Schizoid

"Schizoid" is a fair early-80's slasher flick that suffers from a distinct lack of personality. It boasts a somewhat name, B-list cast, and derivative yet effective stalking scenes. Writer-director David Paulsen tries, in vain, to make everyone a suspect, but you eventually stop caring because of the clumsy script contrivances he expects us to swallow. But there's nothing here you haven't seen before, except maybe Klaus Kinski, wildly miscast but still highly entertaining as a marriage counselor who carries on affairs with his patients! I'm not ashamed to admit he kept me watching the whole way through. 2.5 stars out of 5.

I didn't get around to viewing this early 80's slasher/thriller movie until it was released as part of the "Slasher Classics Collection" and honestly despite some interesting moments, this unfortunately was a bit of a slog to get through. Although the director seemed intent on making more of a straight thriller (with some sleaze thrown in), it lacked in suspense and boring pacing, a prime example of a simple idea poorly executed.

Okay there are a few positives about this movie such as its feels unique and eccentric in its approach which feels rather clumsy especially when it comes to the strange cast of characters such as the male lead Klaus Kinski as the therapist Peter who certainly lives up to his crazy real-life persona and a way too obvious red herring, but his performance is rather engaging. Marianna Hill as the female lead Julie is fine in her rather limited role. But Craig Wasson is a standout as the odd ex-husband and Donna Wilkes really hams things up nicely as the therapist's daughter whose also rather odd with her and the father's rather strange relationship.

The whodunnit aspect is handled rather well with a couple of twists and turns here and there, but in the end the conclusion is rather predictable yet leaves too many questions unanswered. However there are quite a few problems with this movie which could partly be down to the rather low budget, with a really cheap sounding synth score that doesn't build any tension at all. The murders aren't very memorable either and far from makes up for this movie's shortcomings.

Overall only see this if you really need to, but otherwise apart its eccentricity which makes it kind of interesting, there's nothing here that wasn't done better in other far better slasher movies.

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.

This played out more like a murder mystery than a horror flick. The box art made it seem like another slasher film. This was another one of those that got lost in the shuffle of cheap fright films during the video boom in the 80's.

Did it deserve to stay lost? No. Did it deserve any accolades? Again, no.

Tha cast was the best part. A lot of names either slumming, (Kiniski, Heard) pre-fame, (Regalbuto) or just getting an easy paycheck (Lloyd, Wasson).

Klaus chews the scenery as only he can. But I couldn't figure him to be a sex symbol. And Donna "Angel" Wilkes did a good job as the emotional daughter. Lloyd played an understated role which showed how good he could really be. Wasson's tendency to overact was the only minus.

The script was terrible however.

And if the cops were wearing long jackets, doesn't that mean it's cold? If so, why were so many of the women wearing shorts? That's typical 80's cheap horror. I get the feeling that if this had been made by Fulci or Bava, it would have been light years better.

The most unbelievable part of Schizoid is the fact that every female patient of Klaus Kinski's therapy group wants to sleep with him. Not to be ugly or anything, but the man looks like a serial killing rapist and seems mentally unstable himself. Maybe this would have worked with a less creepy actor in the role, but it doesn't ring true the way it is.

Anyway, Schizoid is about a newspaper advice writer who keeps getting creepy letters that look like ransom notes. Could these be connected to the recent string of scissor murders that have terrorized her therapy group - the one run by Klaus Kinski?

Schizoid wants to go down a classier road than the other slashers at the time with it's relative lack of blood and adult cast. That's admirable, but there's not a whole lot of mystery here, especially after the opening murder where we can clearly see the killer's reflection in the rear view mirror of the car they're driving.

It also gets things off on the wrong foot by having the most boring opening scene of all time. Instead of starting off with the first murder, we spend a few minutes in our leading lady's apartment at night as she writes, goes to the fridge, etc. There's nothing interesting or gripping about it.

Schizoid is a good movie to have on in the background while you organize your clothes, but nothing more.