Strait-Jacket

Lucy Harbin has spent two decades in a psychiatric hospital after killing her husband and his lover with an axe while her young daughter Carol watched. Now declared well enough to leave, she moves in with her brother's family in the countryside, where Carol was raised. Mother and daughter try to rebuild a relationship that never had a chance to exist, though Carol is also courting a young man from a wealthy family. Lucy's behavior soon strikes those around her as unstable, and when axe murders begin again, suspicion falls on her.

William Castle directed this 1964 American production for Columbia Pictures, which he also produced, from a screenplay by Robert Bloch. It was the fifth of the five films Castle directed listed between Fort Ti in 1953 and this one, arriving after House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler and 13 Ghosts. Joan Crawford stars as Lucy, with Diane Baker as Carol, Leif Erickson and Rochelle Hudson as her brother and sister-in-law, and Howard St. John and John Anthony Hayes among the supporting cast.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 6.6 out of 10 across 136 votes, a moderate score for a release of its era. Running 93 minutes, it blends drama, horror and thriller elements into a story about a family shaped by a violent past.