Frenzy is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies, and I don't just say this because of the wonderful ending. What makes this film really great is that it seems to show the type of director Hitchcock would have been he started his career at a different time. Because while Frenzy is the most grusome of Hitchcock's movies, it is still prototypically Hitchcock

The plot does not need description, but it should be noted that the film uses a theme which is quite clearly Hitchcock's favorite. The main character is falsely accused of some sort of horrific crime, but while he did not commit the crime, he secretly wants to. This theme is most strongly pronounced in Strangers on a Train (in fact, if you take out the Macguffin... Hitchcock's term for the plot that covers up the psycological aspects of the film... Strangers and Frenzy are essentially the same movie), but also Notorious, I Confess, and The Wrong Man.

Hitchcock is also really most in his element when working outside of the Hollywood system. In my modest opinion (and most people seem to disagree with me), his English films are far superior to his Hollywood films, and his best Hollywood film is the one that he made for no money with a TV crew (Psycho). There is a certain freedom in his early English films, and his post studio system films, which is taken as far as possible with Frenzy.

Everyone should see Frenzy just because it is a great film (unless you have a real problem watching movies with sex crimes in them, which I can completly understand). What really makes Frenzy important to my mind though is how it puts the rest of Hitchcock's films in the right light.

Buy Frenzy here

No comments: