Although the plot and rating of "Schizoid" didn't look too promising, I nevertheless really wanted to see it for three (very good) reasons
Number one: I generally like slasher movies from the year 1980 or 1981, because back then this sub-genre wasn't yet impacted by the overload of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" clones. Number two: I was really interested to see a horror/thriller that starred both Klaus Kinski (one of my all-time favorite actors) and Christopher Lloyd in the earliest phase of his career (or at least, prior to the successful "Back to the Future" movies). And perhaps the biggest reason for me to track down "Schizoid" is the fact that it features so many typical trademarks of an Italian giallo! The killer, as he/she is briefly introduced during the opening sequences of the film, wears a long black raincoat and black leather gloves while his/her murder weapon is a sharp pair of scissors. These are preferred accessories of giallo-killers and, on top of that, he/she exclusively targets female victims and the murders bathe in a sexist atmosphere. My conclusion is that "Schizoid" is a moderately absorbing thriller with a handful of tense scenes and original touches, but regrettably also a large number of implausible twists. Beautiful Julie works as a columnist for a Californian newspaper, but she's caught in a difficult divorce and participates in the group therapy sessions of the acclaimed psychiatrist Dr. Pieter Fales. Julie starts receiving eerie letters that exist of newspaper clippings and talk of gruesome murders. The female members of her group therapy sessions are being killed off one by one as well. Who is the culprit? Is it the perverted Dr. Fales, who has sexual relations with all his patients? Or is it Dr. Fales' pre-ripe 16-year-old daughter, who hates her father and all the women he has sex with? Is it the mysteriously roaming and voyeuristic janitor Gilbert or Julie's ex-husband Doug who never wanted the divorce? Or perhaps Julie herself is the killer because, after all, the murder cases help increasing her popularity as a columnist! Like other reviewers already righteously pointed out, the biggest default of this film is the credibility of Klaus Kinski's character. As much as I worship this eccentric actor, he simply cannot pass for a psychiatrist; let alone a psychiatrist who manages to seduce and sleep with all his female patients. The search for the killer's identity, on the other hand, results in a couple of exciting sequences and a tense climax. The body count is sadly low for an early 80s slasher (only 3 victims) but the murder sequences are grim and atmospheric. The performances from the ensemble cast are just mediocre, with the exception of Donna Wilkes
She's downright fantastic and amazingly makes her young character Alison simultaneously sensual, creepy and forbidden. Solely based on her performance in this film, I've added the film "Angel" to my must-see list.
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Coventry17 August 2015
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Hey_Sweden27 August 2013"Schizoid" is a so-so stalk 'n' slash 80s thriller with a cast of familiar faces but not much to really recommend it. As a mystery it doesn't exactly work; despite the presence of red herrings, most people will figure out who the killer is early on. The kill scenes have no flair, and slasher lovers will be disappointed with the almost complete absence of gore, even though the murder weapon is a pair of scissors. As for female flesh, the ever lovely Donna Wilkes (of "Angel" fame) does give us - and her leering father - a little bit of a look at the goods. The dialogue, courtesy of writer / director David Paulsen ("Savage Weekend") is downright silly at times, but the cast does whatever it can with the material.
The pretty Mariana Hill ("High Plains Drifter") stars as Julie, an advice columnist who is receiving threatening letters from some unbalanced individual. At the same time, members of her therapy group are being knocked off. Who could the maniac be? Pieter Fales (Klaus Kinski), the sleazy psychiatrist moderating the group who has a habit of fooling around with his female patients? Doug (Craig Wasson, "Ghost Story"), Julie's soon-to-be ex-husband who doesn't want to divorce? Pieters' daughter Alison (Wilkes), an angry young woman who resents the presence of Julie in her fathers' life? Or off-putting, lonely maintenance man Gilbert (Christopher Lloyd)? The two detectives on the case (Richard Herd of "Trancers" and Joe Regalbuto of 'Murphy Brown') don't take Julie seriously at first but eventually come around.
