Are there any films similar to Alfred Hitchcock?
March 25, 2015 7:28 PM Subscribe
I adore Hitchcock's work. Are there any other films similar to his genre?
Hitchcock is one of my favorite all time directors. Are there any films similar to his genre, camera angles, dialogue, facial emotion, etc. Perhaps films that are foreign or lesser known? Or any other notable films that are not on a podium within his realm.
Hitchcock is one of my favorite all time directors. Are there any films similar to his genre, camera angles, dialogue, facial emotion, etc. Perhaps films that are foreign or lesser known? Or any other notable films that are not on a podium within his realm.
Response by poster: Thank-you for the recommendation!
posted by RearWindow at 8:04 PM on March 25, 2015
posted by RearWindow at 8:04 PM on March 25, 2015
Match Point. (I recommend watching the movie before reading that article on its many parallels to Hitchcock, which has spoilers.)
posted by John Cohen at 8:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by John Cohen at 8:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
The machinist is a lovely little Hitchcock homage, I thought.
posted by smoke at 8:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by smoke at 8:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
My first answer would have been Charade. In looking it up, I found it's the first recommendation on this list of Hitchcockian movies. I haven't seen everything on there, but many do seem to fit. But start with Charade.
posted by Athanassiel at 8:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Athanassiel at 8:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [11 favorites]
Assuming you don't mind subtitles, I'd start with Clouzot, particularly Les diaboliques (1955) and Le corbeau (1943). Hitchcock was often cited as a prime influence on Claude Chabrol, starting with his films Le beau Serge (1958) and Les cousins (1959).
There's Brian De Palma, of course. Blow Out (1981) is probably his best. But I think there's a rude and subversive quality to De Palma's films that isn't necessarily present in Hitchcock. Hitchcock was very refined in his sadism and I feel De Palma is comparatively vulgar. Just my take, though. I love some De Palma films dearly, Blow Out chief among them. Dressed to Kill, Body Double, and Femme Fatale all have a fairly strong Hitchcock vibe.
Definitely try Sluizer's The Vanishing (1988) if you don't mind being genuinely and perhaps irreparably distressed by a film.
If you love Vertigo, do try to track down Chris Marker's amazing short film "La jetée" (1962) and perhaps have a look at Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (1995) shortly thereafter, just to feel that film resonate through history.
Take a look at Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947).
Very recently, there's Park Chan-Wook's Stoker (2012), which is quite interesting if not entirely successful.
And some of Powell-Pressburger's work reminds me of Hitchcock's Technicolor imagery in Vertigo (or should I say vice-versa), mainly Black Narcissus (1947). But Michael Powell's serial killer film Peeping Tom is a closer match thematically, and a truly nasty piece of work. It came out in 1960, the same year as Psycho, and is every bit that film's equal.
posted by Mothlight at 8:36 PM on March 25, 2015 [17 favorites]
There's Brian De Palma, of course. Blow Out (1981) is probably his best. But I think there's a rude and subversive quality to De Palma's films that isn't necessarily present in Hitchcock. Hitchcock was very refined in his sadism and I feel De Palma is comparatively vulgar. Just my take, though. I love some De Palma films dearly, Blow Out chief among them. Dressed to Kill, Body Double, and Femme Fatale all have a fairly strong Hitchcock vibe.
Definitely try Sluizer's The Vanishing (1988) if you don't mind being genuinely and perhaps irreparably distressed by a film.
If you love Vertigo, do try to track down Chris Marker's amazing short film "La jetée" (1962) and perhaps have a look at Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (1995) shortly thereafter, just to feel that film resonate through history.
Take a look at Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947).
Very recently, there's Park Chan-Wook's Stoker (2012), which is quite interesting if not entirely successful.
And some of Powell-Pressburger's work reminds me of Hitchcock's Technicolor imagery in Vertigo (or should I say vice-versa), mainly Black Narcissus (1947). But Michael Powell's serial killer film Peeping Tom is a closer match thematically, and a truly nasty piece of work. It came out in 1960, the same year as Psycho, and is every bit that film's equal.
posted by Mothlight at 8:36 PM on March 25, 2015 [17 favorites]
The Soft Skin (1964) might be worth checking out too, Francois Truffaut channels Chabrol and Hitchcock.
Witnesss for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder) as well.
posted by modesty.blaise at 8:54 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Witnesss for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder) as well.
posted by modesty.blaise at 8:54 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Not what you're looking for, but 2009's Double Take is founded in the thought experiment wherein the older Hitchcock travels back in time to meet his younger self, who is in the midst of filming The Birds, and must live out the consequences of his own paranoia, and in particular the idea that if you ever meet your double, you should kill him, because one of you must die before the script ends.
