Review of Frenzy (1972) by Arun S — 26 Jan 2013

I've recently been exploring Alfred Hitchcock's final films and after watching 'Topaz' recently I wondered if that was when old Hitch finally lost his magic touch. Happily though, I found 'Frenzy' (his 2nd to last picture) to be a welcome return to form with an often hilarious look at a serial killer in 1970s London.

The film has all of the essential Hitchcock traits: a wrongly accused man, dark humor, gruesome murder, and an abundance of food! I mean honestly - how can you not love the scenes with the police inspector and his gourmet chef wife?

The cast is made up of lesser known Brits but they all come across perfectly well even though the film only suffers from not being able to see everything through one of their eyes from start to finish. We sort of jump around from character to character without a real guide. Hitch is able to pull this off thanks to his great storytelling skills but I honestly feel that this is what keeps this from being ranked up there with the likes of 'North by Northwest' and 'Vertigo'.