Jul 27, 2020

Frenzy

Saw Frenzy, a Hitchcock film about a man who starts off fired from a bar.  He is a down on his luck ex-army guy who snarls at his incredibly patient ex-wife and who has no money and is generally not a good person.  He will be okay, it seems, until his ex is killed and he's the number one suspect.

The true killer is revealed fairly early on in what I felt was a fairly tacky murder/rape sequence.  The Hayes code had just lifted and Hitchcock, giddy I suppose with possibility, decided to make a really unpleasant and ugly scene.  I didn't like it.  Anyway, the killer is revealed early on.  Later, there's a very Hitchcockian scene where we watch through the killer's eyes as he desperately tries to cover his tracks and hide a corpse.  We feel for him as he struggles.  Very Hitchcock.

The film is a little frustrating in parts.  It's generally good, but the film really hates assertive women for some reason and I didn't like the main character.  It's got some splendid capital-S-Scenes in it though, like the slow continuous take where the camera climbs up some stairs and then slowly, hesitantly, backs back down them.

It's a decent film, despite my carping.  There's tension and mystery and expectations that get teased and subverted.  It's a typical Hitchcock film and if you've seen his work you'll know what to expect.

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