Hitchcockian

Films made which are similar in style to Alfred Hitchcock's films

Hitchcockian films are those made by various filmmakers, with the styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock.

Characteristics

Elements considered Hitchcockian include:

Climactic plot twist.
The cool platinum blonde.^[1]
The presence of a domineering mother in someone's life.^[2]
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.^[3]
Use of a MacGuffin plot device.^[4]^[5]
Referring to crime for mystery rather than presenting it explicitly (e.g. Dial M for Murder).
Train scenes (e.g. North by Northwest, The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt).
The color red provoking a fearful, and potentially self-destructive, reaction.
A beautiful woman needlessly embezzling her employer's money.
Voyeurism and surveillance.^[6]

Notable examples

Some films, or films with scenes, considered Hitchcockian include:

Gaslight (1944)^[7]
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)^[8]
Niagara (1953)^[9]
23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)^[10]
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)^[11]^[12]
Midnight Lace (1960)^[13]
Cape Fear (1962)^[14]
Charade (1963)^[15]
From Russia with Love (1963)^[16]
The Prize (1963)^[17]
Mirage (1965)^[18]
Arabesque (1966)^[19]
Blowup (1966)^[20]
Wait Until Dark (1967)^[21]^[22]
Duel (1971)^[23]
Play Misty for Me (1971)^[24]
Sisters (1972)^[25]
The Last of Sheila (1973)^[26]
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)^[27]
Jaws (1975)^[28]
Obsession (1976)^[29]
Last Embrace (1979)^[30]
Dressed to Kill (1980)^[31]
Blow Out (1981)^[32]
Body Double (1984)^[33]
Blue Velvet (1986)^[34]
Fatal Attraction (1987)^[35]
Frantic (1988)^[36]
Arachnophobia (1990)^[37]
Misery (1990)^[38]
Cape Fear (1991)^[14]
Basic Instinct (1992)^[39]
Shallow Grave (1994) ^[40]^[41]
12 Monkeys (1995)^[42]^[43]
Bound (1996)^[44]^[45]
The Cable Guy (1996)^[46]
Double Jeopardy (1999)^[47]
What Lies Beneath (2000)^[48]
Mulholland Drive (2001)^[49]
Panic Room (2002)^[50]
Femme Fatale (2002)^[51]
Phone Booth (2002)^[52]
Disturbia (2007)^[53]
Bad Education (2004)^[54]
Funny Games (2007)^[55]
Passion (2012)^[51]
Side Effects (2013)^[56]^[57]^[58]
Stoker (2013)^[59]
Not Safe for Work (2014)^[60]
Crimson Peak (2015)^[61]
The Gift (2015)^[62]
Don't Breathe (2016)^[63]^[22]
Nocturnal Animals (2016)^[64]
A Kind of Murder (2016)^[65]
Split (2016)^[66]
Thoroughbreds^[67]
Gerald's Game (2017)^[68]
A Simple Favor (2018)^[69]
Eileen (2023)

Filmmakers

The following is a list of filmmakers who have directed multiple Hitchcockian films:

Films by country

Australia

Roadgames (1981)^[74]
Crosstalk (1982)^[75]
Coffin Rock (2009)^[76]
Blame (2010)^[77]
Crawl (2011)^[78]
Bad Blood (2017)^[79]

France

Les Diaboliques (1955)^[80]
Plein Soleil (1960)^[81]
Le Boucher (1970)^[82]
The Vanishing (1988)^[83]^[84]
Love Crime (2010)^[85]
Elle (2016)^[86]
Personal Shopper (2016)^[87]
L'Amant double (2017)^[88]

Germany

Unknown (2011)^[89]^[90]^[91]

Italy

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)^[92]
Terror (1978)^[93]
Tenebrae (1982)^[94]

South Korea

Mother (2009)^[95]
The Handmaiden (2016)^[96]
Decision to Leave (2022)^[97]

Spain

Buried (2010)^[98]

United Kingdom

Peeping Tom (1960)^[99]

References

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^ "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.
^ Howe, Desson (Feb 26, 1988). "'Frantic' (R)". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
^ "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."
^ "Shallow Grave". Criterion. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
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^ '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.
^ Kehr, Dave. "Jim Carrey as the Id Unleashed a Bit Before Its Time". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
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^ Review: 'Panic Room' Screams Hitchcock Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Goldstein, Patrick (17 September 2002). "Defensive? Him?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
^ "The Film Canon: Phone Booth (2002) | the Young Folks". 28 February 2016.
^ "Disturbia (2007) – Deep Focus Review – Movie Reviews, Critical Essays, and Film Analysis".
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^ "Side Effects is Steven Soderbergh's post-modern Hitchcock thriller". honeycuttshollywood.com.
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^ "Not Safe for Work (2014)".
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^ 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.
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^ 'Unknown' review: Liam Neeson brings gravitas to pulpy Alfred Hithcock-style [sic] action thriller, Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News, February 17, 2011
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^ Charles Barr, Vertigo (London: BFI, 2002)

Bibliography

Michael Walker (2005), Hitchcock's motifs, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 978-90-5356-773-9

External links

Entertainment Weekly's EW.com feature: What, exactly, makes a film "Hitchcockian?"

Alfred Hitchcock

Feature films

Silent films	The Pleasure Garden (1925) The Mountain Eagle (1926) The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) The Ring (1927) Downhill (1927) The Farmer's Wife (1928) Easy Virtue (1928) Champagne (1928) The Manxman (1929)
British sound films	Blackmail (1929) Juno and the Paycock (1930) Murder! (1930) Elstree Calling (1930) The Skin Game (1931) Mary (1931) Rich and Strange (1931) Number Seventeen (1932) Waltzes from Vienna (1934) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) The 39 Steps (1935) Secret Agent (1936) Sabotage (1936) Young and Innocent (1937) The Lady Vanishes (1938) Jamaica Inn (1939)
Hollywood and later	Rebecca (1940) Foreign Correspondent (1940) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) Suspicion (1941) Saboteur (1942) Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Lifeboat (1944) Spellbound (1945) Notorious (1946) The Paradine Case (1947) Rope (1948) Under Capricorn (1949) Stage Fright (1950) Strangers on a Train (1951) I Confess (1953) Dial M for Murder (1954) Rear Window (1954) To Catch a Thief (1955) The Trouble with Harry (1955) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) The Wrong Man (1956) Vertigo (1958) North by Northwest (1959) Psycho (1960) The Birds (1963) Marnie (1964) Torn Curtain (1966) Topaz (1969) Frenzy (1972) Family Plot (1976)