Schizoid

source: Schizoid

Klaus Kinski, an actor who always gives great presence, stars as a Californian therapist who's clients are being murdered by a maniac, who is the killer? Schizoid is often marked as a slasher movie but in reality it is more of a psycho thriller, an American Giallo even. There are many similarities to the Italian Giallo that preceded it. The unknown, black leather glove wearing maniac uses a pair of long scissors. I counted only three murders and although they are nasty and well staged there is very little bloodshed. There are several red herrings as to the identity of the killer, I worked it out way before the end, which was a bit disappointing. There's some sex scenes for good measure - kinky Klaus has sex with a * in her dressing room, another scene has him watching his near naked teenage daughter in a thoroughly inappropriate way. I watched this on VHS and was going to score it 6/10, however I have ordered it on blu-ray, I'm sure that it will look much better, hence my 7.

The acting is bad. everyone is just picking up a paycheck except for Richard Herd, who angrily kicks a trash can in one scene. otherwise forgettable. kinski is funny to look at though

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.

Obviously massively influenced by Halloween, this was part of the early wave of post Friday American slashers that flooded the market in the 1980s. I enjoy the shots and the soundtrack is phenomenal and spacey and the sets are gorgeous, especially Dr. Fales' house. On that note, Klaus Kinski is wonderful, as always. And I love that guy that plays her ex husband, he was in Body Double and Murder she Wrote. Cute too. This one is more on the violent and scary side than the cheesy side. Honestly a hidden gem, this is one nobody knows about but it's a top tier slasher- you know, the kind you come across every once in a while that keeps you watching cheesefest after cheesefest in hopes you'll come across another. I guessed who the killer was in the first third :P

I don't know what is worse about this movie. 1) It is very predictable. 2) It is very stupid. Is it 1 or 2? I was bothered because I spent 89 minutes with this movie and I considered it was a waste of time. The premise of a murderer with scissors looked good but there is not a pinch of idea in it. Dr Fales (Kinski) is a psychiatrist who leads a group of therapy. His daughter Allison (Wilkes) is a rebel teenager who is against the doctor's new company Julie (Hill). Allison's mother died and Julie would take her place. So, she is sick 'n tired of the group and of Julie. What about her? She is a reporter who is in the way of getting the divorce from her husband Doug (Wasson). There is more: she helps people under the name of Dr. Love. She starts receiving threats by letter. The ladies from the group are being found stabbed one by one. "Don't let me kill again" blah, blah, blah. So, who are we dealing with? who is the killer? Could it be Dr. Fales who has sex with the ladies from the therapy group? Maybe his daughter? What about Julie's husband? I think that renting this movie would be a waste of movie. It is worse If you see it. A waste of time. At least performances were acceptable. 3 out of 10. Andrés.

"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.

It's crudely made, badly acted and crummy-looking. It has some of the stupidest dialogue you'll ever hear (sample: a man reads a threatening letter. First he says "I'm sure it's a hoax" and three seconds later he states that "It's obvious that whoever wrote this is a lunatic and capable of killing"!). And YET...(SPOILERS FOLLOW) I was determined to give this movie a "*" rating, but maybe it deserves another half-a-star because I was fairly certain the killer was Klaus Kinski and it was ultimately revealed that he wasn't. What remains unexplained is how could such an obviously perverse man be the psychiatrist (!) of a much more sane and well-balanced woman.

Okay... "Schizoid". What can you say about a movie where the scariest thing in it is the title? Seems that people are dying in this California community and all of them seem to be patients of psychiatrist Kinski. Everyone in this film seem to be some level of nut (it IS California, after all) so there are more herrings here than in a barrel at the fish market. So, who's doing the killing? All too obvious, I'm afraid. If you watch this and have a rudimentary knowledge of how these slasher flicks work, you'll pick out the perp right after you see them. If not, you deserve every lame moment that you get thrown at you. No stars, not even in pity. The only "Schizoid"s here are the ones behind the camera that thought this was a good idea.

While watching this one, I kept thinking about that anecdote Claudia Cardinale recalls in Herzog's documentary about Kinski. They were doing a love-scene together (she claims he was nice, humble and respectful towards her) and all of the sudden, Herzog brought in an ocelot. Kinski freaked out, as good as slaughtered the poor animal (endangered species!!!), and refused to work again for the whole day. "He was such a nice man", she then goes on. And I'm sure his daughter has similar tales of warmth and paternal joy to tell. What's the point I'm getting to, It's clear what Kinski is doing in this film: his character is allowed to gratuitously bonk every single women in the film, even ogle his own naked daughter and beat up a few others. It must have been a relief for such an intense person to not have to act. And still he is able to sleepwalk through this lame excuse for a slasher movie. It isn't even funny (except for that bathtub-scene, where the director must have suddenly realized he was going to miss out on a screaming face unless he came up with something -you'll never believe that one-). I watched it in fast-forward, and those were a long fifteen minutes. Avoid if you can, sleep through it if you must.