It's a kind of filmed essay, I guess that's a good way to put it, not really a doco or an original narrative. Mixes Hitchcockian paranoia with Cold War goings-on. Trailer, YTL
The John Lithgow movie "Raising Cain," written and directed by Brian De Palma, might qualify. I agree with Mothlight that you'd do okay by exploring De Palma's oeuvre.
posted by Sunburnt at 9:16 PM on March 25, 2015
It's a kind of filmed essay, I guess that's a good way to put it, not really a doco or an original narrative. Mixes Hitchcockian paranoia with Cold War goings-on. Trailer, YTL
The John Lithgow movie "Raising Cain," written and directed by Brian De Palma, might qualify. I agree with Mothlight that you'd do okay by exploring De Palma's oeuvre.
posted by Sunburnt at 9:16 PM on March 25, 2015
The Manchurian Candidate
There's Hitchcockian elements in the Tales of the City adaptations.
posted by brujita at 9:29 PM on March 25, 2015
There's Hitchcockian elements in the Tales of the City adaptations.
posted by brujita at 9:29 PM on March 25, 2015
Definitely try Sluizer's The Vanishing (1988) if you don't mind being genuinely and perhaps irreparably distressed by a film.
Seconding this recommendation. I think it really fits. Be careful that you're getting the original version (pay attention to the director and production year there) because the American remake will leave you irreparably distressed for other reasons.
posted by LionIndex at 9:36 PM on March 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Seconding this recommendation. I think it really fits. Be careful that you're getting the original version (pay attention to the director and production year there) because the American remake will leave you irreparably distressed for other reasons.
posted by LionIndex at 9:36 PM on March 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
The Spanish Prisoner (link is to Ebert review without spoilers - Ebert liked it) reminds me a lot of North by Northwest -- the pacing, the focus on the MacGuffin, the pointed conversations and mid-range camera shots, the characters who may or may not be what they seem.
Definitely worth checking out. Don't read any spoilers, though.
posted by mochapickle at 10:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Definitely worth checking out. Don't read any spoilers, though.
posted by mochapickle at 10:13 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seconding this recommendation. I think it really fits. Be careful that you're getting the original version (pay attention to the director and production year there) because the American remake will leave you irreparably distressed for other reasons.
Thirding this, although the the same director made the American remake (which, yes, should be avoided).
Also seconding Claude Chabrol, absolutely. Maybe try "Les Bonnes Femmes" from 1960 and "The Bridesmaid" from 2004 and then you can work your way toward the middle.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 11:01 PM on March 25, 2015
Thirding this, although the the same director made the American remake (which, yes, should be avoided).
Also seconding Claude Chabrol, absolutely. Maybe try "Les Bonnes Femmes" from 1960 and "The Bridesmaid" from 2004 and then you can work your way toward the middle.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 11:01 PM on March 25, 2015
I scrolled down to see most of my recommendations already listed, but I'd add an extra +1 to Spoorloos (The Vanishing), and the work of Preminger and Clouzot. So good.
I contribute:
Night of the Hunter, sadly it was actor Charles Laughton's only directorial effort.
Stanley Donen's Arabesque in addition to the previously-mentioned Charade, although the latter is the superior film.
Some of Akira Kurosawa's police dramas, especially High and Low.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:35 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I contribute:
Night of the Hunter, sadly it was actor Charles Laughton's only directorial effort.
Stanley Donen's Arabesque in addition to the previously-mentioned Charade, although the latter is the superior film.
Some of Akira Kurosawa's police dramas, especially High and Low.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:35 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I thought With a Friend Like Harry was quite Hitchcockian. I liked it a lot.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:27 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:27 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Black Swan
posted by prewar lemonade at 3:56 AM on March 26, 2015
posted by prewar lemonade at 3:56 AM on March 26, 2015
This is a bit out of left field but I've just seen this video , which gives a shot for shot analysis of Jaws. The critic compares Spielberg to Hitchcock and references a lot of his films and techniques- I've never noticed the similarity before but as a fellow Hitch fan I thought you might find it interesting at any rate :)
posted by Dwardles at 4:18 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Dwardles at 4:18 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seconding Clouzot. There is no more Hitchcockian film than Diabolique. Supposedly Hitchcock's people showed up at the home of the book's author to secure the film rights literally hours after Clouzot signed. And Hitchcock considered himself outdone by the resulting film. Indeed, Psycho was pretty much a deliberate effort to retake the crown, with the shower scene being a response to Diabolique's famous murder in a bathtub. (Wages of Fear is also brilliant, and there's a really good remake by William Friedkin called Sorcerer starring Roy Scheider.)
