Hitchcockian
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Hitchcockian films are those made by various filmmakers, with the styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock.
Characteristics
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Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
- Climactic plot twist.
- The cool platinum blonde.
- The presence of a domineering mother in someone's life.
- An innocent man accused.
- Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rope, Rear Window).
- Characters who switch sides and/or who cannot be trusted.
- Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation (e.g. Vertigo).
- Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations (e.g., Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much).
- Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
- Use of darkness to symbolize impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc.)
- Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
- Mistaken identity (e.g. North by Northwest, Frenzy).
- The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
- Use of a MacGuffin plot device.
- Referring to crime for mystery rather than presenting it explicitly (e.g. Dial M for Murder).
- Train scenes.
Notable examples
Some films, or films with scenes, considered Hitchcockian include:
- Gaslight (1944)[1]
- Niagara (1953)[2]
- 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)[3]
- Witness for the Prosecution (1957)[4][5]
- Midnight Lace (1960)[6]
- Cape Fear (1962)[7]
- Charade (1963)[8]
- From Russia with Love (1963)[9]
- The Prize (1963)[10]
- Arabesque (1966)[11]
- Blowup (1966)[12]
- Wait Until Dark (1967)[13][14]
- Duel (1971)[15]
- Play Misty for Me (1971)[16]
- The Last of Sheila (1973)[17]
- Jaws (1975)[18]
- Obsession (1976)[19]
- Last Embrace (1979)[20]
- Blue Velvet (1986)[21]
- Fatal Attraction (1987)[22]
- Arachnophobia (1990)[23]
- Misery (1990)[24]
- Cape Fear (1991)[7]
- Basic Instinct (1992)[25]
- 12 Monkeys (1995)[26][27]
- Bound (1996)[28][29]
- Double Jeopardy (1999)[30]
- What Lies Beneath (2000)[31]
- Mulholland Drive (2001)[32]
- Panic Room (2002)[33]
- Phone Booth (2002)[34]
- Disturbia (2007)[35]
- Side Effects (2013)[36][37][38]
- Stoker (2013)[39]
- Not Safe for Work (2014)[40]
- Crimson Peak (2015)[41]
- The Gift (2015)[42]
- Don't Breathe (2016)[43][14]
- Nocturnal Animals (2016)[44]
- A Kind of Murder (2016)[45]
- Split (2016)[46]
- Gerald's Game (2017)[47]
- A Simple Favor (2018)[48]
Filmmakers
The following is a list of filmmakers who have directed multiple Hitchcockian films:
Films by country
Australia
- Roadgames (1981)[53]
- Crosstalk (1982)[54]
- Coffin Rock (2009)[55]
- Blame (2010)[56]
- Crawl (2011)[57]
- Bad Blood (2017)[58]
France
- Les Diaboliques (1955)[59]
- Le Boucher (1970)[60]
- The Vanishing (1988)[61][62]
- Love Crime (2010)[63]
- Elle (2016)[64]
- Personal Shopper (2016)[65]
Germany
Spain
United Kingdom
- Peeping Tom (1960)[71]
See also
References
- ^ "Gaslight(s)". 10 July 2012.
- ^ "Henry Hathaway: 10 essential films".
- ^ "23 Paces to Baker Street DVD | Classic Movies | Films by Movie Mail UK". Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
- ^ "MoMA - Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution". www.moma.org.
- ^ "Witness for the Prosecution (1957)" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "Midnight Lace". Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ a b "Cape Fear: 1991 vs. 1962". 10 June 2012.
- ^ Greydanus, Steven D. "Charade (1963) - Decent Films - SDG Reviews".
- ^ Gilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Light in Darkness and Light. New York City: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.
- ^ "Prize The (1963) – full review! - Classic Film Guide". www.classicfilmguide.com.
- ^ Dfordoom (11 September 2014). "Classic Movie Ramblings: Arabesque (1966)".
- ^ "Freedom, revolt and pubic hair: Why Antonioni's Blow-Up thrills 50 years on". TheGuardian.com. 10 March 2017.
- ^ "Wait Until Dark: Audrey Hepburn's Non-Hitchcock Hitchcock Film". www.alfredhitchcockgeek.com.
- ^ a b "Don't Breathe is a ruthlessly efficient, claustrophobic terror machine". 25 August 2016.
- ^ "Duel (1971) - Creative Criticism". creativecriticism.net.
- ^ "Play Misty for Me – Eastwood does Hitchcock". 9 July 2012.
- ^ "DVD and Blu-ray - Slant Magazine". www.slantmagazine.com.
- ^ "Jaws: The Hitchcockian Blockbuster | Diorama". Archived from the original on 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
- ^ "'Obsession': When De Palma Stepped Out of Hitchcock's Shadow". 2 May 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "Last Embrace - Blu-ray Review - Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine. 20 October 2014.
- ^ "How Blue Velvet reflects the voyeuristic gaze of Rear Window". Lwlies.com. 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
- ^ Cassidy, Suzanne (24 June 1990). "FILM; James Dearden's Latest Fatal Attraction". The New York Times.
- ^ "18 Creepy Facts about Arachnophobia". 18 July 2015.