Also featuring Flo Lawrence ("Don't Answer the Phone!") and Fredric Cook ("Jackson County Jail"), this just isn't as much fun as the viewer might wish. It's trashy enough to keep it amusing and watchable. A glum looking Kinski is interesting to watch, as always. Hill and Wasson are likable, but Wasson has what is one of the dumbest moments in the film regarding Dougs' reaction to one of the letters. Wilkes is a delight as the somewhat disturbed daughter. Lloyd is good as he underplays his role. Herd is clearly just picking up a paycheck. Everything climaxes in an awkward sequence in which all of the suspects show up in one location. Perhaps the most egregious element of "Schizoid" is the awful - albeit sometimes amusingly awful - music score by Craig Hundley, who did much better work for "Alligator" the same year.
Dedicated completists of 80s slasher cinema will want to see this, for sure, but they're advised simply to just keep those expectations low and they might have a reasonably good time.
Five out of 10. -
Jonny_Numb10 January 2003"Schizoid" is a fair early-80's slasher flick that suffers from a distinct lack of personality. It boasts a somewhat name, B-list cast, and derivative yet effective stalking scenes. Writer-director David Paulsen tries, in vain, to make everyone a suspect, but you eventually stop caring because of the clumsy script contrivances he expects us to swallow. But there's nothing here you haven't seen before, except maybe Klaus Kinski, wildly miscast but still highly entertaining as a marriage counselor who carries on affairs with his patients! I'm not ashamed to admit he kept me watching the whole way through. 2.5 stars out of 5.
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azathothpwiggins14 September 2020Newspaper columnist, Julie (Marianna Hill) begins to receive threatening notes at work. In no time, members of her therapy group start being slaughtered by a black-gloved maniac with a huge pair of scissors.
We're given a rogue's gallery of suspects to choose from almost immediately, including Julie's soon-to-be ex-husband, Doug (Craig Wasson), a sullen handyman named Gilbert (Christopher Lloyd), and Julie's slimy, chain-smoking therapist, Dr. Peter Fales (Klaus Kinski). Oh, and let's not forget about Fales' bitter, messed-up daughter, Alison (Donna Wilkes)! As the perforated bodies stack up, the police are suitably baffled.
Part giallo and part slasher, SCHIZOID shows what can happen when a doctor cavorts with his patients. While not a brilliant effort, this movie does build a modicum of suspense, and the killer's identity isn't overly obvious.
For added fun, count the number of cigarettes Dr. Fales stokes up!... -
Schizoid is fairly up front with you in the first 5 minutes or so: if you like seeing very sleazy movies where a guy in black gloves and a pair of scissors is going after women in not-terribly-clever-but-direct ways, then this is for you. But in place of having a director with some actual visual appeal or attempts at creating a distinct style like some of the Giallo directors (i.e. Argento or Fulci), you get here instead the 'different' side of things with casting: Klaus Kinski. For me, I thought this was the filmmakers going about it somewhat obviously - like, of course he's the killer, right? I mean, look at him! Or it might be Christopher Lloyd, who is the sort of maintenance man who shares an elevator with the main female character after fixing the boiler (so he says) and showing what a handy-man he is by moving the elevator by pressing a button with a screwdriver. Or could it be... someone else??
This is fairly standard stuff - the main woman, Julie of "Dear Julie", is part of some sort of weekly couples (or singles?) therapy group that also includes Lloyd's character, and we see how these murders unfold and how Julie wants to try to entrap the killer, who seems to be sending those word-cut-up type of letters - and yet it's hard not to want to keep watching with Kinski there. This is basic stuff for him, but he takes it seriously enough, and even created some ambiguity with his character. He also gets to play MELODRAMA (in bold type) with his daughter character, who lost a mother years before and blames him for it some reason or another. They have father-daughter squabbles, and those are some of the more entertaining scenes of the movie. For what it's worth, he makes it sort of compelling.
