As I have stated before I am familiar with only a few horror movie directors, but the one who definitely caught my fascination is Alfred Hitchcock. Rather than give you a biography of the man, I think you should read this (http://www.mysterynet.com/hitchcock/bio.shtml)if you're truly interested in his life. I can honestly say i only feel comfortable critiquing Psycho and Rear Window. So here is a very brief overview of my two favorite Hitchcock films.
Psycho was released in 1960 and is still capable of surprising audiences more than 40 years later. Now I'll admit, and I think we all know, comparing the squeamish audience of the late 50s/early 60s to the desensitized youth of today. Put aside all those violent cartoons, video games, and television shows and enter a world that was nearly innocent. Most techniques from this movie can probably be seen in today's movies. There are overhead camera angles from above the staircase to make the viewer feel ill or queasy. No one can forget the infamous shower scene where Mrs. Bates stabs Marion multiple times in the shower. For that time the blood and knife wounds alone were enough to make the audience feel ill. Even more interesting was the fact the knife was never even show penetrating her skin... that and the fact the blood was chocolate syrup. This movie offers classic quotes, ideas, and images that appear in pop culture and features a great twist in the end to keep the audience guessing. Definitely see this movie!!!
Alright, any movie with Jimmy Stewart and that little speech impediment of his is either hilarious or award winning. In the case of Rear Window most likely both. Back in the good old days when you broke anything they just wrapped in up in a cast and u would remain in a helpless stupor begging for help from friends and spying on your neighbors. Nowadays you break something, you get surgery, or mobile cast and your still capable of being very active. Jimmy spying on his neighbors from his nice little apartment makes for a classic film as the setting barely changes and you get that impeccable fear of the unknown. I suppose they tried to make remakes/ripoffs such as Disturbia which I heard was decent so maybe check that out after this one. As for Rear Window... Definitely see this movie!!!
9/12/07
Pioneer in Horror: Hithcock
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I like your point that audience's today aren't as squeamish as those in Hitchcock's day, though film maker's upping the ante to top Hitchcock, and more directors upping it further still to top them, is largely responsible for that desensitizing. Still, there's something very unnerving about the minimalist techniques that Hitchcock used. The less you show, the more the imagination has to fill in. That's why the movie, like many of his classics, holds up so well.
Post a Comment