SCHIZO (1976)
Article 4084 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-20-2012
Directed by Pete Walker
Featuring Lynne Frederick, John Leyton, Stephanie Beacham
Country: UK
What it is: Psycho thriller

When a figure skater gets married, she finds herself being stalked by a sinister figure from her past. And then the murders start…

Actually, the first half of this movie works pretty well; the acting is solid, the suspense is strong, and the movie’s gruesome reputation keeps you on edge. Once the murders start, however, I found myself dealing with one of the sure signs that there’s a big plot twist up ahead; whenever a movie goes to great lengths to establish a putative killer whose face has been seen constantly, and then keeps the face of the killer hidden during the murder sequences, you know the movie’s not to be taken at face value. Once you light on the truth of the matter, though, the story flaws start becoming apparent, and, despite the graphic nature of some of the murders, the movie starts to get a bit tiresome. The fact that the movie once again confuses schizophrenia with multiple personality certainly doesn’t win it any points, either. In the final analysis, the movie is just okay, but I suspect a shorter running time might have helped this movie quite a bit.