Movie · 1964 · Horror, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 13m · English
Curator score: 6.6/10 (32.4K ratings)
The years will soon erase a lover's lies...the blood on his face!
Overview
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.6/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.72/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Robert Aldrich
Production
The Associates & Aldrich Company, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Buono, Mary Astor, Wesley Addy, William Campbell, Bruce Dern, Frank Ferguson, George Kennedy, Dave Willock, John Megna, Percy Helton, Kelly Flynn, Michel Petit, Alida Aldrich, Kelly Aldrich, William Aldrich
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylish, melodramatic Southern Gothic thriller with real atmosphere, sharp star power, and a deliciously lurid sense of decay. It’s more camp-tinged psychological horror than outright scares, but the performances and haunted-house mood make it memorable.
Best for
Fans of campy old-Hollywood melodrama
Viewers who like Southern Gothic dread and decaying mansions
People who enjoyed What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Classic horror fans who appreciate performance-driven suspense
Skip if
You want modern pacing or clean plotting
You dislike heightened acting and theatrical excess
You need constant scares or graphic horror
You prefer subtle, naturalistic mysteries
Overview
Robert Aldrich turns a family scandal into a feverish Southern Gothic nightmare, draping the story in rot, guilt, and old-money decay. The film leans hard into atmosphere: shadowy interiors, oppressive heat, and a mansion that feels like it’s slowly swallowing everyone inside it.
Worth noting
Bette Davis is the main attraction, playing Charlotte with a volatile mix of vulnerability, vanity, and hysteria. Olivia de Havilland gives the movie a colder, more controlled menace, which makes the confrontations snap. The result is less a tidy mystery than a grand, overheated battle of wills, and that’s exactly why it works.
Bottom line
It doesn’t have the same precision or shock value as the best prestige horrors of the era, but it has a stronger sense of mood than most studio thrillers. If you like your horror with Southern Gothic perfume, old-Hollywood venom, and a little camp around the edges, this is a rewarding watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sara Clements (4★) · 579 likes
I love how the budget was so low they didn’t bother to cast anyone as teenage Charlotte so they just hid Bette’s face with shadows, but they didn't add a voiceover so she sounds like a 17-year-old who’s smoked a lifetime of cigarettes.
M3L0DY (4★) · 384 likes
Bette Davis: *screaming*
Olivia de Havilland: *growling*
Agnes Moorehead: *white trash gibberish*
Joseph Cotten: *thirsts for the pussy*
Me: Talented, brilliant, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique
Ian West (4★) · 205 likes
Brooding Southern Gothic cleaver mayhem. Over the top, slow atmospheric 60’s Grand Guignol hysteria at its finest with an absolutely incredible cast of names that span decades of immeasurable talent... and a behind the scenes story of Hollywood lore equally as fascinating.
Essential Aldrich.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (4★) · 184 likes
Action! - The Postwar Hollywood 3: Reworking Aldrich
Envisioned as a follow-up to Baby Jane, it’s a film that very much feels like a spiritual sequel in about every regard except much of the setting and the dynamic and relationship between the characters.
But certainly, a lot of what I highlighted and admired in the last film is also true here. Biroc's Oscar-nominated cinematography is stunning, doing a tremendous job of setting the tone and building this incredible haunting and… more
Anna🍓 (4★) · 158 likes
Thank god for conveniently placed comically oversized plant pots 😮💨
This is arguably the scariest I’ve ever seen Olivia De Havilland… while it doesn’t pack the same punch as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane it still does have a lot going for it. The opening scene and credits sequence will be ingrained in my memory for a good long while.