Schizo (1976)

★ 5.5 1h 49m IMDb

A recently-married woman who has been labeled as mentally unstable, begins to suspect that someone close to her is the culprit in a sudden string of murders.

Schizo

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Cast

Lynne Frederick
Lynne Frederick as Samantha Died 1994 · Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lynne Maria Frederick (25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994) was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama...
John Leyton
John Leyton as Alan Falconer Age 87 · Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. Leyton as a singer is best known for his hit song "Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek),...
Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham as Beth Age 79 · Barnet, England, UK Stephanie Beacham is an English television, radio, film and theatre actress. She is known for her television roles in the BBC drama Tenko, the ITV drama Connie, and for playing Sable Colby in the ABC...
Queenie Watts
Queenie Watts as Mrs. Wallace Died 1980 · London, England, UK Queenie Watts was an English actress of film and television, as well as an occasional singer. A resident Londoner 'til the day she died, Watts starred in many films and TV programmes and ran pubs  (in...
John Fraser
John Fraser as Leonard Died 2020 · Glasgow, Scotland, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Alexander Fraser (1931 - 2020 was a Scottish actor and author. He is best known for his performances in the films The Good Companions (1957), The Trials of...
Jack Watson
Jack Watson as William Haskin Died 1999 · Thorney, Cambridgeshire, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jack Watson (15 May 1915 – 4 July 1999), was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards. Description abov...

Audience Reviews

Wuchak 5/10 Oct 19, 2022
**_Winsome Lynne Frederick is stalked by an obsessed man on the ugly side of London_**

A famous young figure skater in London (Frederick) marries an older guy (John Leyton), but soon discerns she’s being stalked by some grim tall man (Jack Watson). Stephanie Beacham is on hand as a friend while John Fraser plays a psychiatrist.

“Schizo” (1976) is a British slasher that predates both "Halloween" and Lynn-Holly Johnson’s “Ice Castles” by two years. I mention the latter because of the skating element, which is only prominent in the opening.

People mistakenly think the slasher started with “Halloween,” but there were several films that preceded it, starting with "Psycho" (1960) and followed by "Dementia 13" (1963), “A Bay of Blood” (1971), "Silent Night, Bloody Night” (1972), "Home for the Holidays" (1972), "Torso (1973), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "Black Christmas" (1974), amongst others. The tropes of the genre were already emerging when this flick debuted, like the undead dead, which is executed here in such a way to elicit laughs rather than horror.

The film is worth watching just to see cute Lynne Frederick in her prime; meanwhile the beautiful Beacham plays second fiddle and is hampered by a lousy 70’s hairdo. There are several flashes of nudity featuring Frederick (and the woman who plays her mother), but it’s mostly the “bad naked” noted in that Seinfeld episode. Frederick is certainly winsome and fetching but, honestly, she’s no Lynn-Holly Johnson.

There’s a surprise at the end that might have been groundbreaking at the time, yet most viewers will find it glaringly predictable. The flick’s also hampered by about 20 minutes of dull padding, not to mention locations that illustrate the grungy, industrial side of London and its compact flats, etc. Meanwhile the mid-70’s fashions & décor are pretty hideous (but you can’t hold that against it).

The movie runs 1 hour, 49 minutes, and was shot in London, as well as the transporter bridge in Middlesbrough (opening) and the swing bridge in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, both a 3-4 hour drive north of London.

GRADE: C+/B-

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