Director Pete Walker’s Die Screaming Marianne starts off
with a great opening title sequence that looks like something out of a James
Bond knockoff. Susan (Straw Dogs) George
go-go dances wildly in front of a blood red background, flailing her arms around
admirably. Sadly, it’s all downhill from
there.
George is on the run from her scheming father, a crooked
judge. She gets picked up hitchhiking by
a helpful motorist who almost immediately proposes to her. George accepts, but she soon runs off (again)
and shacks up with his best friend. This
gets her groom so mad that he teams up with George’s father to get force her to
return home so they can wriggle a hefty inheritance out of her.
Die Screaming Marianne is a slow moving and monotonous affair. Although it was sold as a horror movie, nothing
remotely horrific happens. The family
strife and double crossing is dull, and the pacing is painfully slow. The title is a rip-off too because Marianne
doesn’t die. In fact, I don’t ever remember
hearing her scream either.
Walker tries to bring some exploitation elements into the
film, but he seems too prudish to really rock the boat. The sex scenes are all very tame, and there’s
an incestual angle that never pays off either. Despite the great opening, that’s about as
naked as George gets. I’m not saying she
had to get naked, of course, but if she did, it might’ve given this damned movie
a reason to exist.
AKA: Die Beautiful
Marianne.
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