Schizo (1976)

Winsome Lynne Frederick is stalked by an obsessed man on the ugly side of London

A famous young figure skater in London (Frederick) marries an older guy (John Leyton), but soon discerns she’s being stalked by some grim tall man (Jack Watson). Stephanie Beacham is on hand as a friend while John Fraser plays a psychiatrist.

“Schizo” (1976) is a British slasher that predates both "Halloween" and Lynn-Holly Johnson’s “Ice Castles” by two years. I mention the latter because of the skating element, which is only prominent in the opening.

People mistakenly think the slasher started with “Halloween,” but there were several films that preceded it, starting with "Psycho" (1960) and followed by "Dementia 13" (1963), “A Bay of Blood” (1971), "Silent Night, Bloody Night” (1972), "Home for the Holidays" (1972), "Torso (1973), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "Black Christmas" (1974), amongst others. The tropes of the genre were already emerging when this flick debuted, like the undead dead, which is executed here in such a way to elicit laughs rather than horror.

The film is worth watching just to see cute Lynne Frederick in her prime; meanwhile the beautiful Beacham plays second fiddle and is hampered by a lousy 70’s hairdo. There are several flashes of nudity featuring Frederick (and the woman who plays her mother), but it’s mostly the “bad naked” noted in that Seinfeld episode. Frederick is certainly winsome and fetching but, honestly, she’s no Lynn-Holly Johnson.

There’s a surprise at the end that might have been groundbreaking at the time, yet most viewers will find it glaringly predictable. The flick’s also hampered by about 20 minutes of dull padding, not to mention locations that illustrate the grungy, industrial side of London and its compact flats, etc. Meanwhile the mid-70’s fashions & décor are pretty hideous (but you can’t hold that against it).

The movie runs 1 hour, 49 minutes, and was shot in London, as well as the transporter bridge in Middlesbrough (opening) and the swing bridge in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, both a 3-4 hour drive north of London.

GRADE: C+/B-