young innocent jennifer stewart ( lucy marlow ) go to visit her cousin eva phillips ( joan crawford ) . she meet eva alcoholic husband avery ( barry sullivan ) and brow beat daughter carol lee ( betsy palmer ) and handyman judson prentice ( john ireland ) . she slowly come to realize that eva cruelly manipulate the life of all around her . not well know crawford film which be a shame because it one of her best . crawford pull out all stop and go full force a a totally evil vicious woman . she quite obviously enjoy herself and her incredible performance save what otherwise be a pretty routine drama . the plot be pretty predictable and all the other character pale next to crawford . marlow isn not that good and sullivan and ireland be downright terrible but palmer be very good and see her so young be pretty amusing ( she now best know a jason mother from the friday the 13th movie ) . worth see just for crawford alone . i do not think she ever play such a cruel character before or after this one . purportedly ( accord to christina crawford ) she be play herself . i give this an 8 .