
Samantha and Alan are getting married, but William Haskins isn't pleased. He grabs a train south to London and starts shadowing Samantha as she adjusts to married life. Haskins' attempts to frighten her drive her to desperation, but she's having trouble convincing anyone that she's being stalked. Even her psychiatrist dismisses her concerns as part of her neurosis. As bodies begin turning up, Samantha's story becomes more believable, and her dark secret from the past reveals ... (Full plot summary below)
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Samantha and Alan are getting married, but William Haskins isn't pleased. He grabs a train south to London and starts shadowing Samantha as she adjusts to married life. Haskins' attempts to frighten her drive her to desperation, but she's having trouble convincing anyone that she's being stalked. Even her psychiatrist dismisses her concerns as part of her neurosis. As bodies begin turning up, Samantha's story becomes more believable, and her dark secret from the past reveals itself.
Leave your thoughts about Schizo.
| User ReviewMEC rNot as shocking as Frightmare, but violently gripping in places. |
| User ReviewTom MNot really prime Pete Walker; rather an attempt by the director to do a stalker / slasher pic, after the Italian giallo fashion. Some surprising vivid scenes, ample shock moments and a fine use of locations - mid-70s Britain is once again a fascinatingly grim locale! However, the great 'twist' is rather poor, straining all credulity. Jack Watson is actually quite sinister though, and Stephanie Beacham once more plays the very middle-class friend... |
| User ReviewJackson SDecent 70's slasher. A little too long though. |
| User ReviewTristan PA well-made British slasher movie with a decent cast. The 'twist ending' isn't really much of a surprise though. |
| User ReviewShawn WForget any notions that the film is a serious look at schizophrenia, premier British 70s exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker's Schizo is a belated entry in the rash of British rip-offs of Psycho which appeared in the wake of Hitchcock's own medically dubious masterpiece (compare Berserk, Paranoiac etc.). Walker's film has a pretty young celebrity supposedly being stalked and members of her close circle bumped off by the sad-sack killer of her mother, released a couple of years ago from prison. But things are not all that they seem... The small genius of Walker's film is that it reverses the idea of who is the villain in contemporary Western society. Usually, the role is played by a lonely, middle-aged psychotic man who puts the beautiful young things at risk; in Schizo, he has been framed by the beautiful young celebrity herself, who suffers from a split personality - one moment she's all sweetness and light, the nation's favourite skating star and tabloid fodder; but beneath she's a murderous Ice Queen, jealous and capable of the utmost acts of brutality when faced with anything which upsets her equilibrium. There's a certain barmy truth in Walker's vision of with whom the danger really lies in our bleak post-industrial society. An intriguing sub-plot shows how religion or spiritual belief has been denigrated into a brotherhood of superstitious women, who haven't the foggiest idea of what is actually going on. Lynne Frederick - a celebrity who herself went supremely off-the-rails when left a cool £4.5 million as Peter Sellers' widow - is prophetically cast as the Ice Queen; and there's a wonderful supporting turn by the great Queenie Watts as the psychic-mongering help. Schizo is not one of Walker's best films - it doesn't reach the heights of lunacy of House of Whipcord or Frightmare, nor does it match the near-contemporary Italian giallos which is seeks at times to mimic; yet it has some games to play with notions of villainy in tabloid cultures. |
| User ReviewSenor CIts wasnt Just the Americans who churned out exploitation films during the 60s and 70s Pete Walker was one of the most celebrated director of low budget horror films ,that despite being a bit silly alwyas entertained . This is not one of his classics,thats Frightmare and House of Whipcord but Walker really shows what Enlgand was like in the 70s ,not very nice and dull with murder round every corner. Theres a bit of gore and some tension and despite its low budget look the film is never boring and Walker was by then a dab hand at this kind of stuff Far from a classic then but an interesting look into a long forgotten genre Britsplotation |
| User ReviewMatt CWonderful murder mystery and stalker movie. Samantha is being stalked by the man who murdered her mother, a murder that she witnessed. This movie is a really slow build, but it pays off big time with great characters and very good acting. Very enjoyable. |
| User Reviewdelysid dits not as good as the title would suggest... its one of those dreary pete walker movies |
| User ReviewColin FNot the best film in the world but not the worst either! With a dodgy twist at the end! Check it out! 70s Horror B**llocks at its best! |
| User ReviewTroy HI rated this average to slightly below average for horror movies. While certainly not a poor or even boring movie, there just seem to me to be others of a similar style/subject matter that do it better. And there are certainly ones that do not pull it off quite so well as Pete Walker does with this psychologically based horror-mystery-suspense-slasher. Pete Walker does bring his sense of suspense, patience and classiness to this movie and it is definitely worth a watch for fans of this style of horror or even horror in general. I'm just not so sure how many people will be raving about this movie and recommending it months or even years after they have seen it |