Fanatic (film)

For the 2019 American psychological thriller film, see The Fanatic (film).

Fanatic
U.K. theatrical release poster
Directed by	Silvio Narizzano
Written by	Richard Matheson
Based on	the novel Nightmare by Anne Blaisdell
Produced by	Anthony Hinds
Starring	Tallulah Bankhead Stefanie Powers Donald Sutherland
Cinematography	Arthur Ibbetson
Edited by	John Dunsford
Music by	Wilfred Josephs
Production company	Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	21 March 1965 (1965-03-21)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Fanatic (U.S. title: Die! Die! My Darling!) is a 1965 British horror thriller film directed by Silvio Narizzano, and starring Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Yootha Joyce, Maurice Kaufmann and Donald Sutherland. It was written by Richard Matheson based on the 1961 novel Nightmare by Anne Blaisdell.

Released in theaters on 21 March 1965 in United Kingdom, it was filmed at Elstree Studios and on location in Letchmore Heath, Hertfordshire, during the summer of 1964. It was Bankhead's final feature film.

Plot

An American woman, Patricia Carroll, arrives in London to marry her lover Alan Glentower. Before tying the knot, however, Patricia pays a visit to Mrs. Trefoile, the mother of her deceased fiancé Stephen, who died in an automobile accident several years earlier. Trefoile resides in a secluded house on the edge of an English village. 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 and Anna, in holding Patricia captive so she can exorcise the young woman's soul. After several attempts to escape the Trefoile house, one of which nearly results in Patricia's being sexually assaulted by Harry, she is rescued by Alan; and in the end, Mrs. Trefoile winds up dead with a knife in her back, the same knife with which she earlier attempted to murder Patricia.

Cast

• Tallulah Bankhead as Mrs. Trefoile
• Stefanie Powers as Patricia Carroll
• Peter Vaughan as Harry
• Maurice Kaufmann as Alan Glentower
• Yootha Joyce as Anna
• Donald Sutherland as Joseph
• Gwendolyn Watts as Gloria
• Robert Dorning as Ormsby
• Philip Gilbert as Oscar
• Winifred Dennis as shopkeeper
• Diana King as shopper
• Henry McGee as rector

Critical reception

Variety wrote that the film "should click with fright fans," praising Narizzano's direction as "imaginative" and the script as having dialogue that was generally "fresher than most pix of its class" while giving Bankhead "numerous chances to display virtuosity, from sweet-tongued menace to maniacal blood-lust."

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Though uneven in tone (to put it mildly), this piece of extravagance is at least consistently enjoyable ... One suspects here a laudable determination in Miss Bankhead not to be outdone by Bette Davis' Baby Jane. Still, why cavil? There is enough here to give horror addicts a field day on various levels."

A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote that although Bankhead "towers above the cast and story, her present effort adds little to her record."

The film maintains a 50% rating on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews.

See also

• Looped, a 2010 Broadway play that uses the production of this film as its setting
• Psycho-biddy genre

External links

• Fanatic at IMDb
• Fanatic at the TCM Movie Database