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| Frenzy [1972] | ![Frenzy [1972]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MCYFAB23L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Actors: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-hunt, Anna Massey, Alec Mccowen
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Category: DVD
List Price: £9.99
Buy Used: £1.33
You Save: £8.66 (87%)
New (17) from £1.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 26060
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), German (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Running Time: 110 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5050582362039
ASIN: B00005N8BM
Theatrical Release Date: June 21, 1972
Release Date: October 17, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
By the time Alfred Hitchcock's second-to-last picture came out in 1972, the censorship restrictions under which he had laboured during his long career had eased up. Now he could give full sway to his lurid fantasies, and that may explain why Frenzy is the director's most violent movie by far--outstripping even Psycho for sheer brutality. Adapted by playwright Anthony Shaffer, the story concerns a series of rape-murders committed by suave fruit-merchant Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), who gets his kicks from throttling women with a necktie. This being a Hitchcock thriller, suspicion naturally falls on the wrong man--ill-tempered publican Richard Blaney (Jon Finch). Enter Inspector Oxford from New Scotland Yard (Alex McCowan), who thrashes out the finer points of the case with his wife (Vivian Merchant), whose tireless enthusiasm for indigestible delicacies like quail with grapes supplies a classic running gag.Frenzy was the first film Hitchcock had shot entirely in his native Britain since Jamaica Inn (1939), and many contemporary critics used that fact to account for what seemed to them a glorious return to form after a string of Hollywood duds (Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz). Hitchcock specialists are often less wild about it, judging the detective plot mechanical and the oh-so-English tone insufferable. But at least three sequences rank among the most skin-crawling the maestro ever put on celluloid. There is an astonishing moment when the camera backs away from a room in which a murder is occurring, down the stairs, through the front door and then across the street to join the crowd milling indifferently on the pavement. There is also the killer's nerve-wracking attempt to retrieve his tiepin from a corpse stuffed into a sack of potatoes. Finally, there is one act of strangulation so prolonged and gruesome it verges on the pornographic. Was the veteran film-maker a rampant misogynist as feminist observers have frequently charged? Sit through this appalling scene if you dare and decide for yourself. --Peter Matthews
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Hitch Still Has It! November 25, 2008
Hitchcock had a number of rules about who could be murdered and how which are illustrated best when he breaks them. The first was that he would never murder a character who the audience had been made sympathetic to. His biggest transgression of this rule was in his early film Sabotage where a character is killed when the audience would have expected him to suurvive until the last minute. Here there are two women killed, both of whom we are sympathetic to and the first of who we see raped and murdered in a rather brutal way. Many people cannot watch this movie because of this scene. That bring us to the second rule that the act of killing should have most of it's shock value in the suggestion of violence rather than graphic violence. Hitchcock broke this rule twice.
Firstly in Torn Curtain where he set out to challenge the casual killing in most spy movies and show how difficult it could be to kill someone where the secret policeman Gromek, played beautifully by Wolfgang Kieling has a cooking pot thrown at him then Newman tries to strangle him, he is stabbed with a kitchen knife, which breaks, then he is hit with a shovel and finally his head is forced into a gas oven. As always Hitchcock has a reason for showing this level of violence and so it is the case with Frenzy. He chose one rape and murder to show in some detain, and cleverly highlights the dreadful wretchedness of it. The mental domination of the victim prior to the rape and murder are chilling and uncomfortable to watch. He was way ahead of his time in his challenaging of the acceptance of casual violence against women which this graphic depiction underlines. He then allows the audience to fill in the blanks in subsequent murders, and so resists the temptation, that so many these days cannot, to glory in the ongoing carnage and human suffering.
There are also some powerfully iconic scenes here for example when the murdered attempts to retrieve him tiepin from one of his victims, whom he has dumped in the back of a lorry transporting vegetables. There is also ambiguity about the identity of the "Necktie Murderer" in the early stages of the film which are neatly built until it become necessary for the audience know the truth once it has been established that the police will inevitably go after the wrong man.
Hitchcock shows that he still has a lot to offer and this is head a shoulders above most of the rubbish that is churned out today.
 beautifully interpreted misunderstandings September 25, 2008
This is an excellent view of showing how a simple crime can be hideously misinterpreted leading to a gross miscarriage of justice .
The observations of people from their aspects can lead to huge errors is beutifully borne out by the clever script .
The various perspectives sound very logical yet we know the wrong man is being implicated as the serial killer but hitchcock wants us to derive at the final conclusion -is circumstantial evidence ever enough to accuse and convict a person .
He has intelligently answered the query and left us to make our own conclusions regarding the controversial issue.
There is a typically humoresque subplot about the merits of marital life and the culinary delights of french cuisine which the master has delightfully ridiculed here as an english wife introduces her reluctant spouse to continental delights in a hilarious manner.
The crimes are staged with subtlety though there are some graphic scenes involving rape and murder- they are in context and give you a psychological insight into the killer's mind .
The movie is my favourite amongst the latter day productions of the master and is a very witty story as well as a tecnical gem -must see.