The rest of it is not very remarkable, neither in the kills (again there's little tension since we've seen these before, or at least you have if you've ever seen a horror movie, let along a slasher) nor in what seem to be red herrings going left and right (i.e. Lloyd's character, who gets kind of short-shrifted in the grand scheme of the story). The filmmaker, David Paulsen, didn't do that much else other than this movie and one other, and it's clear he's in it to create the requisite drama necessary to keep the story going, without putting in the work to make the dialog more than groan-indusing. And Craig Wasson, who one would later see in Body Double, is relegated to a role that any actor could play... almost, anyway.
Even the title is kind of disappointing; there's not too much of any kind of 'schizo' side to things, and we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop as far as when the killer may strike next or go after Julie, or when the cops might do *something* with this case. And yet because of people like Kinski and Marianna Hill (who is alright as Julie, just enough to get by), I can't say it's a total failure or mess. It's just... there, with some sleazy 80's horror-synth and a "twist" ending that reeks of hackery. -
haildevilman5 August 2006This played out more like a murder mystery than a horror flick. The box art made it seem like another slasher film. This was another one of those that got lost in the shuffle of cheap fright films during the video boom in the 80's.
Did it deserve to stay lost? No. Did it deserve any accolades? Again, no.
Tha cast was the best part. A lot of names either slumming, (Kiniski, Heard) pre-fame, (Regalbuto) or just getting an easy paycheck (Lloyd, Wasson).
Klaus chews the scenery as only he can. But I couldn't figure him to be a sex symbol. And Donna "Angel" Wilkes did a good job as the emotional daughter. Lloyd played an understated role which showed how good he could really be. Wasson's tendency to overact was the only minus.
The script was terrible however.
And if the cops were wearing long jackets, doesn't that mean it's cold? If so, why were so many of the women wearing shorts? That's typical 80's cheap horror. I get the feeling that if this had been made by Fulci or Bava, it would have been light years better. -
A vicious killer is bumping off members of the therapy group run by creepy Dr. Fales (Klaus Kinski). Can reporter Julie (Marianna Hill) discover who is responsible before she becomes the lunatic's next victim?
Armed with a long pair of very sharp scissors, dressed in long black coat and hat, and with his (or her) identity always hidden in the shadows, Schizoid's mysterious murderer could have come straight out of a giallo movie, as could the film's umpteen shifty suspects and numerous red herrings; creepy Euro-horror regular Klaus Kinski also adds a hint of European flavour.
Sadly, despite these similarities to the giallo, Schizoid lacks the verve and unpredictability of that genre's typical logic-free narrative, becoming mired in dreary familial strife and unnecessary police procedure, ultimately floundering in its own predictability; furthermore, the film's cinematography is devoid of the glorious visual excess often found in Italian horror.
Kinski is dreadfully miscast as a womanising therapist (not exactly the kind of role he was born to play), Wasson's performance is simply terrible, and Christopher Lloyd hardly stretches himself as an oddball handy-man. Far better than all three is Donna Wilkes, who convincingly plays Kinski's emotionally disturbed jail-bait daughter Alison, and who even gives fans (and her pervy on-screen father) an eyeful during a brief shower scene.
For the hilarious ending, when all the suspects converge on one location for a very daft finale, and for the lovely Wilkes, I give Schizoid 4.5/10 (rounded up to 5 for IMDb), but this is far from essential 80s horror. -
gavin69423 August 2013Julie (Mariana Hill) is an advice columnist for the city newspaper who begins to receive anonymous notes threatening murder and worse. At about the same time, female members of the group therapy session she attends are being stabbed, one by one, by an unknown assailant. Is there a connection?
This film has a very low rating on IMDb as of August 2013. I am not sure how, but i suspect it is due in part to the very few people who have voted. Hopefully when the Blu-Ray is released, the film gets more respect. Currently, it sits below "X-Ray", which is just unfair.
There is plenty of suspense, some good characters (Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lloyd never disappoint) and overall a pretty good mystery. You might have to guess two or three times before you figure out who the killer is (and yes, the clues are there).
