long-pent up hostilities and guilt. At the end of the film, Blanche makes a confession which details and admits of her own complicity in the whole affair. The film was quite successful, garnering Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominations, including one for Davis.
Crawford then starred in director and producer William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
's Strait-Jacket
Strait-Jacket
Strait-Jacket is a 1964 American thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Diane Baker in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a series of axe-murders. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by Dona Holloway...
(1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
) as Lucy Harbin, the accused axe-murderer of her husband and his mistress, who is released from the asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
for the criminally insane after 20 years to be reunited with her beloved daughter and other friends. When a new string of axe-murders begin again, it is naturally assumed that it is Lucy committing them. But is it her?
The two actresses were reunited again with director Robert Aldrich for a Baby Jane "follow-up", Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), despite a hyped, somewhat exaggerated feud. But genuine mutual dislike between the two actresses led to Crawford bowing out. She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, who knew how to get along with Davis. Veteran actresses Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
and Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
also appeared in the film.
Crawford can be seen in the film. There is a long shot in the beginning of the movie, when Miriam gets out of the taxi upon her arrival at the Hollis plantation, that actually shows the back of Joan Crawford's head and not de Havilland's. "When the taxi pulls up with cousin Miriam inside and stops at the foot of the steps, if you look closely before Miriam gets out you can just for a split moment see it is, in fact, Joan Crawford in the back and not Olivia de Havilland. You can't see Crawford's face but you can tell it's her by the black dress and dark sunglasses that she is wearing. When de Havilland as Miriam is seen in the taxi before she arrives she is wearing a white hat and her clothing is light colored."
In Charlotte, Davis was not only the one going nuts, but the "officially" sympathetic character, who suffers exhausting mental anguish at the hands of her cousin (De Havilland) and her doctor, the cousin's lover (Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
). In this movie, Davis's character is again haunted by guilt, though this time the ante is upped: instead of being responsible for a crippling, she is responsible for the murder of her lover. Charlotte is one of the most successful examples of the genre, using Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place exclusively in the American South. It resembles its parent genre in that it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot...
atmosphere to great effect.
Mad Magazine poked fun at the genre in 1966 with a movie satire entitled "Hack, Hack Sweet Has-Been" or "Whatever Happened to Good Taste?"
Notable films
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a 1969 thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin with Bernard Girard , and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller and Mildred Dunnock...
(1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
). Claire Marrable (Geraldine Page
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
), a socialite, finds herself (apparently) penniless when her husband dies. She then begins hiring financially independent older cleaning women, murdering them, taking their savings and planting the corpses in her garden. The corpses apparently make the ground quite fertile, and it's not until the third cleaning woman drops out of sight that someone (Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
) begins to suspect something is amiss. Gordon applies to be Page's maid to figure out what happened to her friend, the third maid. The movie has a certain status as a cult classic
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
, and is fairly well-regarded.
Henry Farrell
Henry Farrell
Henry Farrell was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known as the author of the renowned gothic horror story What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which was made into a film starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.-Life and work:He was born Charles Farrell Myers in California, and grew up in...
, who wrote Baby Jane and Charlotte, also wrote What's the Matter with Helen?
What's the Matter with Helen?
What's the Matter With Helen? is a 1971 thriller film starring Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters.-Plot:The movie starts with a Hearst Metrotone newsreel from the 1930s that tells of the Iowa murder of Ellie Banner by Leonard Hill and Wesley Bruckner...
(1971
1971 in film
The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
), and while not the most inspired entry in the genre, it does stand up as an archetypal, if not exemplary, entry.
Helen features two older women, Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
and Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
, who move out to Hollywood during the heyday of Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. Their sons have gone to prison for a Leopold and Loeb
Leopold and Loeb
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...
like murder and the two mothers are on the run from a man who threatens to kill them in revenge. The eponymous Helen (Winters), an increasingly unstable and violent religious fanatic
Religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism is fanaticism related to a person's, or a group's, devotion to a religion. However, religious fanaticism is a subjective evaluation defined by the culture context that is performing the evaluation. What constitutes fanaticism in another's behavior or belief is determined by the...
and repressed lesbian, may have murdered her husband years before (and possibly led to her son's criminal behavior). Helen's increasing obsession with her roommate, Adelle (Reynolds) leads to a graphically violent climax, which would recur in future excursions into the genre.
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is a 1971 British horror-thriller film directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Ralph Richardson, Shelley Winters and Mark Lester...
