Frenzy (1972)

Here's a very new movie and the penultimate film made by the greatest director ever, Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock's penultimate film, the 52nd of his career, shows that even after 50 years as a director, Hitchcock can still make good movies.

This film is filmed in set in England where Hitchcock's career began five decades earlier. It tells the story of a man who rapes and strangles women to death with his tie. This film was rated R and for good reason. The plot is a pretty good murder mystery, although it's not really a mystery. The identity of the murderer is revealed very early on in the film although he is not a suspect as there is substantial evidence against a completely innocent man. For those not afraid of a few scenes that are somewhat graphic and a little swearing, this plot is great.

This film has a few main actors although none of them are all that notable for an American audience. They all do a pretty good job so there's not really anything to complain about.

Like previous Hitchcock films, this one deals with mistaken identity and murder. While this is hardly anything new from Hitchcock, he was able to do things not previously allowed. This film would never get past the censors while the Hays Code was still in effect. Hitchcock was known for his ability to push the Code to the limit, but this film goes far beyond what he did in any of his previous films. While some may say there were moments that were unnecessarily violent or vulgar, I don't think that was the case.

While Hitchcock's film making brilliance was pretty much over once Vertigo, North By Northwest, and Psycho were released in a three year span, this film shows that Hitchcock still had a something left. While nothing he made after the three aforementioned films (with the possible exception of Family Plot which is the only post-1957 Hitchcock film I haven't seen) comes anywhere near the greatness of his earlier works, this film is probably the best of the bunch and worth a watch not just because it's a Hitchcock film.

83/100
B-

UP NEXT: Something with Bogart and Bacall.