Strait-Jacket Review

Review of Strait-Jacket (1964) by screenqueeen: 👍 4.5/5

I don't know why I slept on this William Castle joint for so long but I'm glad I woke up. Simultaneously bringing PSYCHO and -- before it was even written or filmed -- PSYCHO II energy. Crawford's Lucy is so painfully fractured you can feel her desire to become whole again but never really gets a chance to collect herself in a controlled environment.

There's always someone else to meet, some dinner to go to, some social meet in the afternoon, some reason to go shopping and doll up for -- it's raucous, distracting, and unnerving. Castle captures this perfectly, showing how precious one on one moments between Lucy and her daughter Carol are, suspiciously more so for Carol than her mother.

For a Castle film this is wonderfully mature. There are certain parts about it that have practical joke approaches but instead used as indicators of PTSD, nightmares, and fears that you can never get away from your past. The way Crawford bounces between personas like disconnected shards broken off of a once-connected mirror is so disconcerting but also morbidly compelling. Like Carol's beau's parents we also want to know more about her, but maybe not in as condescending a fashion.

Joan Crawford also attempts to relax herself by lighting a cigarette by striking a match on a record playing -- the only scene I know of that's both super hot and terrifying.