Review of Frenzy (2015) by Josh M — 19 Mar 2009

Hitchcock's penultimate movie doesn't get discussed as much as his earlier work, and I was a little wary that it followed up Torn Curtain, one of Hitch's worst films. I shouldn't have worried; by the time Frenzy ended, I'm fairly comfortable in saying that it's one of his strongest, and his most overlooked, works (something I'm apparently not alone in feeling).

There's no doubt that it's nastier and grimmer than Hitch's early work, especially when it comes to the killer, whose psychosis and sexually-driven madness is far more explicit than Psycho.

But the plot here is fascinating; Hitch was a master of the "wrong man" sort of story, but rarely has it been played so well as this, where we see the net woven so tightly, and so suspensefully, but are powerless to stop it.

It's dynamite stuff, and keeps going in unexpected directions, which is a nice treat - by the time we hit the third act, the film kept surprising me with the directions it would take. Add to that strong performances, a willingness to let his hero be less than heroic, some black comedy, and more, and you have a superb thriller that not only actually thrills, but demonstrates some outstanding technical prowess.

(The potato truck scene is a minor masterpiece, but the best shot is the famous long one from the door into the street - it's absolutely devastating in context.) Oh, and there's not enough praise in the world for the film's last line, which is brilliant.