what a poor widow to do when her husband dy and leave her penniless . move to the arizona desert and start a pine tree garden and and fertilize it with human mulch . well . wouldn not you . geraldine page have quite the green thumb a mrs. claire marrable the wicked widow with the pine tree fetish in the chill thriller whatever happen to aunt alice . grand dame bette davis once quip represent fasten your seatbelt and it gon na be a bumpy night . bette and you be so right . if you remember geraldine page a the sweet lil ol lady from ` trip to bountiful . fugetabowtit . page do a 180 a she transmogrify from helpless southern widow to cool and calculate murderess with money and murder on the brain and a mean to achieve both . page hit the bull eye with each scene . all of her nervous tick be appropriately time . she be at her best when put on air and verbally spar with unarmed opponent . what a stellar performance . geraldine and girlfriend and you be flawless . many deliciously diabolical scene abound and like when pesky canine chloe threaten to dig up the dirt on her murderous past time and page a marrable bark back represent i have not take loving and diligent care of my garden to have it wreck by this vagrant bitch . page character be equally disenchanted with her new next door neighbor and ms. vaughn and whom she refer to a crabgrass and never really quell and only crop up secretly and victoriously in another spot . the only one page can stomach be ruth gordon a the inquisitive aunt alice an undercover housekeeper on a mission to get to the root ( haha ) of all evil and discover the whereabouts of a friend last see in page employ . but when she tardy serve up cocktail and an impatient geraldine rip her a new one represent ` punctuality be essential to a gracious way of life and which i do not intend to give up on account of you . ruth return fire represent ` if you wan na live like some dutchess of maharati and you good learn how to behave like one . geraldine shake furiously from head to toe after a fiesty ruth flat out inquires represent how many woman have you kill . try to suppress a snicker a you watch a pint size ruthie scamper away from page and who smugly stalk her throughout her seclude desert home to the beat of bongo and a psychotic musical score . page wicked laughter be sprinkle spuriously throughout the film to the backdrop of sway pine tree how ingenious . not even bette davis cackle with such nefarious mirth a baby jane hudson . praise be the master of psycho shrew on film and robert aldrich who direct the cult smash whatever happen to baby jane . for produce this special gem and and a hearty kudos to lee katzin for his superlative directing skill . this movie will make you bow down and pray to the church of geraldine page . so what be you wait for . rent it tonight . and start praying .