Gorgeous giallo artwork – totally misleading, of course.
Weak frights, muddled intrigue, “subtle” outfits and some totally schizo wallpaper patterns await the viewer in Pete Walker’s deservedly little-known murder mystery yarn.
Man with a great face
Plot in one sentence: Upon learning of Samantha‘s upcoming wedding, a very intense-looking man (Jack Watson) travels to London from up North and before you know it Samantha‘s friends start getting picked off by a killer…
Remember - SCHIZO is a British picture, not an Italian one. So expect bleak visuals, sour jokes and social commentary instead of blunt humour, dazzling camera-work and out-of-sync dubbing.
Lynne Frederick looks great (even in a yellow vinyl raincoat) and her distress is, for the most part, very convincing.
Nasty wallpaper.
Absurd macho posturing amidst some gaudy interiors.
Usually, 70’s fashions can be a plus, but some of the décor in SCHIZO is definitely too much.
SCHIZO is perhaps worth watching for a slice of Britain (and a certain style of filmmaking) that is no more.
A co-op bus...
There’s some wonderful low-budget violence, rather nasty in concept and modest in execution.
It's not uncommon seeing hammered people on Friday nights...
Lynne Frederick acting scared.
SCHIZO is a kind of film to put on while ironing your shirts or something. It hasn’t got the density, originality or drive to merit full attention.
The last half hour or so is close to excellent and does redeem the preceding boredom to an extent, though.
This has to be my favourite Pete Walker film, together with THE COMEBACK.
I quite like this one, too, and actually recently profiled it on my blog's Name that Movie Monday feature!
ReplyDeletehttp://bruceholecheck.blogspot.com/2010/07/its-name-that-movie-monday-challenge-3.html
Thanks for stopping by, Bruce!
ReplyDeleteI do prefer Schizo to Walker's better-known films. It's a little less grotesque, I think.
I re-watched this a couple of months back and decided to track down some other Lynne Frederick films which are just now getting to the top of my list. Schizo is hard to watch but visually fascinating, I think you nailed it. Nice Blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much:)
ReplyDeleteFor example FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is a better film than SCHIZO but Lynne Frederick has a much smaller part in that one.
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