Schizoid (1980)
A column writer's acquaintances are killed one by one and the possible murderer is her psychiatrist, soon to be ex-husband or the psychiatrist's daughter.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Fritz's Friend - Jonathan Millner
Girl on motorbike - Kimberly Jensen
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
Julie sits in her apartment typing on her typewriter. The next day someone watches as Julie, Rosemary, Sally, Pat, and Francoise sit in a hot tub together. Julie tells Sally that they will all miss her and wishes her luck. Pat suggests Rosemary rent a hot tub for the groups therapy sessions with Pieter Fales. They congratulate Julie on getting a divorce and later leave Rosemary's house. Sally and Julie ride their bicycles home and are followed by the same person, in a car, who was spying on them in the hot tub. Julie and Sally go in different directions and the driver follows Sally. Sally rides into an abandoned cloves, wildflower and honey farm and notices the driver following her. She pedals faster, but is knocked off the gravel path by the driver. Sally runs into the abandoned farm house and the killer pulls out a large pair of scissors from his glove box. The driver stalks Sally in the house and she runs into the garage where she is stabbed repeatedly in the stomach and dies. Someone cuts words out and then glues them to a piece of card stock paper.
Julie briefly talks to Maxine and Freddy about their upcoming deadlines for the day. She opens a piece of mail and it is the paper with the words glued onto it. She reads it aloud to Freddy and the writer threatens to shoot Julie and others. She shows it to Doug, who thinks she should go to the police and it is probably a member of the therapy group she goes to. He blames the therapy group for their divorce and she asks if the divorce papers came in. He shows her some wall paper he plans on using to decorate the new art department with. As she is hurrying to her therapy group, Gilbert tells her he is going to be working at her building the next day. Pieter watches as Alison Fales undresses in the bathroom. He walks over and tells her she was out late again and that it is dangerous. During therapy, Gilbert tells the group how lonely he is and how angry he gets knowing others have somewhere else to go. Pieter asks Gilbert what he does when he gets angry and Gilbert says he either goes for long walks or drives. Francoise tells Gilbert, the group is there for him, but he says no one is there for him in the middle of the night. Barney tells Francoise having a significant other makes it easier to deal with the loneliness. Rosemary says Francoise would be better off without her husband and when Julie, objects, she reminds her they tore Francoise's husband up the session before.
After the session, Julie shows Pieter the note she received, but he doesn't think the writer is serious. He starts to kiss her, but is interrupted by Bruce. Julie gives Pat a ride to work and the driver that killed Sally follow them in his car. As Julie gets into her building's elevator, Fritz opens the elevator door and gets in with her. Julie starts to shake as Fritz stares at her. As she gets out of the elevator, Fritz follows her and eventually goes into the apartment of Fritz's Friend who is very excited that Fritz shaved his head. Pieter calls Julie's phone, but doesn't say anything when she answers. Girl on motorbike and Boy on motorbike ride to the abandoned farm and while they are about to have sex, they find Sally's dead body. Donahue and Jake arrive on scene and investigate Sally's murder. After her routine is over, Pat goes to her dressing room where Pieter walks in and they have sex. Julie goes to the police station and tells the desk sergeant she is there to speak with Donahue. She shows Donahue the letter, but he thinks it is nothing. She mentions going to a therapist and Jake wonders why she needs a therapist. Pat leaves work and is followed by the person in the car. She notices she is being followed and starts to run. She hides in a building and the killer pulls out the large scissors. He corners her and then stabs her to death.
Pieter arrives home and goes into Alison's room and looks at a photo of her, him and his deceased wife. He finds words cut out and placed on Alison's desk. The next day, Julie shows Doug another letter she received. Maxine walks in and calls the sender a schizoid and when Julie suggests reaching out to the writer with her column, Doug doesn't like the idea. She goes back to the police station, and tells Donahue about the letter, but he tells her they can't do anything based on a maybe murder. He asks Archie for the folder with all the latest murders and shows Julie all of the unsolved murders they are dealing with. Jake tells her they don't have enough officers to give her protection and Julie recognizes one of the murder victims as Sally. Julie calls Pieter and he and her watch as Sally's body is shown and Pieter asks how she was murdered. Later, she tells Pieter she is going to answer the letter writer in her column. The next day, Julie finds a business card on her office door and Jake tells her they are going to set up a special phone line for her. Jake asks her if she suspects it might be someone from work or her therapy group. Julie goes to Pieter's house for dinner. She subtly tries to find out if he is the one sending the letters to her. While Alison is looking through Pieter's desk she finds and takes his gun. Pieter goes back into the house and asks Housekeeper if she has seen Alison. He finds Alison in the bathroom and tells her he invited Julie for dinner.