I highly recommend Scream Factory's DVD / BD of this film. While it has few special features, the picture and sound look great and it was nice to watch an interview with Donna Wilkes, who really needs to make the rounds at more horror conventions. -
rosscinema2 September 2005If you've set your mind to the fact that your going to view this low budget thriller than please don't expect to see something along the lines of "Psycho" or "Wait Until Dark" because this is eons away from resembling anything that well made. With that, despite all of it's faults you might still find this to be passable in terms of a late night viewing because the recognizable cast helps this film...in volumes! Story is about a Los Angeles psychiatrist named Pieter Fales (Klaus Kinski) who is a widower and having trouble with his angry and unbalanced daughter Alison (Donna Wilkes) who blames him for the death of her mother.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Dr. Fales is in charge of a weekly therapy group and he's sexually involved with two members including Julie (Marianna Hill) who has an advice column in the local paper and has been receiving strange letters from someone who contemplates murder. When members of Dr. Fales group start popping up dead the police (Richard Herd & Joe Regalbuto) start to wonder who might be responsible like Julie's ex-husband Doug (Craig Wasson), Gilbert (Christopher Lloyd) the horny maintenance man, Dr. Fales himself or the uncontrollable Alison.
This is directed by David Paulsen who was a television writer but had also made another slasher-like flick earlier in his career but never seemed to make the best of his film efforts. Let's just come right out and say that Paulsen seems totally unable to deliver anything resembling suspense and the murders that we do see are shot in an incredibly clumsy manner and the music that accompanies these scenes (what happened Craig Hundley?) has got to be the worst I've ever heard. Talk about annoying! Two things that I noticed while watching this stand in my memory like the fact that Kinski smokes through the entire film. Besides the fight sequence at the end I can't remember one scene where he doesn't have a cigarette either in his hand or his mouth. In one scene Hill finally takes one away from him and puts it out! The second thing is the size of Dr. Fales house...it's the biggest thing I've ever seen! Scarlett O'Hara would be envious! I know psychiatrists make a pretty good living but...HOLY COW! This wouldn't be your typical 80's slasher flick without nudity and Kinski himself has two sex scenes with a stripper and Hill but it's the shots of a nude Wilkes (TV's Hello, Larry and B-film favorite Angel) that is primarily the highlight. The familiar faces in the cast help the viewer get through this (admittingly) sub par effort including Kinski (one of my personal favorites) but also Hill who was always a good actress. Sure it's bad, but I think it's a watchable bad film. -
treakle_197816 April 2020A effective slasher a who done it with a surprise. Nice to see Christopher Lloyd in a slasher movie.
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boblipton9 October 2021Someone is murdering the great chefs..... I mean someone is murdering the patients in one of psychiatrist Klaus Kinski's therapy groups. These attacks are preceded by threats of shooting and executed by stabbings.
This should be a short in which cop Joe Regalbutto pulls out the handcuffs, arrests Kinski, and that's it. This being feature film, we need to spend some time getting to know the victims and dragging a few red herrings across the bloodhounds' path. Given the title, one expects foreboding music, a few dark-lit Dutch angle shots, and a last minute revelation. The movie delivers, but in such a mechanical fashion that I wasn't impressed.
With Christopher Lloyd as Gilbert. -
nick12123525 November 2020Obviously massively influenced by Halloween, this was part of the early wave of post Friday American slashers that flooded the market in the 1980s. I enjoy the shots and the soundtrack is phenomenal and spacey and the sets are gorgeous, especially Dr. Fales' house. On that note, Klaus Kinski is wonderful, as always. And I love that guy that plays her ex husband, he was in Body Double and Murder she Wrote. Cute too. This one is more on the violent and scary side than the cheesy side. Honestly a hidden gem, this is one nobody knows about but it's a top tier slasher- you know, the kind you come across every once in a while that keeps you watching cheesefest after cheesefest in hopes you'll come across another. I guessed who the killer was in the first third :P
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tadpole-596-91825614 May 2021. . . are brazen cold-blooded calculating insidious heartless misogynist sadistic serial killers. No other profession bills clients so much to rub them out, SCHIZOID documents. These mind jugglers frequently show up at graveside funeral rites to collect outstanding bills from the survivors of victims they've just chalked up, SCHIZOID reveals. Many of these medical miscreants hanker to be mass murderers as well as claiming corpses by the singletons, so they foist off "Group Therapy" scams upon their future targets, as does SCHIZOID's Dr. Flails. Certainly these noggin nabobs, brain butchers and ego quacks should be chained up in a modern version of Bedlam, supervised by Mr. Jigsaw, SCHIZOID recommends.
