[Inspector Abberline]

Joan Crawford grabs her chopper and gives the six million dollar man head..and thus so begins William Castles Straight-Jacket, probably one of the best Psycho-biddy films in the sub-genre they, not me, call hagsploitation. After 20years in an asylum Joan Crawford as Lucy Harbin has been released into the care of her daughter Diane Baker as Carol Cutler, but things slowly slide Joan back into her old ways as the lure of the axe is ever present..Mind you if you live on a farm where George Kennedy as Leo is constantly lobbing the heads off of chickens then your probably gonna go a bit batty I suppose..Castles Strait-Jacket is a superb melodramatic potboiler that is part soap opera part Psycho influence knock off. There is something quite iconic about seeing Joan wielding an axe like Conan in drag. If you enjoyed William Castles other psychodrama Homicidal (1961), then I'm pretty sure you will get a kick out of this Robert Bloch written story of madness and family ties, I mean he should know...