- ^ "Misery - The Psychology of a Stalker (Blu-Ray) REVIEW - Cultured Vultures". 21 November 2017.
- ^ we're fighting back on Basic Instinct: "Basic Instinct owes a lot to Hitchcock's Vertigo, and the homage is so obvious as to be a bit embarrassing."
- ^ "…Hitchcockian…" — 12 Monkeys review from Time Out Film Guide Archived 2009-03-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 'A time-travel thriller that dares to compare itself to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo."… actually pays back its debt to Hitchcock…' — Salon.com Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Schickel, Richard (October 27, 1996). "No Gag". Time. Archived from the original on December 1, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
- ^ LaSalle, Mick (October 4, 1996). "Darkly Witty 'Bound' a Taut Noir Caper". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Double Jeopardy Movie Review & Film Summary (1999) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
- ^ Levy, Emanuel (16 July 2000). "What Lies Beneath".
- ^ Cwik, Greg (16 April 2015). "9 Great Films Influenced By Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'".
- ^ Review: 'Panic Room' Screams Hitchcock Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Film Canon: Phone Booth (2002) | the Young Folks". 28 February 2016.
- ^ "Disturbia (2007) – Deep Focus Review – Movie Reviews, Critical Essays, and Film Analysis".
- ^ "Side Effects: Making of Hitchcockian Thriller - Emanuel Levy". www.emanuellevy.com.
- ^ "Steven Soderbergh's 'Side Effects': A 'Hitchcock mindf---'".
- ^ "Side Effects is Steven Soderbergh's post-modern Hitchcock thriller". honeycuttshollywood.com.
- ^ "Park Chan-wook does Hitchcock by way of de Palma in the stylish Stoker". The A.V. Club. 19 October 2020.
- ^ "Not Safe for Work (2014)".
- ^ Kermode, Mark; critic, Observer film (18 October 2015). "Crimson Peak review – an American in fear of the Lake District". The Guardian. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (6 August 2015). "Review: 'The Gift,' a Stalker Thriller That Isn't What It Seems". The New York Times.
- ^ "[Repost Review] 'Don't Breathe' Is Like Hitchcock On Crack! - Bloody Disgusting". bloody-disgusting.com. 24 August 2016.
- ^ "'Nocturnal Animals' Review: Tom Ford's Complex Suspense Thriller Is Worthy Of Hitchcock". Deadline Hollywood. 15 November 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
- ^ "'A Kind Of Murder' Brings Hitchcock To The 2016 Tribeca Film Festival [REVIEW]". International Business Times. 22 April 2016.
- ^ "Split review – James McAvoy is 23 shades of creepy in M Night Shyamalan chiller - Film - The Guardian". Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "Film Review: 'Gerald's Game'". 25 September 2017.
- ^ "Review: 'A Simple Favor,' with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, is a Delicious Adult Thriller". Forbes.
- ^ Rafferty, Terrence (June 2008). "Blood Not So Simple, From Dario Argento, Italy's Hitchcock". The New York Times.
- ^ Taylor, Drew (19 March 2013). "Park Chan-wook Talks Differences Between Korean & American Films, How 'Stoker' Fits In With His Filmography & More".
- ^ "The Criterion Collection". The Criterion Collection.
- ^ Murray, Noel (10 March 2011). "Dive into the virtuosic thrillers of Brian De Palma". The A.V. Club.
- ^ Buckmaster, Luke (23 May 2014). "Road Games: rewatching classic Australian films". the Guardian.
- ^ "CROSSTALK (OZPLOITATION CLASSICS) - Umbrella Entertainment". www.umbrellaent.com.au. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06.
- ^ dave_or_did. "Dave's Film & DVD Reviews: November 2009". Davesfilmreviews.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
- ^ "Blame - John McDonald". johnmcdonald.net.au. 25 June 2011.
- ^ "Crawl (2011) - News" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "Bad Blood To Get Cinema Release". 5 September 2017.
- ^ Richman, Darren (1 November 2017). "Movies You Might Have Missed: Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques". The Independent. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ "Le boucher". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Nieporent, Ben. "Movie Review - Vanishing, The (1988) - eFilmCritic". www.efilmcritic.com.
- ^ Hinson, Hal. "The Vanishing". www.washingtonpost.com.
- ^ "Love Crime: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 14 October 2010.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (10 November 2016). "Review: In 'Elle,' Isabelle Huppert Subverts the Role of Rape Victim". The New York Times.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (16 May 2016). "Personal Shopper review: Kristen Stewart's psychic spooker is a must-have". the Guardian.
- ^ 'Unknown' review: Liam Neeson brings gravitas to pulpy Alfred Hithcock-style [sic] action thriller, Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News, February 17, 2011
- ^ The great ‘Unknown’, Lou Lumenick, New York Post, February 18, 2011
- ^ Unknown review, Roger Ebert, February 16, 2011
- ^ Neeson wakes up 'Unknown', Steven Rea,The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 18, 2011
- ^ "'Buried' And Alfred Hitchcock: An Expert's Perspective". MTV.
- ^ Charles Barr, Vertigo (London: BFI, 2002)
Bibliography
- Michael Walker (2005), Hitchcock's motifs, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 978-90-5356-773-9
