And when she saw what she had done.....

AMC has been airing Monsterfest since Sunday. They're showing horror movies for a whole week, in honor of Halloween. I'm kind of disappointed with some of their selections (like do we really need to see Tremors more than 2 times?) but some of the movies I've seen have been really good. I'm such a wuss when it comes to scary movies, so I don't know why I like watching them so much. Click here for the entire Monsterfest schedule.

I just finished watching Strait-Jacket, starring the legendary Joan Crawford. I haven't seen too many Joan Crawford films, but Strait Jacket definitely exhibits that sort of campy over acting thing that Joan Crawford was famous and loved for. Although, I think actors in those older movies usually overacted most of the time anyway. But that was the style then, so they really couldn't help themselves.

Now I think that Joan Crawford was scary enough in real life (Have you ever seen Mommie Dearest? ), but Joan really outdoes herself in this movie. Strait-Jacket was a modern twist on the Lizzy Borden story. There's even a part in the movie where Joan Crawford's character, Lucy, thinks she hears two little girls singing:

Lucy Harbin took an axe
And gave her husband 40 whacks
And when she saw what she had done
She gave his girlfriend 41.

The movie starts out in a bar. A man is having drinks with his old girlfriend while his wife is out of town. His wife, Lucy, is seven years older than he is, and he really only married her because she had property.

He decides to take his ex back to his place, knowing that his wife won't be home until the following day. He takes her into the bedroom, and they go at it. Little does he know that his 3 year old daughter, Carol, is awake, and can see everything that's going on.

He also doesn't know that his wife took the midnight train, and is on her way home.

When Lucy gets to her house, she can't wait to see her husband. But when she walks up to the window to catch a of glimpse of him, she sees him in bed with another woman.

She snaps. She sees an ax in a tree stump, and tugs it out.

She walks into the house, past her daughter, and into her bedroom. Without much hesitation, she chops off her husbands head, and then his ex's head.

Then she continues to hack away at their bodies, her daughter witnessing the entire thing.

Lucy gets put away in a mental institution. 20 years later, she's released, much to the dismay of her doctor, who doesn't think she's completely well yet.

Her daughter Carol, now all grown up, is anxious and eager to see her mother again and catch up on lost time. She wants to show her mother her artwork (she's a sculptor), introduce her to her boyfriend Michael, and regain the close relationship they once had.

But Lucy is timid and nervous, and finds it hard to integrate back into the society. Carol tries to help. She takes her out shopping for shoes, jewelry, a stylish wig, and a hip new outfit to make her feel more confident about herself. But the new Lucy is maybe too confident (she flirts relentlessly with Michael one night over drinks), and Carol thinks that maybe her mother wasn't ready to leave the asylum after all.

Lucy constantly has bad dreams about the murders. She think she sees dead bodies, and hears things (like the two girls mocking her) and she completely freaks out when anyone mentions anything about the asylum to her. She almost gets obsessed with how she was 20 years ago, which is bad when you consider what she did 20 years ago. She hates what she did, but can't help remembering it almost every second of every day. And sometimes she just can't control her rage. Once the bodies start piling up, you pretty much know who's responsible for them. Or do you? The ending was kind of shocking to me, but I guess you'd have to see for yourself.

Strait Jacket was pretty decent though. I couldn't sleep this morning, and woke up around 6:30. I decided to watch some television until I got tired again, but I just got caught up in the movie. So maybe I'll go take a nap now. Remember that Monsterfest continues until Monday morning, so be sure to check it out for Michael Myers, Pinhead, Freddie Krueger, Jason, and those gross wormy things from Tremors.

Here's the song Joan Crawford by Blue ֖yester Cult. Listen for this part in the song:

Christina....mother's home.
Christina....come to mother.

Seriously, if you haven't seen Mommie Dearest, you really need to. I just saw it about two weeks ago for the 100th time, and it still gives me chills.

Blue ֖yster Cult- Joan Crawford (from Fire of Unknown Origin)

Here's another interesting fun fact: Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte is on right now, and the main characters in the movie are Bette Davis (Charlotte) and Olivia De Havilland (Miriam). Initially, Joan Crawford was supposed to play Miriam (the movie was supposed to be another Davis/Crawford hit like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, which had been made 3 years earlier). But when filming started, Joan was already too ill to do the part. So Bette Davis suggested her best friend Olivia for the role. It's well known that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford hated each other immensely. On the first day of shooting, Bette and Olivia toasted each other with Coca-Cola, a clear stab at Joan, whose husband was an executive at Pepsi. See, actresses were just as catty back then as they are now.

Ok, hopefully I'll have an actual music post for you later on today.

*pictures from Horror Talk.