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karenevers-4980421 July 2020The most unbelievable part of Schizoid is the fact that every female patient of Klaus Kinski's therapy group wants to sleep with him. Not to be ugly or anything, but the man looks like a serial killing rapist and seems mentally unstable himself. Maybe this would have worked with a less creepy actor in the role, but it doesn't ring true the way it is.
Anyway, Schizoid is about a newspaper advice writer who keeps getting creepy letters that look like ransom notes. Could these be connected to the recent string of scissor murders that have terrorized her therapy group - the one run by Klaus Kinski?
Schizoid wants to go down a classier road than the other slashers at the time with it's relative lack of blood and adult cast. That's admirable, but there's not a whole lot of mystery here, especially after the opening murder where we can clearly see the killer's reflection in the rear view mirror of the car they're driving.
It also gets things off on the wrong foot by having the most boring opening scene of all time. Instead of starting off with the first murder, we spend a few minutes in our leading lady's apartment at night as she writes, goes to the fridge, etc. There's nothing interesting or gripping about it.
Schizoid is a good movie to have on in the background while you organize your clothes, but nothing more. -
TheOldGuyFromHalloween322 March 2021The acting is bad. everyone is just picking up a paycheck except for Richard Herd, who angrily kicks a trash can in one scene. otherwise forgettable. kinski is funny to look at though
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deacon_blues-34 November 2016First saw this film as an Elvira, Mistress of the Dark feature. Kinski is hilarious! He runs around having sex with everyone and yelling "Vhat are you dooing!" constantly. Kinski plays psychoanalyst Dr. Fales (no pun intended, I think but the shoe fits pretty well!), whose therapy group is being murdered by an unknown assassin one-by-one. Fales also has to cope with his rebellious daughter, Alison, who's hopping from bed to bed with numerous guys. Daddy can't understand why she's like this, even though he himself is shtupping practically every woman in sight. Basically, Fales becomes a caricature of Kinski himself. Chaotic plot (if you can call it that) and scene pacing. After watching it through, all I could say was "What are you doing?"
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SnoopyStyle13 March 2021Newspaper advice columnist Julie (Marianna Hill) receives anonymous threatening letters. She's divorcing Doug. She attends a therapy group run by Pieter Fales (Klaus Kinski). His building has a new handyman (Christopher Lloyd). Female members of the group start getting murdered.
Non of the women are compelling and that includes the lead character. Her acting is rather stiff. The general level of acting is inferior with some outright bad. The women are nothing more than gristle for the meat grinder. It's one after another and non of it is exciting or scary. The big black guy following her into the elevator is meant to be scary but his innocence is never in doubt. Each kill unfolds without any energy. Pieter would function better if all his creepiness is kept hidden from the audience. Doug has one really bad overacting scene. All in all, it's repetitive and boring. -
Julie (Marianna Hill, Messiah of Evil, The Baby) writes the lonely hearts column for a newspaper, but she's suddenly getting more than letters from the lovelorn. An anonymous person is sending her letters threatening to murder people. And at the very same time, members of her group therapy session are getting stabbed and killed, one by one. Is there a connection?
Schizoid has all the markings of a giallo - the main character is in the middle of a murder investigation and has no idea who is behind it, while many of the killings are from the murderer's POV. And let's not forget the black leather gloves!
It's missing the insane devotion to fashion and interior design, but we can't hold that against it, as at least Dr. Pieter (Klaus Kinski, a legit real life maniac who always plays maniacs on screen) has an interesting home.
Right from the beginning, when the ladies of Dr. Pieter's encounter group luxuriate in a hot tub, we get the idea that someone is watching. When one of them leaves, she is run off the road, chased into a farmhouse and repeatedly stabbed with a pair of scissors. Several days later, a couple that's trying to have sex is surprised by the body.
