Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Susan George plays Marianne, a young go-go dancer in London apt to running away from any man who takes a liking to her; she's not fickle, exactly, she just has a troubled past with men starting with her nefarious father, nicknamed "the Judge." After a fellow picks Marianne up on the road, she finds herself at the altar about to marry him, but enters their best man's name on the marriage certificate instead. This enrages her intended, who turns snitch to the Judge (and Marianne's wicked half-sister) who's in desperate need of a Swiss bank account number that only Marianne knows, an account that houses legal papers incriminating the Judge in various dirty doings. Written by Murray Smith and directed by Pete Walker (who also produced), the misleadingly-titled "Die Screaming Marianne" (without a comma) isn't a horror movie or a suspense-thriller; it's more of a character portrait-cum-criminal melodrama, one that is curiously coy in its violent and sexual matters. George is seen dancing in a bedazzled bikini under the opening credits, but she doesn't dance again, nor does she get much of a chance to create a genuine character. Marianne is unpredictable in all the wrong ways; she's a question-mark whose actions are confusing, confounding and often reach a dead-end (running off from her new husband in the early morning hours, she hitches a ride, stops to rest in the meadow grass, applies for a dancing job, turns it down when the boss asks to "see the goods," and then returns home). Finale at the Judge's seaside spread in Portugal is even odder, with lustful, jealous Judy Huxtable bent on torturing Marianne to get that account number before killing her. Before long, bodies have piled up, corpses have to be identified, the cops are on their way, and we still have no idea who Marianne is. *1/2 from ****

It is hard to believe that 'Die Screaming, Marianne', a boring and uninspired 'shocker', was directed by British horror master Pete Walker, who would go on to make the wonderful 'Frightmare'. Admittedly this was his first film and he needed time to refine his art, but 'Marianne' has little if anything to recommend it. It is very like the Italian 'giallo' films which were popular back in the early seventies, and hardly deserves to be called a horror film.Susan George stars as Marianne McDonald/Evans and, to her credit, plays a strong and resourceful character. Her evil father, a corrupt judge played by Leo Genn, and her power-hungry and avaricious stepsister, are out to get their hands on Marianne's fortune - a hefty amount left to her by her rich mother - which she is to inherit on her twenty-first birthday.'Die Screaming, Marianne' belongs to the family of horror films whose titles promise much and then do not deliver the titular carnage. Such films as 'Driller Killer' and 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'. 'Driller Killer' is an interesting psychological horror film which owes much to 'Repulsion' and it certainly has its merits, but its reputation as a notorious video nasty is just silly considering the very tame gore in the film. And 'Texas' is a horror masterpiece but it definitely does not offer up a constant stream of blood and severed limbs as its title suggests.Susan George completists will want to see 'Die Screaming, Marianne' but anyone else will find the proceedings tedious and instantly forgettable. There is a good title song which has a nice melancholy feel to it, and there is a cool opening credits sequence which sees George go-go dancing in a black bikini. But the rest of the film - apart from the rather attractive scenery in the scenes shot in Portugal - is almost excruciatingly dull and pointless. Do yourself a favour, and catch Susan in the horror film 'Fright' instead. So much better.

If there was ever a genre of horror dedicated to inflicting obscene and brutal quantities of boredom onto the audience, then Die Screaming, Marianne would be its keynote work. I heard so much about how brutal Pete Walker movies were and everyone was right. This movie is brutal. I didn't even realize Susan George was the lead until other posts pointed it out in this forum. Basically if you like watching Susan driving around, walking around, renting a house, driving around some more, talking aimlessly, then driving around, and then... Well you get the picture. A completely boring and flat film. It should have been called Die SLEEPING Marianne! It makes Andy Warhol's Eat feel like a cross between Fukasawa's Battle Royal and De Bont's Speed. Unbelievably dull.

DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE is a standard-issue potboiler which is high on 'exotic' locations but low on excitement. Susan George is good to look at, as always, but she can't save boredom from setting in or do much to salvage the dreadful screenplay. Veteran exploitations Pete Walker didn't hit his stride as a truly effective film-maker until he began directing horror movies, bringing sleaze and gore to suburbia, so quite what this tedious mess is doing in Anchor Bay's otherwise excellent Pete Walker boxed set is a mystery to me. THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW or SCHIZO would have been more welcome inclusions, but Walker made films for a wide variety of companies and distributors, so maybe some rights complications prevented their inclusion. Having said that, the title sequence is justly celebrated, and Walker offers an amusing and illuminating audio commentary on the film's troubled history (at one point he cancelled the production, and the location filming in Portugal was hampered by personality clashes) and his admiration for the lovely George is touchingly clear throughout. In fact, it's a lot more entertaining than the film itself! Kenneth Kendel, Barry Evans and Anthony Sharpe offer effective support in smallish roles.