SCHIZO

UK, 1976, 109 minutes, Colour.
Lynne Frederick, Jack Watson, John Leyton, Stephanie Beacham, John Fraser.
Directed by Pete Walker.

English director Pete Walker has a penchant and a reputation for odd horror thrillers. Schizo and The House of Mortal Sin were written by British Film Institute critic David Mc Gillivray. The central characters are mad - audiences are fascinated by watching the madness act itself out in bizarre and gory killings. Father Meldrum of the 'House of Mortal Sin' provides a textbook of offences for moral theologians (and there are continuous references to updating and Vatican II). Schizo is a straightforward and, at times, as sensational as it sounds. Titles are plain and Walker is not prone to subtlety in theme or treatment. But who really expects subtlety anyway?

1. The sound and tone of the title? Sensational? Offensive? The importance of the prologue and the explanation of schizophrenia? Credible, scientific, adequate for this thriller?

2. How enjoyable and successful a psychological thriller, crime thriller, a mystery? The blend of all these facets? Audience interest, involvement, the audience repelled by the theme and the brutality?

3. The overtones of the horror film: the atmosphere of madness, deaths, gore? How straightforward the presentation? Exploited?

4. How fair was the deception of the screenplay: the focus on Hasken, the contrast with the focus on Samantha Jean? The angles on the truth, the leading audience expectations? Were sufficient clues given for the truth? The impact of the truth when it was finally revealed?

5. How attractive a heroine was Samantha, audience sympathy in seeing the notice, her wedding and Hasken's sinister behaviour? Her attractiveness at the skating rink. her career, her nice manner? The wedding and her fears? Her not concealing it from Allan or from Beth? Her sense of Hasken's presence, in the house, the irony of her deceits and her lack of knowledge of what she was doing? Reading back into the events and her interaction with characters, the truth and the revelation of her madness? The motivation for killing so many people? The contrast with her pleasantness in the early days of marriage, dependence on friends, seeming helplessness? The build-up to the final confrontation with Hasken? The ironic confrontation of her taking the knife on the honeymoon? How strong a character study of this kind of schizophrenic person? Credible or just for the sake of the thriller?

6. The portrayal of Hasken and his sinister behaviour at the opening, the knife, his trip, his presence in the street, the phone, enquiring after Samantha? The knife at the wedding and the reaction of everyone? His sinister presence around the house? The fact that he was shown after all the deaths? The screenplay misleading the audience? The importance of his confrontation of Samantha and the revelation that he wanted the truth? The ugliness of his death? Even Beth being misled by her visit? How strong a character portrayal of a tormented man trying to justify himself? Or a type for a thriller?

7. The importance of the two flashbacks to the murder of Jean's mother? The truth in the mind of each? Again, audiences being misled? Satisfyingly?

8. The London setting as an authentic background for the thriller: the world of skating, marriage, parties, friends? Beth and her place in society, Leonard and his psychology? The kind of world in which Samantha was at home?

9. The build-up to the wedding, Allan and Samantha as a happy couple? The horror with the knife? The steady build-up of deaths: Leonard and his being consulted, the visual presentation of his throat being cut? Joy and the atmosphere of the seance, the sinister revelations about Samantha, the camera stalking Joy as she went away, the brutality of her being bashed? Mrs. Wallace as a sympathetic character, her work around the house, the irony of the jammed door? Her enthusiasm for the seance? The horror of the knitting needle through her eye? Her presence in the cupboard and the irony of the postcard from Rome? Hasken's presence around the house, the way this was visualised subjectively from Samantha's point of view, the terror of her hiding in rooms etc.? The build-up to the confrontation in the factory with her having seen the factory and its many spikes? Hasken's coming again to confront Samantha when the audience thought him dead? How plausible a blending of the psychological, occult, domestic?

10. How well drawn was the character of Allen, as a foil for Samantha? As part of the puzzle? Beth and bonds of friendship, as a justification - especially in seeking out Hasken and cutting his face? Leonard: his character, his death? The build-up towards the end and the irony of the couple going off on their honeymoon?

11. The importance of pace, psychological plausibility, the blending of grisly horror. Good entertainment for fans of horror thrillers? Or not?