Schizoid (1980)

Directed by David Paulsen. Starring Klaus Kinski, Marianna Hill, Craig Wasson, Donna Wilkes, Christopher Lloyd, Flo Gerrish, Joe Regalbuto, Richard Herd, Kiva Lawrence. [R]

Newspaper advice columnist Hill is receiving anonymous, ransom note-esque letters from someone warning of a murder spree; could it have anything to do with a scissors-wielding maniac slicing and dicing his way through the roster of fellow female patients in her therapy group run by perverse psychiatrist Kinski? Artless, gratuitous shocker, replete with more red herrings than corpses and a third-rate “mystery” attached as if it thinks it can get away with being a giallo wannabe (Kinski’s presence gives it just the faintest hint of a Euro-horror schematic, after all). Even by early-80s slasher standards, the rampant misogyny makes it all come off as pretty repellent stuff without a point or interesting character in sight; not even made with style or a scintilla of suspense for viewers just looking for a few cheap scares. An early Golan-Globus Productions outing through the Cannon Group, so that’s really all that needs to be said about it.

15/100