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In this thriller from Britain’s Hammer Films, a woman is held against her will by her late fiancée’s mother, a creepy religious zealot who aims to purify her soul to ensure her son’s spirit gets into Heaven. Tallulah Bankhead (Lifeboat, The Devil and the Deep) headlines as the dangerously pious mother, with Stephanie Powers (TV’s Hart to Hart) playing the young captive. It’s a little quaint by today’s standards, but Die! Die! My Darling! is a precursor of sorts to ‘kidnapping/torture’ movies like Misery and Saw.
The script by sci-fi legend Richard Matheson (The Last Man on Earth, The Incredible Shrinking Man) loses some momentum in the middle, but pays off with a third act that escalates nicely. Wilfred Josephs’ score sometimes borders on inappropriate comedy, but the sets are — as usual for Hammer — terrific. Peter Vaughan (Straw Dogs, Game of Thrones) and Yootha Joyce bring added menace as Bankhead’s married servants. They’re all too compliant in helping their employer restrain Powers, though they also have an agenda of their own. Donald Sutherland (Ordinary People, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) makes a very early appearance as a mentally disabled young man also in Bankhead’s employ.
Directed by Silvio Narizzano. With Maurice Kaufmann.