Pat's body is found and Donahue complains to Jake about not finding any identification with the body and Jake assumes she is a hooker. During dinner, Alison wears her mother's dress and is antagonistic to Julie. Pieter asks her why she is behaving the way she is and she starts to take off her dress and runs away. After putting up some wallpaper at work, Doug goes into a closet where he has a mattress set up. He opens the door and watches as Julie goes into her office. He sees Gilbert surprise her and watches as Julie and Gilbert get into the elevator. Gilbert tells Julie after he finished fixing the boiler he went to look for her office and he thinks about her. He tells her he knows her and Pieter are seeing each other and she tells him she is leaving the therapy group. Doug goes into Julie's office and leaves her a message. Julie drives home and Pieter is hiding in the shadows outside. Doug goes to Julie's apartment complex and buzzes her, but she is sleeping with Pieter and she doesn't answer. As Doug is climbing the fire escape ladder, he is spotted by Guy with Bat who starts to chase him, but Doug manages to get away. Pieter tells Julie she shouldn't mention Sally's murder to the rest of the group. Alison poses with Pieter's gun and stares at herself in the mirror. The murderer goes to Rosemary's house and stabs her to death with scissors while she is in her hot tub. During the therapy session only Gilbert, Francoise and Barney show up and Pieter asks where everyone else is. He calls Julie's office and Maxine answers the phone. He asks for Julie and Julie tells him they are waiting for the police and the letter she received is going in her column that day. Bruce tells Pieter that Rosemary wont answer her phone and the bartender where Pat works says she hasn't been in for two nights.
Pieter asks Alison where she goes during the night, but she refuses to tell him exactly and he asks her where his gun is. He tells her he found cut out words on the floor and accuses her of writing the letters. Alison runs into the garage and starts a car and yells at Pieter that he never cared about her or her mother. She crashes through the garage and then drives away. Donahue and Jake go to Julie's office and show her and Doug how they set up the second line. Alison gets the evening paper and reads Julie's column with the special phone number printed. The phone rings and a guy comes on the line and tells Julie, he thinks she is full of crap. The phone rings again, and it is Alison on the other end. She asks if she can come and see Julie and Julie invites her to come and see her at her office. Pieter goes to the police station and asks for Donahue and Archie tells him, Donahue is down in the morgue with Jake. Pieter goes to the morgue and Willy tells him Donahue isn't there. Pieter tells him two more of his patients are missing and Willy shows him the bodies in the morgue whose identity is unknown. He shows him Pat, but Pieter tells Willy he doesn't recognize her.
Julie lets Alison into her office and Alison admits that she is the one that wrote all the letters. Alison pulls out a gun and points it at Julie and Doug. Pieter calls the office and Julie tells him Alison is with her. Gilbert sees Pieter walk into the newspaper building and follows him in. As Pieter is looking for Alison, someone starts to shoot at him. Pieter uses the phone to make the other phones in the offices ring and someone picks up a phone. Pieter says he never meant for Julie to take the place of Alison or her mother and Doug, who is on the other line, tells Pieter he makes him sick. Julie and Alison, who are tied together struggle to get free. At the police station, Willy tells Donahue that Pieter said he didn't recognize the body of Pat, but he doesn't believe him and then tells Donahue and Jake the murder weapon was a large pair of scissors. After he tells them he found wallpaper paste in some of the wounds, Donahue and Jake run out of the morgue. Doug starts to hunt Pieter. Julie and Alison manage to get free using the large scissors Doug was using to murder his victims. Donahue, Jake and a group of police arrive at the building. Doug catches Pieter and blames him for the failure of his and Julie's marriage. Pieter and Doug start to fight and Alison stabs Doug in the back with the large scissors, killing him. Donahue, Jake and the police arrive on scene and Pieter hugs Alison and Julie.