Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Age: 48 Gender: Male Posts: 385 Location: Planet Claire
13 Oct 2010, 7:29 am
If you were to ask me who makes the scariest movies, I would say it's definitely Alfred Hitchcock. He made movies that were scary not because of the monsters, but because he shows us the evil of our own souls. Most of his movies could actually happen, and that's what makes them all the more frightening (I'm excluding The Birds. There's just no way that could happen). Sorry) So, since Halloween is when we celebrate everything scary, I'm celebrating Alfred Hitchcock. Here's my favorites:
Rear Window
Psycho (note: Only the original had anything to do with Hitchcock)
Vertigo
North By Northwest
Joined: 6 Jul 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 45 Location: Los Angeles, CA
13 Oct 2010, 9:16 am
My personal favorite is Frenzy, one of his very last films. It has all of the familiar elements of a Hitchcock film (the "wrong man" plot, the black humor, etc.). One thing I really liked about the film is that Hitchcock relied on a cast of unknown British actors rather than some familiar movie stars.
Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Age: 39 Gender: Male Posts: 1,377 Location: Ireland
17 Oct 2010, 12:38 pm
The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes are great. I really like Rope because of the technical audacity of the very long takes, very impressive film-making. Strangers on a Train is pretty special too. He made so many great movies.
Joined: 20 Jul 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 580 Location: Vancouver, BC
17 Oct 2010, 12:50 pm
Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, North By Northwest and The Birds are all classics. However, from a filmmaking perspective, I think the one that really impressed me was one of Hitchcock's earlier movies, Rope, made in 1948. There's not a single shot in that movie shorter than 4 minutes, and most of them are 7-10 and disguised at the seams to look continuous. It's not quite as well known as his string of movies from the 50s and 60s, but it's got all the suspense and technical mastery.
Joined: 2 Jul 2010 Age: 42 Gender: Male Posts: 3,258
18 Oct 2010, 1:03 am
In my opinion, I don't believe its possible to have a favourite Hitchcock picture. The guy is a genius and it shows in his work. I havn't yet seen all of them, but so far the best I've seen are The Birds, Rear Window, Psycho and Vertigo. The Lady Vanishes, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Frenzy, Jamaica Inn and Marnie are also enjoyable too.
Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Age: 42 Gender: Female Posts: 3,166
05 Nov 2010, 3:59 am
Just rewatched all of them recently. I have a major Hitchcock obsession, I'm on Season 3 of the TV show. My top ten:
10. Rope
9. The 39 Steps
8. The Birds
7. Shadow of a Doubt
6. Psycho
5. Strangers on a Train
4. Notorious
3. Vertigo
2. Rear Window
1. North By Northwest
Joined: 30 May 2010 Age: 47 Gender: Male Posts: 2,872 Location: England
05 Nov 2010, 7:30 am
I would say all the films I have seen by Hitchcock are masterpieces. No director will ever come close to his stuff. One more thing to say is that North by Northwest was surely an inspiration to the James Bond character.
Also The Birds is begging to be remade with CGIs but I hope if hollywood does that it will treat it with the utmost respect it deserves.
Rear Window, hands down. I don't care for his films much generally. It's one of those rare situations in which I know they're all excellent but I just don't enjoy them on the whole. Not my genre, I guess.
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