Schizoid

Schizoid Directed By David Paulsen, Starring Klaus Kinski (1980).

I was unimpressed by Pete Walkers "Schizo" which was featured in the DR catalog, so I've decided to review "Schizoid" instead since it's got 2 very attractive qualities: Klaus Kinski and The Cannon Group. Anytime I think of Klaus now, I imagine him destroying an entire bathroom c/o of a Herzog description in "My Best Fiend." Let's all hope this film isn't the cinematic equivalent to wrecking a toilet!

After Skunkape and I slugged it out with Boaz Davison's sad sack opus "Hospital Massacre" (or "X- Ray"), my expectations were critically low for this one, even though I've been itching to see it ever since I read the review in Psychotronic Video. If the first 7 mins are any indication of how fun this high brow slasher will be than I'm so down.

Kinski delivered an epic performance in "Crawlspace" and here he's a scissor wielding psycho (or schizo). I wonder what Siskel and Ebert thought of this one considering they shit their collective pants in outrage over something as wimpy as "The Boogeyman". You'd think they'd give it a chance once they got a whiff of that Kinski musk, then again I'm not sure what they thought of "The Great Silence," maybe they probably ignored it outright. This was actually featured on a double bill with the Susanne Love film (both came out in 1980) and now is on DVD next to "X-Ray", another Cannon Film.

Anyone who was offended by The Boogeyman is a total pussy!

So yeah, Christopher Loyd channeling Snyder from "One Day At A Time" is also present-- I'm in cult nerd paradise! Klaus, who's Lloyd's therapist seems to be smuggling a chub for his nubile teenage daughter played by "Angel" and "Jaws 2's" piggy nosed babe Donna Wilkes--is that skin crawly or what? Wilkes does a surprisingly top notch job in this role and you see her naked unlike the exploitation vehicle where she played a prostitute. You can't enjoy it however because of the incest connotation--Bleccchhhh.

You know I think I'll soup up the flex capacitor so I can nail Bonnie Franklin!

Someone is sending "Zodiac Killer" style random notes to the cops. The score thumpity bumps around casio "Don't Answer the Phone" style, but more lethargic. Richard Herd (from the "V Series" and "Seinfeld") is one of the cops looking for the killer. This one's got a lot more celebs than you'd think, although this is 1980 so no one was really ringing the phone off the hook yet looking for these future stars. The foley of a girl fleeing in terror down the stairs is so bad that it reminds me of the scene in Albert Brooks' "Modern Romance," where he totally fucks up the sound for a Sci Fi film. The murder by scissor scenes are almost drip-dry bloodless, maybe there was no effects guy? 

At the half point of the film, one of the worst actors who I can't help but admire shows up--Mr. Craig Wasson! He delivers his lines at the top of his lungs (maybe De Palma saw him in this and went "Hey I need an actor who can stare a lot and act like a cold fish for Body Double"). There's a bizarre death scene in a hot tub that tries to one-up Hitchcock. They throw in a few red herrings to confuse you about who the killer may be and it's hard to decipher because almost all of the characters are unhinged. 

OK You got me, I'm really Bill Maher

Joe Regalbuto who looks a lot like Ted Bundy to me, helps solve the ransom note riddle. After this he acted on mainly sitcoms and never turned back. I shouldn't compare this to the Pete Walker film but it's a lot better and also more fun than "X-Ray". Fulci's A Lizard in Women's Skin's alternate title was Schizo and there's a cool Venom song with that name. Before making this Paulsen the director made "Savage Weekend" (which is mind numbingly boring but featured in the catalog). He went on to a long career with mainstream CBS hits like Dallas and Dynasty whereas Klaus between acting for Werner Herzog appeared in B-Movie junk like "Creature", "Android" and "Time Stalkers". Oh yeah and he passed up on the role as Toht in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to do "Venom" with Susan George!

I wonder why the Ted Bundy look didn't catch on in the 80's?

Just a few days later the VHS version I watched for this review was taken down from Youtube. It's on Blu-Ray now which is fine and I obviously support you watch it on a purchased format in higher quality but damn that was fast! I really enjoyed the first half up until the hot tub scene. This film bashes you over the with heavy doses of a psychological thriller then the pacing really peters out into the dull zone. See it anyway, especially if you're a Kinski file and you just wanna gawk at famous people when they were struggling in a slasher film financed by Cannon.

THE SLASHER FILM VERSION OF 70'S MATCH GAME (MORE CELEBS APPEAR THAN AN EPISODE OF THE LOVE BOAT).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!