Meurs en hurlant, Marianne

Director Pete Walker's DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE is about carefree go-go dancer, Marianne Evans (Susan George), who must stay one step ahead of her insane family, including her crackpot dad (Leo Genn) and homicidal sister, Hildegard (Judy Huxtable). Marianne has something they want, sitting in a Swiss bank account. Her diabolical family will do anything to get it!

Though far from exciting, this movie does have some semi-interesting plot twists, a handful of colorful characters, and a smattering of tension. An alleged "thriller", it suffers from a lack of any real thrills. The long-winded story and sporadic "action" sequences do little to hold our attention. A chore to watch, it's almost saved by its "big pay off" ending. Almost...

Pic is routine in all respects and a real timewaster! Marketed as a horror film, it's nothing more than a boring tale of a dysfunctional family trying to lay their mitts on a numbered Swiss Bank account containing incriminating documents, along with a sizeable amount of cash. Poor Marianne is about to inherit this stash on her 21st birthday, but her father and sister want to grab it from her. Nothing horrific (nor even interesting) here.

The cast is decidedly drab and unattractive (even toplined Susan George is unflatteringly photographed)and performances are strictly of the stock variety. Potentially interesting Portuguese scenery is also wasted by the pedestrian set-ups employed by helmer Pete Walker.

Director Walker made a few mildly interesting films ("House of Whipcord", "Frightmare") along with a goodly amount of dreck. Thankfully he retired in '82, saving viewers from further boredom.

Not particularly gripping tale of a 'free spirited' Susan George becoming embroiled in a seedy crime racket, led by a 'defrocked' Judge.

Not just *a* Judge, but 'The Judge' - Leo Genn's character who is continually accorded the definite article by sundry friends and enemies - who are largely interchangeable. This melodrama, with a heavy accent on the corrupt authority figures, bears some resemblance to Pete Walker's later baroque horrors. But the formula isn't developed as of yet - and he had yet to work with the waggish scriptwriter David McGillivray. Walker followed this film with the relatively interesting curio, "The Flesh and Blood Show" - collaborating with the talented veteran Alfred Shaughnessy of "Upstairs, Downstairs" fame - and then his fecund period began with "The House of Whipcord" in 1974.

Susan George and Judy Huxtable are done a great disservice by Walker and scriptwriter Murray Smith here with their reductive portrayal of female characters. Such as shame for George in particular, subject of much brutality in Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" the following year, but also Huxtable, who was the evocative beauty at the heart of the whimsical "Les Bicylettes de Belsize" two years earlier.

There is always some degree of objectification of women in Walker's films, but what is lacking here is the suspenseful, charged context of his later films. "Frightmare" and "House of Mortal Sin" have something of the Hitchcockian about them: Hitchcock-meets-the Grimm Brothers-meets-British exploitation cinema of the 70s. This is a rather more humdrum affair, with even the exotic locations eliciting no more than a Gallic shrug in this viewer.

DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE is a standard-issue potboiler which is high on 'exotic' locations but low on excitement. Susan George is good to look at, as always, but she can't save boredom from setting in or do much to salvage the dreadful screenplay. Veteran exploitations Pete Walker didn't hit his stride as a truly effective film-maker until he began directing horror movies, bringing sleaze and gore to suburbia, so quite what this tedious mess is doing in Anchor Bay's otherwise excellent Pete Walker boxed set is a mystery to me. THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW or SCHIZO would have been more welcome inclusions, but Walker made films for a wide variety of companies and distributors, so maybe some rights complications prevented their inclusion. Having said that, the title sequence is justly celebrated, and Walker offers an amusing and illuminating audio commentary on the film's troubled history (at one point he cancelled the production, and the location filming in Portugal was hampered by personality clashes) and his admiration for the lovely George is touchingly clear throughout. In fact, it's a lot more entertaining than the film itself! Kenneth Kendel, Barry Evans and Anthony Sharpe offer effective support in smallish roles.

I'm a great admirer of director Pete Walker and I personally feel that most of his horror films unquestionably belong to the absolute best independent British productions ever made! Titles like "Frightmare", "Schizo" and "House of Whipcord" are downright GREAT genre films with genuinely shocking plot-twists and an almost natural aversion to political correctness. Back in 1971, Walker made his very first attempt to do horror with "Die Screaming Marianne" and, to my own regret; it wasn't a very good one. The story largely feels like a failed crossover between a crime-thriller and the Italian giallo (which was also hugely popular in that era) and it's still too similar to the silly & light-headed sex comedies that Walker used to make previously, like "School for Sex" or "The Four Dimensions of Greta". The ravishing star Susan George plays the headstrong girl Marianne who flees from her parental mansion in Portugal and hooks up with a duo of typically British friends. Her infamous father (a former corrupt judge) and her wicked stepsister need her back in Portugal urgently because Marianne will soon turn 21 years old, and then she has access to her deceased mother's fortune as well as the dirty family secrets. This is a very basic description of the film's story and there are loads of unimportant sub plots and incomprehensible twists that aren't really worth mentioning. The screenplay is stunningly incoherent and abruptly jumps from one sequence to another without even trying to make sense. New characters are introduced swiftly and they travel back and forth between Portugal and London like it's an ordinary day trip. And yet, despite all its flaws, "Die Screaming Marianne" surely has potential and it's interesting viewing for Pete Walker fans, as he already approaches some of the topics that'll become his hobbyhorses in later films. The judge character played by Leo Genn, for example, is a typically corrupt and perverted figure that smuggles away all his dirty acts and the stepsister is a greedy bitch who'd do anything for power and money. Other positive elements include some nice set pieces, a catchy title song and a beautifully staged scene inside a sauna! Susanne George is magnificent but her two male counterparts are odd-looking idiots. Like another reviewer already pointed out, this film becomes much more interesting if you watch it with Walker's audio commentary on, as he amplifies many bits and pieces that are shown poorly in the actual film.