Director: Silvio Narizzano
Writers: Richard Matheson, Anne Blaisdell
Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan
Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2SRVDs6
Synopsis
We start out with the least horror-y opening credits and music ever, with cats and mouse and a “Tom and Jerry”-style theme playing.
Pat has arrived to stay with her fiance for a few days before the wedding, but she explains that she also promised to visit Mrs. Trefoile, her dead fiance’s mother. Alan, her new fiance, thinks this is a stupid idea, but she wants to tie up all her loose ends from her former life.
Pat drives out to the country to find Mrs. Trefoile’s home, and it’s way out there, so she’ll have to spend the night somewhere. The creepy old lady welcomes her to the house and immediately asks if she’s alone. Pat had been planning to marry poor Steven, but he tragically died in an accident before that could happen. The old woman is very religious, and insists that Pat goes to mass with her the next morning, which would require a sleepover.
Pat notices that there aren’t any mirrors, but Mrs. Trefoile explains about the Bible and vanity. There are no mirrors here. Pat realizes that she’s dealing with a wacko, but she’s polite about it. They pray for literally hours before dinner. The old lady insists that she wipe off her filthy lipstick before dinner. If this were me, I’d be sneaking out to my car right about this point, but she plays along and does as she’s told… and gets no dinner.
She wants to call Alan and tell him she will be late, but there’s no telephone there. The old lady asks if Pat is a virgin. While Mrs. Trefoile blathers on with her nonsense, Pat tags along, just waiting for the ordeal to end.
Mrs. Trefoile explains that Pat is actually married to Steve, and now a widow, since a betrothal is the same as a marriage. Pat lets it slip that she really wouldn’t have married Steven anyway. The old lady looks at her, aghast, and then locks her in the bedroom. Pat watches from her bedroom as one of the servants locks her car in the barn.
They lock her in the attic, and then the fun begins. The servants do whatever Mrs. Tefoile says, since they plan to inherit everything when the old lady finally dies. During a struggle, Pat gets stabbed with a big pair of scissors.
She offers the servants two thousand pounds to let her go, but that doesn’t work out. At this point, it just becomes a game of “can she escape?”
Eventually, the insanity gets to be too much for the servant Harry, and things go badly after that. Eventually, Mrs. Trfoile and Pat go down to the basement, where the mirrors are kept. Secrets are then revealed…
Commentary
I’ve known far too many heavily religious people that talk and act just like Mrs. Trefoile, and her acting doesn’t seem so far from reality for a lot of old people. Old people are just scary sometimes.
Pat fights like a girl when just hitting someone with something heavy or sharp would have ended all that nonsense. She had a hundred opportunities to simply jump on the old woman, even with her little gun, but she never really tried.
Donald Sutherland had an early, but small, role as a very simple groundskeeper. He’s there, but doesn’t do very much or say anything beyond a few mumbles.