Are the letters connected? Why do they mention a gun when the murders are done with a knife? Who is the killer? Is it Gilbert (Christopher Lloyd, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension), the weirdest person in her therapy group? Is it her ex-husband, Doug (Craig Wasson, Body Double) who argues with her every day because they work in the same place? Or how about Dr. Pieter, because he's Klaus Kinski? Beyond that, he's having sex with every single one of his patients, including a stripper named Pat (Flo Gerrish, Don't Answer the Phone) who he takes against a hot water heater! And hey - his relationship with Alison, (Donna Wilkes, Jaws 2, Angel) his daughter, feels super incestual. Maybe that's who the killer is!
This film also follows the giallo tradition by having police officers that are so ineffectual that they depend on the heroine to do her own investigation with no protection and only a special phone line to help her.
Alison and Dr. Pieter argue repeatedly, especially after he grows closer to Julie, bringing her home to dinner. She begins to dress in her mother's clothes or as a little girl and even steals her father's gun.
The police put in the phone line, but every single call seems to be cranky readers who are angry about Julie's column. Then, Alison calls her from a payphone, gun in hand. Julie gets Alison to come visit her at her house, where her husband (she doesn't call him ex-husband) is doing some repair work. Alison throws out a whole bunch of the letters and brandishes her gun, but it's unloaded. Then, the phone rings.
It's Dr Pieter, who demands to know where this number reaches Julie. He comes to visit, but someone takes a shot at him. We don't see who, but he assumes that it is Alison. The lights go out and we have no idea who is in the room with him. The phone rings again, but it's not Alison or Julie on the line. They're both tied up and a man is on the other line - but who!
Should I reveal it here? I won't. But I will say that this movie is truly a giallo because it's the person that is the least likely suspect and the police come running at the last moment. And by that, I mean just in times for the credits.
Director David Paulsen also brought Savage Weekend to the screen, but is more well known for his primetime soap opera work on shows like Knots Landing, Dallas and Dynasty. -
jmbovan-47-16017315 November 2020Heavy on slow gravitas that doesn't add up to much of anything. Psycho stalker type storyline doesn't do much given the flat acting of those involved. And some creepy and unethical matters that are simply there in the plot without any focus or resolution. Not very interesting.
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Stevieboy66617 October 2020Klaus Kinski, an actor who always gives great presence, stars as a Californian therapist who's clients are being murdered by a maniac, who is the killer? Schizoid is often marked as a slasher movie but in reality it is more of a psycho thriller, an American Giallo even. There are many similarities to the Italian Giallo that preceded it. The unknown, black leather glove wearing maniac uses a pair of long scissors. I counted only three murders and although they are nasty and well staged there is very little bloodshed. There are several red herrings as to the identity of the killer, I worked it out way before the end, which was a bit disappointing. There's some sex scenes for good measure - kinky Klaus has sex with a stripper in her dressing room, another scene has him watching his near naked teenage daughter in a thoroughly inappropriate way. I watched this on VHS and was going to score it 6/10, however I have ordered it on blu-ray, I'm sure that it will look much better, hence my 7.
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Mister-62 January 2000Okay... "Schizoid". What can you say about a movie where the scariest thing in it is the title?
Seems that people are dying in this California community and all of them seem to be patients of psychiatrist Kinski. Everyone in this film seem to be some level of nut (it IS California, after all) so there are more herrings here than in a barrel at the fish market. So, who's doing the killing?
All too obvious, I'm afraid. If you watch this and have a rudimentary knowledge of how these slasher flicks work, you'll pick out the perp right after you see them. If not, you deserve every lame moment that you get thrown at you.
No stars, not even in pity. The only "Schizoid"s here are the ones behind the camera that thought this was a good idea. -
ladymidath24 January 2023I love 80s and 90s slasher movies, they are a whole lot of fun and this one is no exception. Klaus Kinski was always one of my favourite actors despite apparently being an absolutely horrible person in real life. One thing about him, he always gives a top notch performance no matter what he is in.
Donna Wilkes and Mariana Hill give great performances as well as the wonderful Christopher Lloyd and Craig Wasson.
