Thursday 8 August 2024

Hitchcock's FRENZY (1972) is like watching Benny Hill in Hell

 I saw Marnie on a big screen recently (at London's Prince Charles cinema) and was absolutely blown away. I vowed to give all Hitchcock films another go on a big screen.

Frenzy (1972) was his return to London and his return to shocking thrillers after several attempts at "realistic" Bond films such as Topaz and Torn Curtain.

I remember absolutely hating Frenzy first time I saw it. Watching it now I can appreciate it more. Very well made and shocking but surely still one of the seediest films every made, particularly if you remember the era. Like watching Benny Hill in Hell.

I'd put this near the bottom of my Hitchcock favourites not because it's bad, just because Hitchcock trying to imitate what is effectively a Hammer film is a weird experience. Doubly weird seeing Covent Garden functioning as a mundane fruit market and not a theme park cos play zone.

For all the sleaze it does have it's moments, the mundane pic below is the end of a particularly devasting tracking shot that must be up with the masters best.

(I tried to post this short review in IMDB but it required 600 characters so thought I may as well put it up here as well. For those who are interested my reviews there are as chris-726, IMDb member since November 2001)