Review of Frenzy (2015) by Andre D — 29 Sep 2012

What a strange film this is. Strange but very good. This has some of the most disturbing scenes I've seen in a Hitchcock film. The strangulation/rape scene is shocking. There is a little nudity and less blood but the whole thing is shown. And it's rough. In fact, I almost fast-forwarded through it because it was very ugly. But it certainly has an impact. Then later, there's a scene with a dead body that is practically "Weekend At Bernie's" in its absurdity. But somehow, I was actually pulling for the killer to escape his predicament. How did Hitchcock manage to play that dirty trick on me (and likely other viewers, too)?

Anna Massey is really good as the steady and dependable Babs Milligan. But Barry Foster is amazing as Bob Rusk. He is a scumbag, but a very charming scumbag.

There's not a lot of those well-known trademark Hitchcock camera shots, but there is a great extended shot when the camera pulls away from a room where something terrible is happening all the way out to the noisy city street. "Frenzy" is probably categorized as something from the thriller film genre, but it plays like a very dark comedy much of the time.