Hatchet for the Honeymoon () is a 1970 giallo film directed by Mario Bava and starring Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, and Femi Benussi. The story follows John Harrington, a hatchet-wielding madman who murders young brides in an effort to recall a childhood trauma. The film's production was troubled, with tensions among the cast and crew, location difficulties, a major subplot concerning Harrington's relationship with his wife being added solely to accommodate Betti's casting, and a significant hiatus in filming when the budget ran out. It was not released until a year after it was completed, and was largely ignored by both critics and audiences, remaining one of Bava's most obscure films even after his work achieved cult popularity. Plot John Harrington is a handsome, 30-year-old man who feels compelled to murder young brides to remember details of a childhood trauma. John lives in a spacious villa outside Paris, where he manages a bridal dress factory belonging to his deceased mother and financially supported by his wife Mildred. He and Mildred are ill-matched, but she refuses to consider his appeals for a divorce. Whenever he hears that one of the models working at the dress factory is to be married, he hacks her to death with a meat cleaver while she is wearing her bridal gown, burns the body in the furnace of his greenhouse, and uses the ashes as fertilizer. Each murder gives him a slightly clearer image of his traumatic memory. Inspector Russell frequently drops by to question John about the six models who have disappeared from his bridal salon, but with a lack of hard evidence, cannot arrest him. At his office, John meets Helen Wood, who has come to apply for the job "vacated" by one of the mysteriously disappeared models. Impressed by her wit and beauty, John hires her. Over the next few days, John falls in love with Helen. After dropping Mildred off at the airport for a weeklong vacation, he takes Helen out to dinner. He returns to find Mildred at home; she reveals that the vacation was a ruse, and she took the next flight back in hopes of catching him in the act of infidelity. Feeling entrapped by Mildred's constant presence, he dons a wedding gown and hacks her to death with the cleaver. He buries her in the grounds of the greenhouse. Everyone John speaks to sees Mildred, very