{"id":7668,"date":"2009-06-24T16:20:19","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T23:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7668"},"modified":"2021-01-02T22:34:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T05:34:08","slug":"frenzy-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7668","title":{"rendered":"Frenzy (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Just thinking about the lusts of men makes me want to heave.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-61331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster-178x270.jpg 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Frenzy-Poster.jpg 497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen he&#8217;s seen leaving the apartment of his recently murdered ex-wife (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), a down-on-his luck bartender (Jon Finch) is accused of being London&#8217;s infamous &#8220;Necktie Murderer&#8221;; meanwhile, the real culprit (Barry Foster) roams the city freely, and continues to put innocent women &#8212; including Finch&#8217;s girlfriend (Anna Massey) &#8212; at risk.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Falsely Accused<\/li>\n<li>Hitchcock Films<\/li>\n<li>Serial Killers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his next-to-last film, Hitchcock returned to his native England, bringing with him a modern sensibility in horror. Gone are his masterfully oblique references to violence (as epitomized by the shower sequence in 1960&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5177\"><em>Psycho<\/em><\/a>); instead, we&#8217;re shown gruesomely overt murders with unmistakable sexual underpinnings. Indeed, it&#8217;s thoroughly unpleasant watching the first murder victim (sympathetic Leigh-Hunt) being raped and graphically choked to death &#8212; so we&#8217;re relieved when the next murder happens behind closed doors (btw, don&#8217;t read any reviews if you want the identity of this victim to remain a mystery). Fortunately, the film&#8217;s violence is balanced in Anthony Shaffer&#8217;s script by a healthy dose of levity (a police inspector wryly notes, &#8220;We haven&#8217;t had a good juicy series of sex murders since Christie.&#8221;), and Hitchcock&#8217;s sense of direction is in prime form, as shown in several notable sequences: the unexpected delay before Leigh-Hunt&#8217;s secretary (a humorously snippy Jean Marsh) finally lets out a scream upon encountering her boss&#8217;s body; Foster&#8217;s desperate struggle with a cadaver in a truckbed; Hitchcock&#8217;s camera slowly panning away from an apartment where a murder is about to take place. Finch is ultimately too morose and unsympathetic as the film&#8217;s unwitting protagonist, but Foster is appropriately duplicitous as his murderous mate, and the lead female performances (by Leigh-Hunt and Massey) are both solid. While <em>Frenzy<\/em> may not be prime Hitchcock, it&#8217;s certainly a worthy suspense film, and will likely be of interest to all film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barry Foster as the Necktie Murderer<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-foster3.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-foster3.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7670\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Anna Massey as &#8216;Babs&#8217;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-massey.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-massey.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7673\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Brenda<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-leigh-hunt.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-leigh-hunt.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7675\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jean Marsh as Brenda&#8217;s mousy, suspicious secretary<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-marsh.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/frenzy-marsh.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7676\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Strong, suspenseful direction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a late-in-life film (his 55th!) by a master director.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0068611\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/www.nytimes.com\/library\/film\/070272hitch-frenzy-review.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1747hitc.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll down)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/21832\/frenzy#articles-reviews?articleId=103570\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/frenzy-1972.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/frenzy-1972\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=310\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/67067\/frenzy.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Just thinking about the lusts of men makes me want to heave.&#8221; Synopsis: When he&#8217;s seen leaving the apartment of his recently murdered ex-wife (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), a down-on-his luck bartender (Jon Finch) is accused of being London&#8217;s infamous &#8220;Necktie Murderer&#8221;; meanwhile, the real culprit (Barry Foster) roams the city freely, and continues to put innocent women &#8212; including Finch&#8217;s girlfriend (Anna Massey) &#8212; at risk. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Detectives and Private Eyes Falsely Accused Hitchcock Films Serial Killers&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7668\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7668"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61333,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7668\/revisions\/61333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}