Lucy Harbin took an axe, gave her husband forty whacks.
If William Castle tried to channel Alfred Hitchcock for 1961's Homicidal, then he went right to the source -- or rather one of his sources -- for 1964's Strait-Jacket. Written by Robert Bloch, who also penned the original novel that Psycho was based on, Strait-Jacket stars Joan Crawford as a woman being released from an asylum 20 years after she killed her unfaithful husband (played by an uncredited Lee Majors) and his lover with an axe. Made in between What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (which temporarily revitalized her career) and Trog (which ground it to a halt again), this is considered by many to be Crawford's last hurrah in the world of film and she definitely pulls out all the stops for it (although it must be said she does look a little silly trying to pass for 20 years younger in the prologue).
The plot is set in motion when Crawford's brother (played by Leif Erickson) brings her home to stay on his farm after she gets out. There she attempts a reconciliation with her estranged daughter (Diane Baker), who witnessed the bloody deed when she was seven and hasn't seen her mother since. She has taken up sculpture, though, which gives her something to do with her hands (much like Crawford's later attempts at knitting). Baker also has a rich young fiancée (John Anthony Hayes), whose parents turn out to be less then enthralled with the match when they find out about Crawford's past. And the film features George Kennedy (fresh off playing a heavy in Stanley Donen's Charade) as a farmhand who really should know better than to leave his axe lying around where anybody can find it. It may take a while to reach that point, but when the heads start rolling, the film definitely picks up.