Strait-Jacket

Lucy Harbin has been imprisoned in an insane asylum for 20 years for murdering her husband Frank Harbin and his paramour for that night, Stella Fulton, Lucy decapitated their heads with an ax before indiscriminately wielding it to other parts of their bodies. The murders were witnessed by Lucy and Frank's then-adolescent daughter, Carol Harbin, who was eventually adopted by Lucy's brother and his wife, Bill and Emily Cutler. With only a brusque hired hand named Leo Krause helping out, the Cutlers now live on a farm in California, far away from the Harbins' house in Ohio where the murders were committed so that Carol could get away from the public scrutiny of her mother's murderous act. The board at the asylum, believing that she is now reformed and well enough on new medications, is releasing Lucy into Bill and Emily's custody, the decision being against the advice of Lucy's physician, Dr. Anderson. Carol, an up-and-coming sculptress, is nervously excited about seeing her mother after 20 years. Carol wants to be as open as possible about her mother's situation to others; however, she only tells one person who is not in the know about Lucy, namely her boyfriend, Michael Fields, the son of wealthy dairy owners Raymond and Alison Fields. As Carol and Michael are planning on getting married, Carol wants no secrets of this nature from Michael. Seeing how scared and depressed her mother looks, Carol wants to brighten up her life by transforming her into the young, vivacious woman that Carol remembers as her mother. However, that transformation, as well as other issues in general, evoke the murders and the incarceration for Lucy, who still seems to be suffering from mental illness exacerbated by these emotional triggers. Eventually, some people within this situation go missing; everyone, with the exception of the perpetrator, not knowing that the missing have been killed by someone wielding an ax. Has Lucy reverted back to her ax murdering ways?