Femme Fatalities Message Board

A new book is out by Raymond Foery - Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy The Last Masterpiece. It's quite scholarly, aimed at media students I reckon but accessible to the general reader. There's a disappointing lack of stills.

One thing intrigued me though; an early treatment of the script has the first victim we see - the nude in the river - strangled with a red open-knit stocking. The other stocking is still on her leg. Open-knit means fishnet, I presume. Does red fishnets imply a prostitute?

I assume that had this treatment been followed, all the other victims would have been strangled with their own stockings/pantyhose/tights. My question is - would it have been better for stockings rather than neckties to be used? I myself am undecided. It is hard to imagine Frenzy without the neckties, but a series of stocking stranglings is irresistable. What do you think?

Hmm .. good question. What I know is that it is rare for a serial killer change his modus operandi. But I do not know if this is also true about tools he uses to kill his victims. In the case of Frenzy, the tie has an obvious symbolism. This depends very much on the Hitchcock and screenwriter of the movie were thinking. I'd imagine a strangler who uses nylon or silk stockings to tighten the neck of his female victims. Stockings involve legs ... and I love female legs ... so ... eh, eh ...

I suggest you read the book for more about methods, etc

4P