Mr Rusk, you're not wearing your tie... August 28, 2008
Remembered by many as Hitchcock's final great movie (although his next, and last, movie Family Plot is, in my opinion, unfairly maligned), Frenzy can certainly be described as a return to form after the disappointments of his three previous movies (Marnie, Torn Curtain & Topaz). Echoing his silent classic The Lodger from 46 years earlier, but with more explicit handling of rape and murder, it's murder and suspense by the way of black comedy.
The neck-tie murderer is on the loose in London, and when Brenda Blaney (Barbara Leigh Hunt) is murdered in the office of her own dating agency, suspicion falls on her ex-husband Richard (Jon Finch). The real murderer however is his friend, likeable grocer Bob Rusk (Barry Foster). Whilst Foster's character has "certain peculiarities" that are all too readily apparent, he's a more likeable character than Finch's, perhaps partly as a result of Hitchcock's apparent professional dislike for Finch. Arguably however, it makes the story all the more believable. Blaney may be a bad piece of work, but that doesn't make him guilty of his crimes. But, much like in the lighter in Strangers On A Train twenty years previously, when Rusk realises he's left evidence that can tie him to the murders on a victim, who hasn't watched and wanted the villain to succeed?
A horrible hero and a cultured, and to a point, likeable villain make the film, but there are some strong supporting performances (not least in the form of Alec Mc Cowen's Inspector Oxford - complete with the running gag about his wife's food) that enhance our enjoyment and its proof that even more than 40 years after his debut, Hitchcock still had it.
One of Hitchcock's Finest May 4, 2008
After a string of sub-par films, and immediately preceding his final and endlessly flawed comic mystery, "Family Plot," Hitchcock returned briefly to full form with "Frenzy." This film is the shining jewel of Hitchcock's latter years, rating in my estimation among his top five cinematic achievements...alongside "Rope," "Rear Window," "North By Northwest," and "Psycho." "Frenzy" is perhaps Hitchcock's fullest exploration into the theme which has fueled his best work, dating all the way back to the 1926 silent, "The Lodger." Hitchcock's "wrong man" theme was used very successfully in such films as "North By Northwest," "I Confess," and, aptly enough, "The Wrong Man." But nowhere is it as fully illustrated as in "Frenzy." In addition to being Hitch's ultimate exploration into this familiar subject, "Frenzy" is also Hitchcock's most chilling film, with numbing scenes of suspense and his most appalling, frightening screen villain since Norman Bates.
All in all, and especially considering the overall lacking quality of Hitchcock's later films, "Frenzy" is a brilliant achievement, and truly amongst his finest work.
On a sidenote; those who blame Hitchcock for the intensity of the rape/strangulation scene should realize that he wrote neither the screenplay (which was written by playwright Anthony Shaffer, best known for his marvelous comic/mystery "Sleuth") nor the novel upon which it was based ("Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square" by Arthur La Bern)...and that the scene in the film runs exactly the same course, with precisely the same detail as the scene in the book. In fact, now that I think of it, the scene in the film is actually tamer. Hitchcock's film does not, after all, make any reference to the postmortem insertion of a letter opener. If anything, Hitch showed restraint with his version of the scene. Not as much restraint as is usual for him...but restraint, nonetheless. And he achieved what he set out to do. The scene is absolutely chilling. And not only is it memorable...it's the most unforgettable scene of its kind.
prime Hitchcock, his last great achievement April 4, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Albeit not as glorious as Hitch's classical psychological thrillers like "North by Northwest", "Vertigo", "Psycho", "The Birds", "Dial M For Murder" and "Rear Window"; "Frenzy" has its own charm and beauty and should be regarded as Hitch's last great achievement in the twilight of a brilliant career.
The premise of the film is nothing new: a case of mistaken identity. A man wrongfully accused of serial murders, and he must uncover the truth about the killings and clear his name. In "The 39 Steps", "North by Northwest", "Young and Innocent", "The Wrong Man" and "Saboteur" we saw a similar theme. But, at least one factor makes "Frenzy" so worthwhile: this is Hitchcock's first and only film to be given an 'R' rating by the MPAA during his 51-year career.
In earlier works, Hitch generally preferred to imply violence rather than openly showing it on the screen, leaving enough room for viewer's imagination. But, in "Frenzy" there are flagrant displays of lurid violence, especially the first murder scene, which plays on themes of explicit and prolonged rape, and slow strangulation. Also, the moment in the rear of a potato truck during which the "Necktie Killer" attempts to wrench the evidence off the corpses' hand by breaking her fingers stiffened by rigor mortis. It has good thrilling elements as well as Hitch's patented ghoulish humor. Just like famous shower scene of "Psycho", this is one of the most memorable scenes in Hitch's career.
Yeah, "Frenzy" has unsympathetic characters played by unknown and non-Hollywood-type cast, no beautiful locations, no icy blondes, no romances, no high dramas, no MacGuffins... It is neither atmospheric nor mysterious, yet it has a realistic feeling that works on numerous different levels. Recommended... (3.7/5.0)
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