Strait-Jacket is a 1964 American psychological horror film directed and produced by William Castle, written by Robert Bloch and starring Joan Crawford.

One night, she awakens to children's voices singing a nursery rhyme about axe murders and turns to see the severed heads of Frank and Stella on her bed.

Lucy acts erratic and evasive during their conversation before storming off, causing Anderson to tell Carol he thinks her mother was released too hastily and plans to take her back to the hospital.

Noticing the doctor's car is still in the driveway at nightfall, Carol hides it in the barn, being watched by farmhand Leo Krause.

She also reveals she planted the fake severed heads in the bedroom, played the nursery rhyme on a tape recorder, and killed both Dr. Anderson and Leo for interfering with her plan.

Sometime later, Bill and a now-sane Lucy pack up the guest house as they prepare to visit Carol, who is now locked up in the same asylum her mother was held in.

(1962), Joan Crawford and other older actresses, including Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck, appeared in many horror movies throughout the 1960s.

At the end of the closing credits, the Columbia logo's torch-bearing woman is shown in her traditional pose, but decapitated, with her head resting at her feet on her pedestal.

Judith Crist commented in the New York Herald Tribune that "it's time to get Joan Crawford out of those housedress horror B movies and back into haute couture...this madness-and-murder tale...might have been a thriller, given Class A treatment."

Elaine Rothschild in Films in Review wrote: "I am full of admiration for Joan Crawford, for even in drek like this she gives a performance.

"[6] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post also hated the film, calling it "likely to stand as the worst picture of the year ... Apart from the absurdity of the plot and the chilling predictability of lines and situations, 'Strait-Jacket' is inexcusable for its scenes of violence.

[9] Assisted by Castle's promotion gimmicks, including in-person appearances by Crawford, the film was a big hit,[10] making in 2019 adjusted grosses $60.8 million at the American box office.

At the conclusion, the Columbia logo is seen decapitated (with her head resting at its base, near her feet) as a tongue-in-cheek ode to the film's axe murder theme.