Frank's Movie Log

Grade: A-

Synopsis: In London, a man (Jon Finch) finds himself suspected of being a serial killer who strangles his victims with a necktie.

Frenzy was famed director Alfred Hitchcock’s penultimate film, and it’s one of his best.

The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, who would go on to write Sleuth (1972) and The Wicker Man (1973) is a taunt mix of thrills and black humor, and the perfect material for Hitchcock who, in keeping with the script’s darker tone eschews the gloss and polish that permeated his earlier thrillers such as Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959), and instead turns in a gritty, urban shocker.

This was also Hitchcock’s first picture to feature nudity and the he seems to enjoy the exploitative aspect, throwing in several breast shots that further remove the film from Hitchcock’s older, tamer, work.

If Frenzy has a flaw, it’s in the score by Ron Goodwin, which can be a little overpowering early on. Granted, it’s spot-on at points, but those early moments when it’s distracting are the film’s only missteps. Interestingly, Henry Mancini originally scored the film, but was fired by Hitchcock as his work sounded too similar to Hitchcock’s longtime collaborator Bernard Herrmann.

That said, after two underwhelming films, Torn Curtain (1966) and Topaz (1969), Frenzy marked a welcome return to form for the Master of Suspense, and proof that, even at 73 years of age, Hitchcock definitely still “had it.”