(1971
1971 in film
The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
) has only one older woman (Mrs. Forrest aka Auntie Roo, played by Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
) featured prominently in the cast. A young orphan becomes a surrogate in the troubled woman's mind for her own long-dead daughter. Roo visits the mummified remains in her daughter's bedroom. The themes of deep-seated past guilt and youth are explored. The story is a variant of the Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
theme, but Roo is not evil, but seriously unstable, subject to con-artist clairvoyants and blackmailing servants. She tries to keep the young orphan who reminds her of her daughter, but the girl and her brother fight back, and are quite cunning, having stolen, by the film's end, the woman's valuable jewelry. Roo dies in a fire the children set while trying to escape.
Most movies in the genre conform to the Question word Verb Character name titling convention. There are, however, a few exceptions, such as 1965's Die! Die! My Darling
Fanatic (1965 film)
Fanatic is a 1965 British thriller directed by Silvio Narizzano for Hammer Films. It stars Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Yootha Joyce, Maurice Kaufmann and Donald Sutherland....
with Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
.
Examples
Although some of the following films cannot completely be defined as being in the psycho-biddy genre, they share similar characteristics (namely an "older woman in peril", portrayed by a former silver screen starlet).- Sunset Boulevard (1950)—a precursor to the genre, starring Gloria SwansonGloria SwansonGloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell...
(1962)—starring Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
and Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional... - Strait-JacketStrait-JacketStrait-Jacket is a 1964 American thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Diane Baker in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a series of axe-murders. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by Dona Holloway...
(1964)—starring Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - Dead RingerDead Ringer (1964 film)Dead Ringer, also known as Who is Buried in my Grave? is a 1964 thriller film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Paul Henreid and produced by William H. Wright from a screenplay by Oscar Millard and Albert Beich from the story La Otra by Rian James...
(1964)—starring Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional... - Lady in a CageLady in a CageLady in a Cage is a 1964 American film directed by Walter Grauman, written and produced by Luther Davis, and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Olivia de Havilland and features James Caan in his first substantial film role.-Plot:...
(1964)—starring Olivia de HavillandOlivia de HavillandOlivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland... - Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)—starring Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Olivia de HavillandOlivia de HavillandOlivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland... - The Night Walker (film)The Night Walker (film)The Night Walker is a black-and-white psychological suspense thriller by genre specialist William Castle, with a screenplay by Robert Bloch, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Hayden Rorke, Judi Meredith, and Lloyd Bochner as "The Dream." The film was one of the last black and white...
(1964)—starring Barbara StanwyckBarbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra... - FanaticFanatic (1965 film)Fanatic is a 1965 British thriller directed by Silvio Narizzano for Hammer Films. It stars Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Yootha Joyce, Maurice Kaufmann and Donald Sutherland....
also known as Die! Die! My Darling (1965)—starring Tallulah BankheadTallulah BankheadTallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante... - The Nanny (1965)—starring Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
- I Saw What You DidI Saw What You DidI Saw What You Did is a Universal Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Ireland in a tale of murder. The screenplay by William P. McGivern was based upon the 1964 novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss. The film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by...
(1965)—starring Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - Two on a GuillotineTwo on a GuillotineTwo on a Guillotine is a 1965 American horror/thriller film produced and directed by William Conrad. The screenplay by John Kneubuhl and Henry Slesar is based on a story by Slesar.-Plot synopsis:...
(1965)—starring Connie StevensConnie StevensConnie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:... - The Devil's Own AKA The WitchesThe Witches (1966 film)The Witches is a 1966 British horror film made by Hammer Films. It was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts, under the pseudonym Peter Curtis...
(1966)—starring Joan FontaineJoan FontaineJoan de Beauvoir de Havilland , known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.... - Picture Mommy Dead (1966)—starring Susan Gordon and Zsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
- Queen of Blood (1966) - starring Florence Marley
- Berserk!Berserk!Berserk! is a 1967 British Technicolor thriller film starring Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, and Judy Geeson in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a circus plagued with murders. The screenplay was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Jim O'Connolly...
(1967)—starring Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - The Anniversary (film)The Anniversary (film)The Anniversary is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker. The screenplay by Jimmy Sangster is based on the 1966 play of the same title by Bill MacIlwraith.-Plot:...
(1968)—starring Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional... - The Big CubeThe Big CubeThe Big Cube is a 1969 Warner Bros. thriller directed by Tito Davison and starring Lana Turner, Karin Mossberg , George Chakiris, Dan O'Herlihy and Richard Egan; it was one of Lana Turner's last movies...