This is a pretty good thriller with a real mystery as to who is killing off Kinski's therapy group and why. The one that is being targeted is the advice columnist who is also starting a relationship with her therapist. Throw in an emotionally grieving daughter, a dark clad killer and you have a solid giallo style slasher movie.
This one is definitely for Kinski fans. -
drownsoda9028 March 2022This offering from "Savage Weekend" director David Paulsen has Marianna Hill ("Messiah of Evil") portraying a Los Angeles newspaper columnist who finds herself being harassed by a stalker writing perverse letters to her. Meanwhile, the members of her psych therapy group, led by a German psychologist (Klaus Kinski), are dropping like flies, slashed to death by a scissor-wielding maniac.
Though not a particularly thrilling film, "Schizoid" has some flashes of brilliance, among them being the opening murder sequence filmed in a rural abandoned house. This effective, atmospheric scene gave me high hopes for this film, and while it didn't totally hit the mark, "Schizoid" does get points for effort.
The main fault the film has is that its characters (particularly the patients of Kinski's group therapy cohort) seem to have nebulous relationships with one another, and they at times become indistinguishable, floating in and out of the central narrative, only to be subject to several violent murder sequences. This leaves the victims feeling less familiar than they should, and the impact of the gruesome murder sequences is negatively effected by it.
That being said, the stalking sequences here are very well-shot and quite effective, replete with giallo-esque shots of the killer's hands reaching for a pair of scissors. The film as a whole serves as a nice time capsule of late-'70s Los Angeles. Seedy strip clubs, dark alleyways, gaudy office buildings, Sunset Boulevard, and a grandiose mansion serve as main locations where the carnage unfolds. Marianna Hill and Klaus Kinski give decent performances here, while Craig Wasson plays Hill's ex-husband, and Christopher Lloyd a lonely, eccentric handyman. Donna Wilkes is perhaps the most effective here as Kinski's mentally-disturbed teenage daughter--though a bit uneven at points, her portrayal has some wonderful moments in it.
The finale here is a bit underwhelming, and the big reveal is not quite so shocking, despite the red herrings along the way. Even still, "Schizoid" is a relatively entertaining, atmospheric slasher flick that, while not full of surprises, offers more than enough in way of visuals and settings; oh, and a couple of nasty scissor murders. 7/10. -
annablair-1919119 April 2022A woman who writes an advice column in the newspaper is stalked by a crazed killer as members of her therapy group are killed.
Schzioid isn't sure if it should embrace it's slasher side or its thriller side more and ends up not delivering either. None of the murders are creative or lurid enough to please slasher fans and the characters and suspense sequences aren't well done enough to allow it to work as a classier thriller. -
acidburn-103 April 2022I didn't get around to viewing this early 80's slasher/thriller movie until it was released as part of the "Slasher Classics Collection" and honestly despite some interesting moments, this unfortunately was a bit of a slog to get through. Although the director seemed intent on making more of a straight thriller (with some sleaze thrown in), it lacked in suspense and boring pacing, a prime example of a simple idea poorly executed.
Okay there are a few positives about this movie such as its feels unique and eccentric in its approach which feels rather clumsy especially when it comes to the strange cast of characters such as the male lead Klaus Kinski as the therapist Peter who certainly lives up to his crazy real-life persona and a way too obvious red herring, but his performance is rather engaging. Marianna Hill as the female lead Julie is fine in her rather limited role. But Craig Wasson is a standout as the odd ex-husband and Donna Wilkes really hams things up nicely as the therapist's daughter whose also rather odd with her and the father's rather strange relationship.
The whodunnit aspect is handled rather well with a couple of twists and turns here and there, but in the end the conclusion is rather predictable yet leaves too many questions unanswered. However there are quite a few problems with this movie which could partly be down to the rather low budget, with a really cheap sounding synth score that doesn't build any tension at all. The murders aren't very memorable either and far from makes up for this movie's shortcomings.
Overall only see this if you really need to, but otherwise apart its eccentricity which makes it kind of interesting, there's nothing here that wasn't done better in other far better slasher movies.