Fanatic

An American woman, Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers), arrives in London to marry her lover Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Before tying the knot, however, Patricia pays a visit to Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead), the mother of her deceased fiance Stephen, who died in an automobile accident several years earlier. Trefoile resides in a secluded house on the edge of an English village. She is fanatically religious, and it soon becomes apparent that she blames Patricia for her son's death. Indeed, when Patricia reveals to her that she never actually intended to marry Stephen, Trefoile enlists the aid of her married servants, Harry (Peter Vaughan) and Anna (Yootha Joyce), in holding Patricia captive so she can exorcise the young woman's soul. Even simple Joseph (Donald Sutherland) doesn't seem aware of the plight of the young woman. After several attempts to escape the Trefoile house, one of which nearly results in Patricia's being sexually assaulted by Harry, she is rescued by Alan; and in the end, Mrs. Trefoile winds up dead with a knife in her back, the same knife with which she earlier attempted to murder Patricia.