Welcome to another X-mas Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon! Your present tonight is a wacky-ass film made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1972, and was the first Hitchcock film made in the UK since 1956! It's very cool how the poster artiste incorporated neckties into the composition!
It's called "FRENZY" my frenz, and frenzy is defined as "a period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behavior," and I must say, I think that fits it just fine!
It starts off with another victim of a serial necktie murderer, who we find out, rapes his victims before strangling them! I could be wrong, but I think that this is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie that ever had nudity in it!
This guy, Jon (The Vampire Lovers, The Horror Of Frankenstein, Breaking Glass) Finch as manic veteran heavy drinker Richard Blaney seems like a likely suspect!
Jean Marsh has a small role as a secretary to Richard Blaney's ex-wife! From "The Unearthly Stranger" to "Dr. Who," and "The Tomorrow People," Jean has done it all! Very early in her long and varied career, she was in the "Twilight Zone" Episode entitled "The Lonely!"
There's no mystery as to who the killer really is, Alfred let's that cat out of the bag at the very beginning! It's Richard Blaney's nice guy buddy, hard working Robert Rusk as played by Barry (Twisted Nerve, The Guru) Foster!
Robert Rusk's next victim is his pal Richard Blaney's Ex-wife, and that's not going to go well for Richard, who just got fired from his job, and is known to be a hot head!
I think this is interesting, the Ex-wife is played by Barbara Leigh-Hunt who was Lady Macbeth in a 1970 TV series called "Macbeth," and Barry Foster played Hamlet in a TV series by the same name in 1961! It just shows you the quality of the talent in this crazy movie!
This is Babs, Richard Blaney's co-worker, kind of girlfriend, but not really!
Babs Milligan is played by the delightful Anna (Peeping Tom, Bunny Lake Is Missing, Tales Of The Unexpected) Massey.
Richard and Babs are on the run, and they're not very welcome in the home of Billie (The Flesh And The Fiends, Twisted Nerve, The Omen) Whitelaw! Not at all!
Hot on the case is Alec (The Witches, Gangs Of New York) McCowen as the very hungry Chief Inspector Oxford! If I did the math right, Alec will be 92 next May! Intently watching the Chief Inspector chow down is his right hand man, Sergeant Spearman! The good Sergeant is played by Michael (Bedazzled, Man In A Suitcase, Hammerhead, A Clockwork Orange) Bates!
This is a really good movie but this is my favourite part! The Chief Inspector is devouring this breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon and ham, because...........
.....................This is what his loving wife is serving him at home on these great willow pattern dishes!
Yeah, it's really gross!
On to the main dish, quail with grapes!
I love this shot! He's pounding the booze so he can face this Gawdawful meal, and she has no clue, and thinks the food is great!
Meanwhile, here's one way for a psycho killer to relax, because, after all, it is a tough job!
Babs meets up with Richard Rusk, and because she needs a place to stay.....
No, Babs, No, don't go in that door!
Too late, she didn't lsten!
The whole next scene is like something out of a Three Stooges episode! Richard Rusk disposes the body of Babs, but then realizes his pendant is clutched in her stiff hand and he has to go and try and get it out of the back of a truck hauling potatoes! He's pulling on her dead body and gets a foot in the face for his trouble!" It's really pretty hilarious!
I do like this shot of the sly but depraved killer!
An off-duty Sergeant Spearman comes to the Chief Inspector's home to give him some information and Mrs Oxford offers him up a Margarita! You just have to listen to her tell him the ingredients! Mrs Oxford was played by the glorious Vivien (Alfie, The Offence) Merchant!
After Sergeant Spearman dashes off without finishing his drink, Mrs. Oxford disposes of it for him! Vivien is absolutely hilarious, and in the truly sad, but life imitates art department, Vivien actually ended up having a severe drinking problem, and died at the early age of 53 from cirrhosis of the liver! Too bad, I would have loved to have a Margarita with her!
Just for kicks, here's a poster from a completely unrelated movie from 1945 with the same title!
Dude looks pretty frenetic all right like evil X-Mas!
"I thought "Frenzy" was a fun ride, so I'm going to go get back in line and do it again! Amazon has DVDs for about 10 bucks, if you have any real friends, it would make a perfect Joy To The World gift that I'm sure they will cherish, and if not, then just blame it on me! You can't lose!
THE FUGS - "FRENZY"
FRENZY is genuinely shocking for its violence and crass sensibility. It's good that Alfie was still being edgy towards the end of his life.
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