Bette Davis has a field day as the manipulative, central character in this macabre domestic black comedy from Hammer. Here she plays Mrs Taggart, a monster mother who every year celebrates her husband's death by throwing a dinner party which all of her sons must attend. There is a vague similarity to The Lion in Winter in which another dysfunctional family convenes and plot against one another (and against their devious mother, played majestically by Katharine Hepburn), but this one has a few aces up its sleeve, one involving a glass eye that makes a shocking appearance midway.
The entire concept is a tad far-fetched. One would ask, can't these grown men with wives stand up to this woman and just not go? It's not like she is holding them hostage with a gun to their heads. But guilt-trips go a long way, and when you add that to a family with unhealthy ties it all makes sense. It's this underlying tone of darker waters that take The Anniversary a step up from a conventional Gothic potboiler and one can see a seminal link to future films such as August: Osage County. Of the movies Bette Davis made towards the twilight of her career, this one is a minor standout.
For pop culture enthusiasts, The Anniversary served as a template for the Mexican telenovela Cuna de Lobos, itself a complete reworking of this film.
The entire concept is a tad far-fetched. One would ask, can't these grown men with wives stand up to this woman and just not go? It's not like she is holding them hostage with a gun to their heads. But guilt-trips go a long way, and when you add that to a family with unhealthy ties it all makes sense. It's this underlying tone of darker waters that take The Anniversary a step up from a conventional Gothic potboiler and one can see a seminal link to future films such as August: Osage County. Of the movies Bette Davis made towards the twilight of her career, this one is a minor standout.
For pop culture enthusiasts, The Anniversary served as a template for the Mexican telenovela Cuna de Lobos, itself a complete reworking of this film.