Marianna, fuga dalla morte

Pic is routine in all respects and a real timewaster! Marketed as a horror film, it's nothing more than a boring tale of a dysfunctional family trying to lay their mitts on a numbered Swiss Bank account containing incriminating documents, along with a sizeable amount of cash. Poor Marianne is about to inherit this stash on her 21st birthday, but her father and sister want to grab it from her. Nothing horrific (nor even interesting) here.

The cast is decidedly drab and unattractive (even toplined Susan George is unflatteringly photographed)and performances are strictly of the stock variety. Potentially interesting Portuguese scenery is also wasted by the pedestrian set-ups employed by helmer Pete Walker.

Director Walker made a few mildly interesting films ("House of Whipcord", "Frightmare") along with a goodly amount of dreck. Thankfully he retired in '82, saving viewers from further boredom.

Not particularly gripping tale of a 'free spirited' Susan George becoming embroiled in a seedy crime racket, led by a 'defrocked' Judge.

Not just *a* Judge, but 'The Judge' - Leo Genn's character who is continually accorded the definite article by sundry friends and enemies - who are largely interchangeable. This melodrama, with a heavy accent on the corrupt authority figures, bears some resemblance to Pete Walker's later baroque horrors. But the formula isn't developed as of yet - and he had yet to work with the waggish scriptwriter David McGillivray. Walker followed this film with the relatively interesting curio, "The Flesh and Blood Show" - collaborating with the talented veteran Alfred Shaughnessy of "Upstairs, Downstairs" fame - and then his fecund period began with "The House of Whipcord" in 1974.

Susan George and Judy Huxtable are done a great disservice by Walker and scriptwriter Murray Smith here with their reductive portrayal of female characters. Such as shame for George in particular, subject of much brutality in Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" the following year, but also Huxtable, who was the evocative beauty at the heart of the whimsical "Les Bicylettes de Belsize" two years earlier.

There is always some degree of objectification of women in Walker's films, but what is lacking here is the suspenseful, charged context of his later films. "Frightmare" and "House of Mortal Sin" have something of the Hitchcockian about them: Hitchcock-meets-the Grimm Brothers-meets-British exploitation cinema of the 70s. This is a rather more humdrum affair, with even the exotic locations eliciting no more than a Gallic shrug in this viewer.

Director Pete Walker's DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE is about carefree go-go dancer, Marianne Evans (Susan George), who must stay one step ahead of her insane family, including her crackpot dad (Leo Genn) and homicidal sister, Hildegard (Judy Huxtable). Marianne has something they want, sitting in a Swiss bank account. Her diabolical family will do anything to get it!

Though far from exciting, this movie does have some semi-interesting plot twists, a handful of colorful characters, and a smattering of tension. An alleged "thriller", it suffers from a lack of any real thrills. The long-winded story and sporadic "action" sequences do little to hold our attention. A chore to watch, it's almost saved by its "big pay off" ending. Almost...

I'm a big fan of Pete Walker's exploitative style of horror and Susan George rates very highly on my '70s crumpet-ometer', so I was pretty stoked at the prospect of finally watching 'Die Screaming, Marianne', which sees Walker directing the lovely actress as a free-spirited young woman on the run from those who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the contents of a swiss bank account for which only she holds the numbers.

Unfortunately, this early attempt by the director to break free from his sexploitation roots sees him struggling to find his feet, the plot meandering all over the place, the pacing dreadfully slow, with very little of the bolder elements that would make his later films so much fun; in fact, if it wasn't for George, who looks absolutely stunning throughout, go-go dancing in a bikini during the opening credits, modelling some very short dresses, relaxing in a bubble bath (curse those bubbles!), cavorting in her underwear, and wearing just a towel while trapped in a sauna (Die Steaming, Marianne?), 'Die Screaming, Marianne' would qualify as a total snoozeathon.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

Somehow this film manages to be boring as hell even with the lovely Susan George all over it, and in her prime too.

This disjointed relic from British Cinema's Bronze Age features George as a bonne viveuse who is keeping her distance from a dis-functional family which threaten to unravel her hopes of a normal romantic life, and all because she possesses within her mind the secret swiss bank account number which contains her inheritance, which will be entirely her's when she reaches the age of 21. Various losers try to get her to come across with the goods and they certainly take their time with it. And for some odd reason Maryanne tags along with their schemes right up till the last minute even though she knows who she's dealing with. It's kind of confusing.

There is a cheesy song about Maryanne at the end, and the opening credits are rather dated, with Ms. George doing her best go-go dancer routine.