Such a frustrating disappointment

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Best movie ever!

A young girl watches her mother get murdered. Years later, she's grown to become a famous ice skating star and is set to be married. But once she announces those nuptials in the newspaper, a stalker grows more and more obsessed with her. One by one, her friends start to die and she wonders...does she know the killer?Also known as Amok and Blood of the Undead, this film fits in to a post-Psycho and giallo yet pre-slasher world. It's also definitely British. And it's one of many films where exposure to sex as a young age makes you a killer. I'm not giving away anything but if you don't figure out the ending twist within the first few minutes unless you have never watched a horror film before.This is another Peter Walker directed, David McGillivray written film - they also worked on Frightmare, House of Whipcord and House of Mortal Sin together.Lead actress Lynne Frederick is also in the Saul Bass directed Phase IV and became the wife of Peter Sellers at the age of 22. They had a rocky marriage but his death haunted her throughout the rest of her short life, hurting her next two marriages (she was also married to David Frost). She even had a shrine to Sellers in her home. She's really good here and it's a shame her life was so rough.Plus, you get Joe Meek protege John Leyton as her husband (Meek was the producer and songwriter who pioneered space age pop), Stephanie Beacham (Dracula A.D. 1972) as the best friend (and eye candy) and Jack Watson (Peeping Tom).It never really gets to where you want it to be, but it's not the worst film. It just doesn't really understand what schizophrenia is, despite the long medical introduction. Redemption has released this film on DVD and blu-ray, so you should be able to find it used pretty cheaply. I watched it on YouTube, so there's always that, too.

It is hard to believe this was made the year before Star Wars. A low, low-budget British picture, with grizzled, familiar British actors from the time stomping around in freezing locations and cramped interiors, in film so gritty it's like looking through a cigarette fog.Lynne Frederick, who had been so pure faced and natural in Hammer's Vampire Circus five years before, is fully a product of 1970's fashion here. An underrated actress, she puts in a fine leading performance as Samantha Gray, who appears to be losing her mind. Pursued by William Haskin (Jack Watson), she never appears pathetic or hopeless, just vulnerable and attempting to make the best of her spiralling situation. The film, shot very much in the style of television psychological drama (with added gore), becomes a sluggish affair after it becomes obvious that nothing is really going to deviate from the familiar 'woman in peril' storyline. Having said that, there are some grisly low-key moments (the brief possession in the village hall is memorable). Also, there is a grimness on display here that doesn't let up – the world in which Samantha spears to be trapped is relentless.Director Pete Walker was prolific in the 1970's, producing a number of similarly low-budget horrors. Whilst many derided his work at the time, others have named him as a UK Jess Franco or Jean Rollin. The similarities are there. Exploitative, under-funded, commercially compromised – and suitably modest in interviews, saying of his films, 'All I wanted to do is create a bit of mischief.' His last horror film was 1983's House of Long Shadows, which prided itself on uniting stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, John Carradine and Vincent Price for what turned out to be last time.Ultimately, 'Schizo' goes on too long with too little incident to prevent the interest waning from time to time, although the performances are suitably solemn, and draw the viewer back in again. The twist at the end is very much like something of the TV series 'Tales of the Unexpected' (ie: stretching credulity) but brings events to a satisfying conclusion.

The very pretty Lynne Frederick plays Samantha, a young ice skater about to be married to Alan Falconer (John Leyton). The event isn't a happy one for everybody; a man named William Haskin (Jack Watson) reads about it in the paper and is upset enough to travel South to London. Samantha begins to be terrorized, and people in her life begin to die, and it would seem that Haskin is responsible. Or is that really the case?Given that the movie is about mental illness, it seems that the conclusion is going to be a foregone one, which blunts a fair bit of the suspense. Pete Walker, one of the masters of exploitation and horror in British cinema of the 1970s, otherwise does a decent job executing what could only be described as a psychological slasher film. (Albeit one that predates the slasher film cycle of the late 70s and early 80s.) It's got some reasonably entertaining gore, and a little bit of sex. Playing Samanthas' mother, actress Wendy Gilmore shows us the goods more than once. The pacing may not be to all tastes, as this goes on a little longer than perhaps it should have. (Another burden on a movie that doesn't really offer any major surprises.)The acting, at least, is up to snuff. Frederick is appealing in the lead, and vulnerable; it's not too hard to sympathize with her. Supporting performances are engaging, especially from Stephanie Beacham as Samantha and Alans' friend Beth, and John Fraser as the caring psychiatrist Leonard. Watson is also solid as a fairly menacing character.Must viewing for fans of the British shockers of the time, and Walker completists, but not on the level of his most interesting work, "House of Whipcord". One does miss Walkers' regular actress Sheila Keith, who doesn't turn up here.Seven out of 10.

Pete Walker and his loyal scriptwriter David McGillivray were pretty much England's most controversial duo of filmmakers back in the glorious seventies. Opposite to Hammer's and Amicus' successful but politically correct horror movies, these two provided the British (and other) genre fans with provocative and violent films, stuffed with social criticism and obscene undertones. Their movies ("Frightmare", "House of Whipcord"...) aren't genius, but at least they always have originality and a handful of effective shock-moments. Same goes for this "Schizo", which remarkably blends an innovating slasher premise with some of the genre's oldest and most delightful clichés. Newly married ice-skating champion Samantha is stalked by the frustrated and pitiful lover of her murdered mother. Even though the the guy makes no real secret of his identity and even though his perpetrating attempts are amateurish, Samantha has great difficulties convincing her entourage she's in danger. "Schizo" basically is a simplistic horror movie (up till a certain point, at least), but it's praiseworthy how Walker & McGillivray make efforts to throw in psychological terror twists. The extended fright-scenes are well mounted and the make up effects are quite nasty despite the low budget production values. As usual in Pete Walker's movies, there's a twisted and very ingenious shock ending that marvelously illustrates the director's aversion to political correctness. Highly recommended!