The Necktie Killer: How Many Victims?

"Frenzy" is about a serial killer terrorizing modern-day London, and a riddle of the film has always been: how many victims does the Necktie Killer kill?

In the final scene of the picture, Bob Rusk (the Necktie Killer) is caught red-handed with a trunk for his latest female victim, who lies dead in his bed with Inspector Oxford and Wrong Man Richard Blaney in the room to capture Rusk. This woman in the bed is the final victim of the Necktie Killer.

On the basis of the movie, we get these clues as to how many victims the Necktie Killer has killed, total:

One: the body floating in the Thames in the opening scene.
Two: Brenda Blaney, killed before our eyes in her London office.
Three: Babs Milligan, killed offscreen in Bob Rusk's flat.
Four: The woman in the bed at the climax.

However, when the "floating Thames victim" is discovered, Richard Blaney buys a paper saying "Another Necktie Murder" -- so that means that the Thames victim is not the first.

Which brings us to: there had to be at least FIVE Necktie Killer victims. And "another" suggests even MORE.

Inspector Oxford is no help. When arresting Richard Blaney for the killings(wrongly), he names as victims Brenda Blaney, Babs Milligan, "...and others."

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Well ,the new book "Frenzy: Alfred Hitchcock's Last Masterpiece" answers the question once and for all:

Seven victims.

Here's why:

The book has an excerpt from the script that was not used in the final movie:

When Bob Rusk early on pulls out a paper to mark "Coming Up" as a winning racehorse, a nearby article on the Necktie Killer is exposed -- and it names the Thames victim as "the fourth victim of the Necktie Killer."

Thus

Victim One: Unknown
Victim Two: Unknown
Victim Three: Unknown
Victim Four: Thames River Victim
Victim Five: Brenda Blaney
Victim Six: Babs Milligan
Victim Seven: The woman in Rusk's bed.

Seven.

For those keeping count, that puts Bob Rusk one killing above the more famous Norman Bates, who, the shrink tells us at the end, killed:

Victim One:Norman's mother, Mrs. Norma Bates
Victim Two: The boyfriend of Mrs. Norma Bates
Victim Three: Unnamed young woman (The shrink says Norman killed two women before Marion Crane.)
Victim Four: Unnamed young woman (As per the shrink, above)
Victim Five: Marion Crane in the shower
Victim Six: Detective Milton Arbogast on the stairs.