Dec 22, 2018
The Fanatic (Die! Die! My Darling!, 1965)
"A mirror? Is it to adorn yourself, to observe yourself? Mirrors are naught but tools of vanity, Patricia. I know. Vanity, sensuality, Patricia. The Bible speaks of our vile bodies."
#the fanatic#die! die! my darling!#1965#hammer films#hammer horror#british cinema#horror film#films i done watched#richard matheson#tallulah bankhead#stefanie powers#peter vaughan#yootha joyce#donald sutherland#maurice kaufmann#gwendolyn watts#robert dorning#philip gilbert#a curious middle point between hammer's early 60s psycho thrillers and their later tackier colour fare#it's uneven. much of the culture shock between powers' liberal young woman and bankheads religious zealot is played for laughs in the#first act before becoming decidedly more sinister as the film progresses. this was bankheads last film and although she is clearly#struggling at times she still delivers a mesmerising performance. much was made in the press of a supposed feud between the two female lead#but apparently this was a pr invention and they actually got on very well. which is nice.#the supporting cast is impeccable. donald sutherland during his uk years. peter vaughan playing a very similar part to the one he would pla#in symptoms some ten years later. yootha joyce is wonderful. very sad very frustrated there are moments of heartbreaking beauty in her#performance. and some brief scenes of maurice kaufmann being chauvinistic. but the film is really a two hander for#powers and bankhead and they're excellent. its far from perfect. it drags a little in the middle and that tone is all over the place#but when i sat down to watch it i was unaware i'd seen it before under its more lurid american title. it was better than i remembered#blade tw#should have added that
