Customer Reviews

Die Screaming Marianne [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to disagree with the other reviewers here and praise this film. Maybe part of the reason I got so much out of it was that I wasn't expecting much and got pleasantly suprised. I wasn't expecting much because I'd recently seen a couple other of Walker's films (House of Whipcord and another) and thought they were completely without artistic merit. But this one is really quite a good film. Much like an Italian Giallo, there is a nice combination of spine-tingling suspense, cool outfits and set pieces, and softcore sexuality. The story is quite compelling, Susan George is great as the sexy and troubled go-go dancer on the run, Judy Huxtable and the guy who plays the evil father are palpably hateable . . . This is a Pete Walker film that actually has a story worth paying attention to, and a mood that takes you in from the first scene and doesn't let you go until the final credits.

As far as Pete Walker movies go, DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE is nowhere near as good as his classics, FRIGHTMARE or HOUSE OF WHIPCORD. However, it's not as bad as the awful FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW either. The story is about a care-free go-go dancer named Marianne Evans (Susan George) who must stay one step ahead of her odd, insane family, including her looney dad (Leo Genn) and her homicidal sister, Hildegard (Judy Huxtable). Marianne has something that they want, sitting in a Swiss bank account. While I wouldn't go so far as to call this movie exciting, it does have some semi-interesting plot twists, a handful of colorful characters, and a (tiny) bit of tension. The finalé is pretty satisfying as well. The fact that DSM is thought of as a horror film is ridiculous. This is a thriller, though it's not all that thrilling! With it's long-winded storyline, sporadic "action" sequences, and overall atmosphere of desolation, DSM can be a chore to watch. Still, the payoff is (almost) worth the effort...

DIE SCREAMING, MARIANNE has essentially none of the gore and skin for which auteur Pete Walker would later become famous, so fans of horror and thriller cinema are likely to come away disappointed. Unfortunately, it is often the outre use of stage blood and T&A that makes Walker's films so compelling and memorable, and without them, DIE SCREAMING, MARIANNE is a rather boring film by any standard. The story itself is a cliche tale involving the young heir to a fortune and the jealous family members who want to kill her and get their mitts on the dough. It's all been done before...and with better results.

The film is not totally without merit, however. As the young heiress, cute and perky Susan George is a delight to watch. Most of the supporting cast is pretty good, too, especially Barry Evans as Ms. George's love interest. Walker's direction is adequate, though it's not his best effort, and there is some very interesting camera work, specifically a couple of split-screen shots that predate Brian De Palma's masterful perfection of the technique by a few years.

As with the other Pete Walker offerings from Shriek Show, the source print used for the digital transfer of this DVD isn't the greatest, although it is arguably the cleanest of the lot. There are a few scratches and instances of color shift, and the print looks faded and washed-out overall, but the copy is watchable. The only bonus feature on the DVD, beside the theatrical trailer, is a commentary with director Walker and author Jonathan Rigby.

All in all, this one is only of interest to fans of Susan George and to Walker completists. All others are likely to experience an hour-and-a-half of intense yawning.

I enjoyed watching Pete Walker's "Schizo" starring real life bad girl Lynne Frederick. Because of Walker's reputation of being a great British horror director, I decided to watch "Die Screaming Marianne," which he produced and directed in 1970. Big mistake. I have to be honest or no one will ever believe any of my reviews. This film moved at a snail's pace and was very boring. It is more psychological thriller than horror and a bad one at that. There is very little suspense, no twists, and no surprise endings.

The lovely Susan George of the controversial "Mandingo" stars as Marianne, a go-go dancer who is always hiding from her father (Leo Genn of Lucio Fulci's "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin") and her half sister (Judy Huxtable of "Scream and Scream Again"). Her bizarre, perverted family wants her to give them a Swiss account number of a safe deposit box containing a lot of money along with incriminating documents that will send her father to prison. Marianne is always allowing someone to talk her into making unwise choices such as marrying an unattractive man she hardly knows and traveling to a seaside villa to visit with relatives who wish her ill. Just as she feared, they try to kill her.

