Schizo

"Schizophrenia … a mental disorder, sometimes known as multiple or split-personality, characterized by loss of touch with environment and alternation between violent and contrasting behavior patterns …"

A newspaper report of the impending marriage of ice-skater Samantha Grey (Lynne Fredericks – Four of the Apocalypse) and businessman Alan Falconer attracts the attention of William Haskin, the lover/murderer of Samantha's mother some 15 years previously who travels south and initiates a campaign of terror against the young woman, with stalking soon escalating to murder…

But is all what it seems? And what is the significance of the opening non-DSM IV approved definition of schizophrenia if Haskins is now out on parole, ostensibly cured?

Reuniting the team of director Peter Walker (Frightmare, House of Mortal Sin) and writer David McGillivrary (House of Whipcord) for the last time, Schizo comes across as nothing so much as a British giallo, with a particular indebtedness to Dario Argento's Deep Red from which it borrows the notion of a seance where the medium discovers a killer in her midst, only to then be murdered lest she reveal the secret.

Yet, despite this and the use of such familiar gialli tropes as extensive use of the subjective camera, the central position of a (mis-remembered) primal scene and – of course – brutal violence, Schizo also has a distinctively British feel that give the piece a tawdry, grubby, down-at-heel sensibility largely alien to the more glamourous world of the telefono rosso:

Joy Wallace, the medium: Would you like a cup of tea?

Samantha Falconer: It's fourpence.

Would you like a biscuit?

How much are they?

They're free.

While McGillivray's commendable salvage job on the original script by Murray Smith emerges as Schizo's major asset, this is not to dismiss Walker's own contribution. Unusually forthright in admitting his intention was purely and simply to make money, he handles the suspense and splatter scenes with considerable aplomb and viciousness, whilst also throwing in some arty touches here and there, such as the cut from Haskins circling Samantha's face in the newspaper to the young woman skating a pirouette, to give the hint that he could have been more than a mere hack had he been so inclined.

Not that the film is an unqualified success. As the opening non DSM-IV approved definition indicates, there's too much sleight of hand at work. This, unfortunately, encourages you to expect the unexpected and question everything, thereby working against the surprise element. Likewise the film-makers' handling of the supernatural element – where Joy first needs to be told that she's asking about Samantha rather than Sandra only to then suddenly be possessed Exorcist-style by her spirit guide and speak, eyes bulging, in a different voice – is, how might we put it, somewhat schizophrenic. The pacing is also a little off, with the feeling that the narrative could have been tightened up and an incident or two omitted to beneficial effect.

But, seeing as Argento himself has never really 'solved' the "broken mirrors/broken minds" 'problem', these are minor complaints. Fans of both the gialli and British horror could do worse than give this mutant offspring a spin.

Image Entertainment's Region 1 DVD of Schizo presents the film completely uncut, anamorphically and in its OAR of 1.85:1. The transfer is a decent one, but necessarily limited by the comparatively poor condition of the source print, especially in some of the earlier scenes. The mono sound is clear enough, but obviously nothing remarkable.

There are no extras on the budget-price DVD – a shame as one suspects Walker or better still – and likely more amenable – McGillivray could provide for a fascinating commentary on the British (s)exploitation film in the 1970s.