STRAIT-JACKET (1964)
Label: Scream Factory Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.79:1)
Director: William Castle
Cast: Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Leif Erickson, Howard St. John, John Anthony Hayes, Rochelle Hudson, George Kennedy, Lee Majors
When Lucy Harbin (screen legend Joan Crawford, I Know What You Did) catches her younger hubby (Lee Major, TVs The Six Million Dollar Man) in bed with the town hussy she loses it, taking an ax to him and his lover while they sleep, chopping their heads off right in front of her three-year old daughter Carol! For her heinous crime she's locked away at an asylum for the criminally insane, and is released 20-years later, moving in with her now adult daughter Carol (Diane Baker, the senator from The Silence of the Lambs) who has since been raised by Lucy's brother and his kindly wife on their rural farm. At first dear old mom is a bit meek and fragile, a shadow of her former ax-swinging self, but after a mother-daughter day of shopping and having a few drinks Lucy begins to act a bit too much like her younger self, hardly able to keep her hands off of her daughters handsome boyfriend Michael. Crawford is wonderfully campy as she shamelessly flirts with the young man, sticking her fingers right in his mouth! Not long after the doctor who cared for her at the asylum arrives unexpectedly to check-in on her well-being and soon after the heads begin to roll as an ax-murderer rums amok on the farm.
Strait-Jacket offers the best of both worlds, a bit of the William Castle shock and schlock and some of Crawford's tasty, overwrought late-career campiness, a prime example of the psycho-biddy films, which are also unkindly dubbed hag-sploitation, which I am sure would have made Crawford's waddle crawl. There's loads of thrills to be had here, aside from Crawford vamping it up, the ax-murders are surprisingly graphic for the era, there are decapitated heads a plenty in this film.
This film marked the debut of Lee Majors who is almost unrecognizable as the short-lived Lothario, as is George Kennedy (Death Ship) as the greasy and impossibly thin hired hand on the farm. Notably the film was penned by Psycho writer Robert Bloch, and there are some similarities to the stories, the most obvious being some serious mother issues throughout. Another nice touch is that the Torch Lady from the Columbia Pictures logo is decapitated at the start of the film, and the opening credits play over some truly surreal/gruesome paintings, a great way to start off this overwrought shocker!
Audio/Video: Strait-Jacket (1964) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen looking quite wonderful. The black and white lensing looks great with only some minor white speckling to marr it slightly. Contrast is good, blacks are deep and the fine detail is pleasing with well-balanced whites. Audio is a DTS-HD MA Mono track that does the job just fine, dialogue is crisp and clean if a bit flat, and the score from Van Alexander (I Saw What You Did) also comes through nicely, optional English subtitles are provided.
Scream offer up a handful of quality extras, beginning a brand new audio commentary with film historian trio Steve Haberman, David J. Schow, And Constantine Nasr who offer up a ton of anecdotal, historical and personal insights into the making of the film.
We also get an interview with Anne Helm (Nightmare In Wax) who was originally cast in the Diane Baker role, discussing being cast in the film, how excited she was to work with William Castle and Joan Crawford. How pleasant Crawford was initially during their first meeting at her apartment, where the young starlet was astonished that the star said had been scrubbing the bathroom floors herself. However, when she later met her at the rehearsals she was reprimanded by the star for referring to her by her first name, even though in private she was told to call her Joan, and that she was not allowed to drink Coke on the set because Crawford was married to the Pepsi Co. acting president at the time, and how the star proceeded to be cold towards her, eventually being fired from the picture at Crawford's request.
On The Road With Joan Crawford is a 7-min interview with Publicist Richard Kahn who recalls working at Columbia, working with William Castle and touring to promote the film with Crawford, and what a master of working the crowd she was, plus her long list of demands.
Scream also carry-over the 15-min 'Battle-Ax' making of featurette with talking heads like film historian Don Glut, Michael Schlesinger, David Del Valle, and star Diane Baker. We also get 3-min of make-up tests and screen test of Joan swinging the ax, decapitating a dummy with a bit more gushing blood than we saw in the film, which is cool.
The disc is finished-up with a still gallery of promotional stills, behind-the-scenes images, and movie posters from around the world. The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a 2-sided sleeve of artwork, the a-side being the original movie poster, the reverse side featuring an image from the film, the disc features an excerpt of the same key art.
Special Features:
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historians Steve Haberman, David J. Schow, And Constantine Nasr
- NEW Joan Had Me Fired – An Interview With Anne Helm (7 min)
- NEW On The Road With Joan Crawford – An Interview With Publicist Richard Kahn
- Battle-Ax: The Making Of Strait-Jacket (15 min)
- Joan Crawford Costume And Makeup Tests (3 min)
- Ax-Swinging Screen Test (1 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Still Gallery (2 min)
Strait-Jacket (1964) is a wonderful team-up of William Castle shock and Joan Crawford camp, a delightfully demented ax-murder shocker with a somewhat obvious but still fun twist that will leave your head rolling. The new Blu-ray from Scream Factory looks and sounds wonderful and includes an array of fascinating extras that really enhance the movie with plenty of behind-the-scenes gossip about the legendary psycho-biddy Joan Crawford.