I'm giving "Die Screaming Marianne," two stars in lieu of one because Susan George and Judy Huxtable are extremely attractive and look like half sisters. I enjoyed watching their scenes together. Also, I am a fan of Leo Genn. Other than that, this film doesn't have much redeeming value. Furthermore, the Shriek Show release of "Die Screaming Marianne" has poor audio and video. (I wonder if the Image release is any better.) There are numerous vertical lines running throughout the film. It is the type of DVD that I will be trading soon. Please don't buy or rent it unless you are a diehard fan who has to see everything Pete Walker directed, no matter how inferior it is.

A few weeks shy of turning twenty-one, Marianne McDonald is seen leaving a Spanish town, quickly packing her bags and fleeing from some men in a Mercedes. She gets a lift from a long-faced, long-haired, smarmy-looking Briton, Sebastian Smith, whom she follows back to England. He pushes her into a marriage for reasons she suspects aren't purely noble, but she turns the tables on him by marrying his best man Eli Frome, who isn't cocky and brusque but seems quite the gentleman. In fact he doesn't make a pass at Marianne for ten days and it is she who has to remark on that fact.

In order to set things straight, she and Eli go to a villa in Portugal, where her father, a former judge, and half-sister Hildegarde live. After her mother's death, Marianne had bad vibes of being marked for death--hence her flight at age sixteen. Hildegarde, a blonde with narrowed face and heavy lashes does not like her one bit. Things start happening after her and Eli's arrival, involving her inheriting a bank account whose contents compromise her father.

Susan George (Marianne) may have a nice body that could've sold Coppertone by the gallon, but she's nothing special to look at. Even the title sequence mimics that of a James Bond movie, with some woman getting her groove on. This movie seems to get its strength on having Susan in miniskirts, bathing suits, or in a bath towel, which doesn't quite cut it with me. Except for Eli, none of the characters elicit much sympathy, and the story is nothing to scream home about. Even the on-location shooting in the Algarve in Portugal don't help.

Anthony Sharp (the marriage registrar) may be a familiar face, as he played the Minister of the Interior in A Clockwork Orange. He later appeared in another Pete Walker film, The Confessional.

Despite being labeled as a horror film, slow-moving, unappealing potboiler is more appropriate. And Pete Walker has done better than this. Kathe Greene's string-accompanied title song is the only other good thing about this film. "Love is not for you, Marianne," she sings. As for the viewers, they may die screaming that this movie doesn't live up to expectations.

This was supposed to be Pete Walker's first horror film, it isn't. It's not a horror film at all, it's a movie with hardly any violence, gore or action, no sex, no nudity and no laughs. So what is it?. I guess it's a chase movie with a bit of family drama. I really don't know who this will appeal to. Looking at the title and the cover art you would think you're in for a sexy exploitation movie, but I can't really call it an exploitation movie because it doesn't exploit anything apart from a shocking haircut on one of the lead actors. I still thought it was alright though and watched it all the way through in one sitting, mainly waiting for Susan George to get her clothes off, but sadly it doesn't happen, though of course she has a lot to offer with her clothes on too and the acting is very good for this sort of film, actually it's good for any sort of film.

The DVD is the most basic release I have ever seen, not even having a main menu screen, just a scene selection screen. The print is worn, but it's still reasonably sharp and is certainly watchable.

If you've seen the movie and liked it then you may want the DVD, but if you haven't seen it it's not something I'd recommend purchasing.

The 2 stars are just for Susan George - if it wasn't for her, there would be no movie at all - and Leo Genn. The script is a laugh, the direction lame, the only thing that really strikes out is the opening credits sequence. From the on, it's downward.

The most stupid error of all is when the production films in Algarve, Portugal, where the second part of Marianne takes place. The characters land in Aeroporto de Faro (Faro Airport) in a plane by Linhas Aéreas Portuguesas, (Portuguese Airlines). There are scenes on the road that leads to the airport, (I've been there, so I know). The signs on the streets are all written in the Portuguese language. There are scenes on the beach and so on. However, everytime someone talks with a police officer, he answers in... spanish. "Señorita", etc. Very weird.

A particular ridiculous error, since british people have the tradition of spending their holidays in the Algarve, long before 1971. It must have been this: A good holiday for the crew, not the filming of a movie, since the production didn't know where the hell it was, and apparently didn't care.

And, in the end, the final credits list "filmed entirely in England and in The Algarve, Portugal". Let's say I don't plan to see any more films by this director. Only for Susan George fans.