Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Antonius Block
I've always liked 'Frenzy', Hitchcock's second to last movie, filmed when he was 73. The London pub and market scenes in Covent Garden always grab me from the start, and I love the dialogue between Jon Finch and both Anna Massey and Barry Foster. Finch plays a down-on-his-luck barman who's just been "given the push" (fired) from his job for drinking too much, Massey is his feisty co-worker, and Foster his charming and kind friend who tries to help him. Hanging over London is the "Necktie Murderer", as we see in the early shots of a nude woman floating in the Thames. When Finch pays a visit to his ex-wife (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), things take a downward turn, but I won't say anything further.There are several excellent shots worth noting. The one where Hitchcock slowly backs the camera down the stairwell and back out into the street, after the killer and his next victim are entering his apartment, is brilliant. The fumbling around in the moving potato truck, leading to breaking fingers where rigor mortis has set in has a gruesome and morbidly absurd feel to it. I also love the small moment when at the trial, Hitchcock places the camera outside the courtroom, and lets us hear snippets of the judge's pronouncement when the door opens. The film feels eminently British which I enjoyed, and distinctly Hitchcock, as he slips in some droll humor in the form of a detective (Alex McCowen) and his wife (Vivien Merchant), who cooks him unappetizing French haute cuisine while he craves traditional British fare. For the first time, Hitchcock also uses brief nudity in a few scenes mostly to heighten the garish and horrifying murders, and maybe to please his inner voyeur. There are moments which made me smile (a margarita being too exotic a drink comes to mind), and others which made me cringe (a gentleman saying to a barmaid that being raped before being strangled is akin to every cloud having a silver lining, and her smiling about it). The middle portion of the film is not quite as strong as I remembered it, but overall, a solid thriller, and underrated in Hitchcock's oeuvre.
JohnHowardReid
From its sweeping opening shots taken from a helicopter, we are led to expect something rather stylish and certainly made with ultimate craftsmanship – and we do actually get this occasionally, for example in the long tracking shot through bustling Covent Garden with Barry Foster and Anna Massey. But, unfortunately, there's also a sloppy, slapdash quality we don't expect from a master: Miss Leigh-Hunt's too white make-up in the club dinner scene, the obvious substitution of figure models for both Leigh-Hunt and Massey, and the fact that the movie is burdened with far too many expository passages. A movie is a movie. It needs to move, not stand still like a TV drama. And as for the plot itself? Dear me, it's a familiar old chestnut if ever there was one. True, Hitch has attempted to give it a bit of life by dressing it up with a bit of nudity and sexual sadism. But this attempt to be "modern" only emphasizes the dullness of the basic story and the one-dimensional quality of all the characters. The old-style Hitch used to go about dealing with like problems by directing at such a cracker pace that there no was time for anyone in the audience to suspend disbelief – at least not until the movie was over! An ambivalent attitude as to whether Rusk or Blaney is the central character doesn't help. True, Foster is very competent as Rusk and tends to squeeze Finch out – even though Finch enjoys top billing. The support cast is not great either, though Cribbins and Whitelaw do what can, despite their disappointingly small roles. Perhaps with a bit of trimming, the pace would not be so sluggish?
Adam Peters
(69%) One of Alfred the greats final films is a real sleazy treat for fans of his more exploitative side. Anyone wanting to know exactly why the likes of Dario Argento is often compared to old Hitch then this needs to be seen. What's best about this little gem is the fact that you can tell the old guy was having a bit of fun with it, he knows it isn't going to be his best or even close, so he fills this with nice touches of black humour, tonnes of bad language, and plenty of suspense. This is very much a middle of the pile addition, but the cast is good, it's very well structured, and it never allows itself to be taken seriously. Overall a good sit that is never boring to watch.
rcolgan
When we think of Alfred Hitchcock then our minds tend to shift only towards his most popular films like Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window. This is for good reason since they are most certainly incredible films and helped revolutionise cinema. But at the same time with a film career spanning around 53 films he has many incredible classics that seem to be forgotten overtime. This is unfortunate seeing as it leads to great films such as Frenzy being less talked about then his other films.Just like all the great Hitchcock films, Frenzy is a suspenseful thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat through the entire film by creating interesting characters and placing them in dangerous situations. It's pretty similar to the other Hitchcock plots like North by Northwest in that there's one man on the run for a murder that he did not commit whilst the real killer remains at large.Though there are two differences to this formula. The first is that the film is far more brutal then his previous films creating much more detail and realism within the killings. So much that it was the first Hitchcock film to be given an 18 rating on release. Also unlike most of Hitchococks films which will maintain an element of mystery as to the killers identity for most of the film, this one shows who the killer is within the first act and maintains a lot of focus on the killer throughout the film. Whilst it is risky revealing this so early within the film it does have the benefit of allowing a far more in depth and interesting portrait in to the mind of the serial killer throughout the rest of the film. We get to witness his complete lack of sympathy or regret over what he is doing and how unnoticed he is by the rest of society. The reveal even leads to some incredible scenes that I'd place amongst Hitchcock's best. One of which is when we first witness the killer strangling his victim. Hitchcock uses a similar style to the famous shower scene in Psycho where he uses quick editing and varying close ups to add a feeling of horror and struggle that the victim is going through. There are two key differences however to the style being used in Psycho, with the first being seeing the killers excitement as he throttles the victim so we see it more from the victims perspective rather than the killers. The second being that this does not have a score and instead we hear only the muffled screams of the women as she is throttled, creating a more threatening feeling of eerie realism. Whilst not quite as iconic as the shower scene in Psycho it is still extremely intense and suspenseful and amongst Hitchcock's best scenes. Along with the killer the film also builds up the leading man who is falsely convicted of the murders called Blaney. Unlike the usual Hitchcock leading man Blaney is not an impressive person. If anything he is extremely reliant on other people throughout the film and is actually quite aggressive, to the point where you can understand why the police would be hunting him as a suspect. This not only makes the story more believable but also since we know that he won't catch the killer it keeps us curious as to how the real killer will get caught.I doubt that this will be anyone's favourite Hitchcock. But that's just because his classics just can't be beat and this remains an incredible film. It does everything that we come to expect from Hitchcock films, from maintaining his nail biting suspense to innovating his own formula by increasing the role of the killer within the film. There is never any doubt that this is a Hitchcock film and any fan of the director will be certain to enjoy the film.
