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Amazon.co.uk Review
By the time Alfred Hitchcock's second-to-last picture came out in 1972, the censorship restrictions under which he had laboured during his long career had eased up. Now he could give full sway to his lurid fantasies, and that may explain why Frenzy is the director's most violent movie by far--outstripping even Psycho for sheer brutality. Adapted by playwright Anthony Shaffer, the story concerns a series of rape-murders committed by suave fruit-merchant Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), who gets his kicks from throttling women with a necktie. This being a Hitchcock thriller, suspicion naturally falls on the wrong man--ill-tempered publican Richard Blaney (Jon Finch). Enter Inspector Oxford from New Scotland Yard (Alex McCowan), who thrashes out the finer points of the case with his wife (Vivian Merchant), whose tireless enthusiasm for indigestible delicacies like quail with grapes supplies a classic running gag.
Frenzy was the first film Hitchcock had shot entirely in his native Britain since Jamaica Inn (1939), and many contemporary critics used that fact to account for what seemed to them a glorious return to form after a string of Hollywood duds (Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz). Hitchcock specialists are often less wild about it, judging the detective plot mechanical and the oh-so-English tone insufferable. But at least three sequences rank among the most skin-crawling the maestro ever put on celluloid. There is an astonishing moment when the camera backs away from a room in which a murder is occurring, down the stairs, through the front door and then across the street to join the crowd milling indifferently on the pavement. There is also the killer's nerve-wracking attempt to retrieve his tiepin from a corpse stuffed into a sack of potatoes. Finally, there is one act of strangulation so prolonged and gruesome it verges on the pornographic. Was the veteran film-maker a rampant misogynist as feminist observers have frequently charged? Sit through this appalling scene if you dare and decide for yourself. --Peter Matthews
Special Features
English
Region 2
Region 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This movie was a winner from the outset - it could not fail; having all the necessary ingredients of a super thriller - coupled with a cast that consisted of some of Britain's finest talent of the time. Indeed, we could never view Barry Foster quite the same afterwards! It also included an impeccable supporting cast that starred Jean Marsh, (who had risen to fame at about the same time with the success of the award-winning TV series 'Upstairs, Downstairs') Jimmy Gardner (of 10 Rillington Place fame - playing an effeminate porter!); Clive Swift, Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey and Michael Bates. But the leads could not have been more well-chosen. Alec McCowen was simply superb as the handsome, and rather 'gentle' chief inspector, who is married to the subservient wife who uses him as her culinary guinea pig! Played by the marvellous Vivien Merchant, she gives us an entertaining performance, and amuses audiences by taking delight in reminding her wonderful husband (who, to use his own words; 'does not knock her about, or make her do degrading things') that it was 'he', that had put the poor Mr. Blaney behind bars - and not she! This film does have its amusing moments, but I think I am correct in saying that this was the very first movie to ever feature the showing of the full length murder of a victim in 'real time' as it were - something viewers today perhaps might not fully appreciate at just how shocking and disturbing this was at the time! Some of the younger viewers might also find some of the acting just a little dated and over-the-top; i.e. Jean Marsh - too 'prim' perhaps as the spinster secretary, and Mr. Blaney too 'angry a young man' as the young fellow down on his luck. But then this is how acting used to be; an art form, rather than the concentrating and the relying on special effects to gather audiences. It was far more improtant to see the actors' ability to interpret their roles in their own way. I believe this movie would still be a great shocker to anyone who hasn't already seen it - even today!
Highly recommended viewing!
Highly recommended viewing!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
FRENZY is excellent and shocking in equal measure. Elegantly scripted by playwright Anthony Shaffer and with the usual quota of standout sequences - the camera's slow track out on to a Covent Garden street from the flat of the killer, a blackly comic, desperate attempt to retrieve a vital clue by breaking the fingers of a corpse dumped in a lorry-load of potatoes, and the droll understatement of the detective's mealtime conversations with his wife. Supremely enjoyable late Hitchcock.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Hitchcock's first film to receive an adult Rating is truly one of his best.The Plot is in a typical Hitchcock fashion, it is about a sex criminal known as the "Necktie Murderer" and like most Hitchcock movies the trail is leading to an Innocent man and he must try to prove his innocence by finding the real murderer who is his so called mate, don't worry I didn't give anything away cause it basically tells you at the start.
It is a truly remarkable film and it will be an absolute Joy ride for Every Hitchcock fan.
It is a truly remarkable film and it will be an absolute Joy ride for Every Hitchcock fan.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not one of Hitchcock's best
A serial murderer nicknamed the `necktie killer' is terrorizing women in London, and Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), seen at the wrong place at the wrong time, becomes the chief... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kona
Lovely
Frenzy (1972) is a very watchable Hitchcock thriller set in the hustle and bustle of London involving a neck-tie murderer and an innocent guy being framed. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Miami
A true shocker
Alfred Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' may be the worst film I have ever seen (it's certainly high on the list). Read more
Published 15 months ago by Rob Steerwood
Frenzy DVD
The cost of the DVD was cheap enough. I have bought DVDs before at bargain prices. I was disappointed with the picture quality and the sound reproduction. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. M. Abramov
"You may not know this Babs but you're my type of girl"......
The last flowering of a formidable talent in directing Frenzy is a suitably dark little peice,talking about the nature of love,lust,and appearances. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2009 by Ivor Winters
Excellent period piece from the old Master
A '70s period piece, in fact. A return to form for Hitch, improved in my opinion for not being a star vehicle. Who couldn't love Jon Finch (whatever happened to him? Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by sap59red
WARNING: Pan-and-scan version of widescreen film
For resons best known to themselves, Universal UK have issued most of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960s/1970s films (The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy) in pan-and-scan 1. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2009 by Kenneth F. Mcara
Very Good
Alfred Hitchcocks best film, (along with the 39 steps),and I had been trying to get hold of it for about 5 years, but my local HMV didn't have it. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Pa O'reilly
I love the quaintness of the film
Hitchcock, one of the most famous British expatriates in the cinema industry, came back for one film in England, in London very exactly and he demonstrated in the early 70s he was... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by Jacques COULARDEAU
beautifully interpreted misunderstandings
This is an excellent view of showing how a simple crime can be hideously misinterpreted leading to a gross miscarriage of justice . Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2008 by usman
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