- Actors: Tallulah Bankhead, Donald Sutherland, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan
- Directors: Silvio Narizzano
- Producers: Anthony Hinds
- Format: Subtitled, PAL
- Language English
- Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Greek, Romanian
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- DVD Release Date: 20 Mar 2006
- Run Time: 92 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000DN6DFU
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 47,499 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Synopsis
An elderly religious fanatic, whose son was killed in an auto wreck several years ago, kidnaps her dead son's former finacee and keeps her locked up in the basement in order to cleanse the girl's soul, making it fit to be reunited with her son in heaven.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), German ( Mono ), Italian ( Mono ), Arabic ( Subtitles ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), German ( Subtitles ), Greek ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), Romanian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: While in rural England beautiful Pat Carroll decides to pay a courtesy call on the mother of her dead fiance Stephen, who was killed in an auto accident several years earlier. The overbearing Mrs. Trefoile is very controlling and presses Pat to stay overnight and go to church with her in the morning. In short order, her guest becomes her prisoner as the religious fanatic uses her servants to enforce her will. When Pat tells her that she wasn't going through with the marriage and that Stephen actually committed suicide, Mrs. Trefoile decides to starve her into obedient submission. Her only hope is that Alan, her current fiance, will rescue her. ...Die! Die! My Darling! ( Fanatic )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Stephanie Powers is a young American woman who having returned to blighty, out of politeness goes to visit the mother of her dead fiancee to inform her that she is now betrothed to another. Unfortunately for Steph the elderly lady in question is a psychotic religious fundamentalist with an unhealthy preoccupation with the legacy of her departed son and resolves to punish the wicked unvirtuous american with the ultimate intention of ensuring this woman is a suitable wife for her son in the afterlife.
The performances are all pretty strong although Donald Sutherland was criminally sidelined, playing a half-wit gardener though actually the minor scenes he is involved in were undoubtedly quite poor by his usually high standard. I had never seen Yootha Joyce in a serious role before to my knowledge and with the other women in this very female led film her, Tallulah Bankhead and Powers (who was gorgeous in this) did a really good job.
The biggest let down for me and in fact what ruined it to an extent was the awful music played incessently throughout. The warning is apparent during the credits whereby the jaunty light hearted theme music was reminiscent of a made for tv Disney film. During the film potentially tense set pieces that should have been cranking up the suspense are stripped of all atmosphere by ridiculous plinky inserts. It is not an overstated point, imagine watching 'The Exorcist' with music from Hollyoaks randomly kicking in during the tense bits; for me it really overshadowed the film.
That asides some of the preachy segments from the religious mother were a little bit monotonous, a case of over egging the pudding a tad and for a 90+ min film other portions tended to drag also. So what could have been a real classic in my book becomes relegated to an interesting but somewhat flawed production.
The performances are all pretty strong although Donald Sutherland was criminally sidelined, playing a half-wit gardener though actually the minor scenes he is involved in were undoubtedly quite poor by his usually high standard. I had never seen Yootha Joyce in a serious role before to my knowledge and with the other women in this very female led film her, Tallulah Bankhead and Powers (who was gorgeous in this) did a really good job.
The biggest let down for me and in fact what ruined it to an extent was the awful music played incessently throughout. The warning is apparent during the credits whereby the jaunty light hearted theme music was reminiscent of a made for tv Disney film. During the film potentially tense set pieces that should have been cranking up the suspense are stripped of all atmosphere by ridiculous plinky inserts. It is not an overstated point, imagine watching 'The Exorcist' with music from Hollyoaks randomly kicking in during the tense bits; for me it really overshadowed the film.
That asides some of the preachy segments from the religious mother were a little bit monotonous, a case of over egging the pudding a tad and for a 90+ min film other portions tended to drag also. So what could have been a real classic in my book becomes relegated to an interesting but somewhat flawed production.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
One of the things which characterizes Hammer's non-supernatural output of the sixties is its array of strong parts for women. Sure, they often find themselves in the position of captive victims, but they're also smart, resourceful and very 'modern', almost always outwitting the psycho/fanatic/maniac/conspirator plotting against them. Another feature is the localized setting, which can be the twee English country village or a secluded Meditteranean resort (with the former sometimes doubling as the latter)Scream of Fear, The Witches and Fear in the Night spring to mind. This is obviously a requirement of the budget, but it serves to create a nostalgia-suffused familiarity that lends credibility to the stories and was a feature of 60s/70s British TV from Doctor Who to Brian Clemens' Thriller. Die (also known as Fanatic)is a decent example of the genre which benefits from fine performances from Talulah Bankhead (her last) as the almost-mother-in-law-from- Hell determined to keep her dead son's former fiancee pure and untouched in the attic of her rambling house. Peter Grant and Yootha Joyce are appropriately sinister as her accomplices and there's even a bit part for Donald Sutherland as special needs gardener. Scripted by Richard Matheson, there are enough plot twists to stop you from thinking too much and one or two examples of directorial flair, in particular the tracking shot which follows Powers' car when she first arrives at the house and closes on Grant's creepy leer. Hopefully Powers' other Hammer thriller Crescendo will be re-released on DVD at an affordable price.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This Hammer shocker has been out for a while now, and it is quite entertaining (in parts).
Tallulah totally steals the scenes as she aggresively rules the deranged household's occupants. The editing could have been better, it has a very boring start however as Mrs. Trefoile (Bankhead) drones her way through prayer after prayer readings, it does however quickly pick up when Mrs. Trefoile is not prepared to let her captor ecsape (Stefanie Powers) building quickly up to crescendo of chilling events. Definitely worth a look.
Tallulah totally steals the scenes as she aggresively rules the deranged household's occupants. The editing could have been better, it has a very boring start however as Mrs. Trefoile (Bankhead) drones her way through prayer after prayer readings, it does however quickly pick up when Mrs. Trefoile is not prepared to let her captor ecsape (Stefanie Powers) building quickly up to crescendo of chilling events. Definitely worth a look.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A decent hammer film
This is a good but not great film produced by hammer in 1965 and starring tallulah bankhead and donald sutherland. Read more
Published 2 months ago by PD
die die mydarling r2
unusual film from the studios of hammer.along the lines of whatever happened to baby jane,or hush sweet charlot,young woman goes to see the mother of her late boyfreind who died in... Read more
Published 6 months ago by nobladeofgrass
excellent film, awful music
Hammer continued their trend of giving over the top monstrous roles to great Hollywood actresses passed over on their home turf for younger models. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Parkie
When they met, it was moy-der
Also known as Fanatic, this 1965 suspense thriller from Hammer Studios stars Tallulah Bankhead, the gaw-juss Stefanie Powers, Yootha Joyce, Peter Vaughan and a young Donald... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2010 by Jeremy W. Newbould
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