(1969) - starring Lana TurnerLana TurnerLana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy... - What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a 1969 thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin with Bernard Girard , and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller and Mildred Dunnock...
(1969)—starring Geraldine PageGeraldine PageGeraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
and Ruth GordonRuth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the... - TrogTrogTrog is a 1970 science fiction horror film starring Joan Crawford in a story about the discovery of a caveman. The screenplay was written by Peter Bryan, John Gilling, and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Freddie Francis...
(1970)—starring Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - What's the Matter with Helen?What's the Matter with Helen?What's the Matter With Helen? is a 1971 thriller film starring Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters.-Plot:The movie starts with a Hearst Metrotone newsreel from the 1930s that tells of the Iowa murder of Ellie Banner by Leonard Hill and Wesley Bruckner...
(1971)—starring Debbie ReynoldsDebbie ReynoldsDebbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
and Shelley WintersShelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006... - Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is a 1971 British horror-thriller film directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Ralph Richardson, Shelley Winters and Mark Lester...
(1971)—starring Shelley WintersShelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006... - Blood & Lace (1971)—starring Gloria GrahameGloria GrahameGloria Grahame was an American Academy Award–winning actress.Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 she made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life , MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios...
- The Screaming Woman (1972) (TV)—starring Olivia de HavillandOlivia de HavillandOlivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
- Dear Dead Delilah (1972)—starring Agnes MooreheadAgnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
- Night Watch (1973)—starring Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
- Persecution (1974)—starring Lana TurnerLana TurnerLana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
- The Cage (1975)—starring Ingrid ThulinIngrid ThulinIngrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
- Friday the 13th (1980)—starring Betsy PalmerBetsy PalmerBetsy Palmer is an American actress, best known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Pamela Voorhees in the notorious slasher film Friday the 13th.-Life and career:...
- Mommie DearestMommie Dearest (film)Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical drama film about Joan Crawford, starring Faye Dunaway. The film was directed by Frank Perry. The story was adapted for the screen by Robert Getchell, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, and Frank Yablans, based on the 1978 autobiography of the same name by...
(1981)—starring Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
(as Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
) - Flowers in the AtticFlowers in the AtticFlowers in the Attic is a 1979 novel by Virginia Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger...
(1987)—starring Louise FletcherLouise FletcherLouise Fletcher is an American actress best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and as Kai Winn Adami in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She also guest starred on the science fiction television series Heroes...
and Victoria TennantVictoria TennantVictoria Tennant is an English film and television actress.-Early life:Tennant was born in London, England. Her mother, Irina Baronova, was a Russian prima ballerina who appeared with the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, and her father, Cecil Tennant, was an English producer and talent agent who ran... - MiseryMisery (film)Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...
(1990)—starring Kathy BatesKathy BatesKathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe... - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1991 film)—starring Lynn RedgraveLynn RedgraveLynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
and Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning... - Die, Mommie, Die!Die, Mommie, Die!Die, Mommie, Die! is a 1999 drag queen film written by Charles Busch, who also plays the lead role. Partly spoof and partly homage, it draws heavily on the tropes and themes of American "Grande Dame Guignol" movies from the 1950s and 1960s that featured strong, sometimes dominating female leads,...
(2003) a comic homage to the genre starring drag actor Charles BuschCharles BuschCharles Louis Busch is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and female impersonator, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which was a success on Broadway.-Early life:Busch was born in 1954 and... - Hush (1998)—starring Jessica LangeJessica LangeJessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
- Keeping MumKeeping MumKeeping Mum is a 2005 British black comedy film starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze.-Plot:In the opening scene, as pregnant young Rosie Jones rides on a train, her very large trunk starts leaking blood...
(2005)—starring Maggie SmithMaggie SmithDame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years... - Notes on a ScandalNotes on a Scandal (film)Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological thriller film, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller. The screenplay was written by Patrick Marber and the film was directed by Richard Eyre. Many parts of the film were shot in Islington Arts and Media School...
(2006)—starring Judy Dench - Mother's DayMother's Day (2010 film)Mother's Day is an upcoming American horror- thriller film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. It is a remake of Charles Kaufman's 1980 film of the same name and was written by Scott Millam.-Plot:...
(2011)—starring Rebecca De MornayRebecca De MornayRebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise... - The Little House (2010 TV Movie)—starring Francesca AnnisFrancesca AnnisFrancesca Annis is an English actress, known for her film and television appearances, most recently in the BBC series Wives and Daughters, Cranford, and Deceit.-Early life and education:...