Schizoid (1980)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Absolutely Brilliant!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

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.

Julie (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.

If 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.

Okay... "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.