Frenzy

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock

Overview

Suspenseful, disturbing, and darkly humorous, Frenzy, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is the story of a rapist-murderer, whose distinctive murder weapon has led him to be labeled "The Necktie Murderer." The film, typical of many of Hitchcock's works, focuses on a man wrongly accused, who must now find the true killer to prove his innocence. In Frenzy, Richard Blaney (Jon Finch) is accused of killing both his girlfriend and his ex-wife, along with other women in and around London. The true murderer, revealed early on in the film, is his friend, Robert Rusk (Barry Foster). The film is more brutal and overtly sexual than previous Hitchcock films, particularly Hitchcock's depiction of the murder of Brenda Blaney (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) which shows, with an almost perverse fascination, her face in tight close-up, frozen with fright and pain, as she is raped and strangled while she prays. The film is also noted for its dark humor, which includes a woman's body, hidden in a sack of potatoes, which causes Barry, the murderer, a great deal of difficulty when he realizes that the woman has his distinctive cuff link still clutched in her hand. The retrieval of the cuff link leads to a darkly comic chase behind a potato truck where the body has been hidden. Frenzy also features a tightly written, complex screenplay, adapted by Anthony Shaffer from Arthur La Bern's novel, Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/20/2006
UPC:	0025192830624
Original Release:	1972
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:56:00
Sales rank:	35,456

Special Features

The story of Frenzy; Production notes; Production photographs; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jon Finch	Richard Blaney
Barry Foster	Robert Rusk
Barbara Leigh-Hunt	Brenda Blaney
Anna Massey	Babs Milligan
Alec McCowen	Chief Inspector Tim Oxford
Vivien Merchant	Mrs. Oxford
Billie Whitelaw	Hetty Porter
Clive Swift	Johnny Porter
Bernard Cribbins	Felix Forsythe
Jean Marsh	Monica Barling
Madge Ryan	Mrs. Davison
Elsie Randolph	Gladys
Gerald Sim	Solicitor in Pub
John Boxer	Sir George
George Tovey	Neville Salt
Jimmy Gardner	Hotel Porter
Noel Johnson	Doctor in Pub
Robert Rietty	Doctor
Juney Ellis	The Barmaid
Henry Mancini	Composer
Ron Goodwin	Composer

Technical Credits

Alfred Hitchcock	Director,Producer
Peter Handford	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate feature Frenzy was not only the master's first British-based production in two decades, but also a return to creepy form after his rocky late '60s period. Mixing black comedy and Hitchcock's most gruesome violence since Psycho, Frenzy's story of a rapist-murderer and the wrong man accused of the crime covers classic Hitchcock territory of violent sexual deviance and the thin line between innocence and guilt. Though the atmosphere is periodically lightened by police inspector Alec McCowen's close encounters with his wife's "gourmet" cuisine, Hitchcock also takes advantage of the loosened strictures on film content to stage a horrific rape and strangulation 15 minutes into the film. This early revelation of the killer only increases the suspense, setting the stage for a macabre struggle in a potato truck between murderer and corpse, and the famous tracking shot that moves away from the killer's door (as he invites his next victim inside), down the apartment house stairs and across the street. Shot in London with a British cast, Frenzy's turn away from Hollywood glamour further emphasizes the horror that lurks beneath bland normality. An international success, Frenzy returned Hitchcock to Hollywood's good graces, but he would complete only one more film before his 1980 death.