Also agree that maybe de Palma. He's certainly trying to be Hitchcock, but there's some weird 80s quality to his work that struggles against that. At least Blow Out. I agree that's his best.
And sure, Charade, although Charade gets a little too twee for my taste with its endless fake outs about whether Cary Grant is a good guy or a bad guy. If you do like Charade, maybe check out Audrey Hepburn with Peter O'Toole in How To Steal a Million, which isn't quite Hitchcock, but is a lot of fun in that 60s caper vibe. And Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole...
Also, I haven't seen it, but wasn't there a modern remake/revamp of Rear Window with Shia LaBeouf as a suburban teenager immobilized by a GPS tracking anklet or something? Yeah, Disturbia.
But especially I emphatically nth that you should absolutely not, ever, under any circumstances watch the American remake of The Vanishing. You thought Nancy Travis was plucky in Blow Out? Here she raises raw pluck to the level of a superpower. They even got the Dutch director of the original to remake his own film. I can only assume it was studio interference, but dear God, just don't watch it.
posted by Naberius at 7:14 AM on March 26, 2015
Also agree that maybe de Palma. He's certainly trying to be Hitchcock, but there's some weird 80s quality to his work that struggles against that. At least Blow Out. I agree that's his best.
And sure, Charade, although Charade gets a little too twee for my taste with its endless fake outs about whether Cary Grant is a good guy or a bad guy. If you do like Charade, maybe check out Audrey Hepburn with Peter O'Toole in How To Steal a Million, which isn't quite Hitchcock, but is a lot of fun in that 60s caper vibe. And Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole...
Also, I haven't seen it, but wasn't there a modern remake/revamp of Rear Window with Shia LaBeouf as a suburban teenager immobilized by a GPS tracking anklet or something? Yeah, Disturbia.
But especially I emphatically nth that you should absolutely not, ever, under any circumstances watch the American remake of The Vanishing. You thought Nancy Travis was plucky in Blow Out? Here she raises raw pluck to the level of a superpower. They even got the Dutch director of the original to remake his own film. I can only assume it was studio interference, but dear God, just don't watch it.
posted by Naberius at 7:14 AM on March 26, 2015
Cache by Michael Haneke has a Hitchcock feel and is sort of a reverse Rear Window.
posted by octothorpe at 7:15 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:15 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
+1 "Witness for the Prosecution". Also maybe "The Third Man" (the rec above of "Wtih a Friend Like Harry" made me think of it and it's hard to imagine that there isn't an allusion to "The Third Man" in the choice to name that character Harry...)
posted by phoenixy at 9:54 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by phoenixy at 9:54 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mirage (1965), Directed by Edward Dmytryk and written by Peter Stone, the screenwriter of Charade and Arabesque.
posted by cazoo at 11:14 AM on March 26, 2015
posted by cazoo at 11:14 AM on March 26, 2015
This is nearly unanswerable as a serious question, though it's still a good list of film recommendations. Hitchcock is one of the most influential and imitated directors in the history of film, particularly post-'60s — without a lot more specificity about what kind of similarity you're looking for (narrative? thematic? stylistic?) the answer is kind of "all movies," as you're seeing from this thread. I mean, I love tons of the films people are naming here, but it's basically just "name some cool postwar thrillers" without more guidance.
But anyhow I'd certainly second Donen, De Palma, and Melville as obvious people to look to. Almodóvar, too: if you know Hitchcock well enough you can pretty much go shot-by-shot through many of his sequences shouting out the name of the Hitchcock movie each shot is stolen from/an homage to.
posted by RogerB at 11:49 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
But anyhow I'd certainly second Donen, De Palma, and Melville as obvious people to look to. Almodóvar, too: if you know Hitchcock well enough you can pretty much go shot-by-shot through many of his sequences shouting out the name of the Hitchcock movie each shot is stolen from/an homage to.
posted by RogerB at 11:49 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Buried is a recent film that is heavily inspired by Hitchcock in just about every way possible.
posted by Skephicles at 12:36 PM on March 26, 2015
posted by Skephicles at 12:36 PM on March 26, 2015
You gotta admit that, whatever issues aside, Brian De Palma was very highly motivated to try to capture elements of Hitchcock's style in the middle of his career. 'Obsession', 'Dressed To Kill', 'Blow Out', and 'Body Double' are all creepy but loving homages.
(perhaps "creepy but loving" is kinda like a Hitchcockian thing in itself).
posted by ovvl at 5:10 PM on March 26, 2015
(perhaps "creepy but loving" is kinda like a Hitchcockian thing in itself).
posted by ovvl at 5:10 PM on March 26, 2015
"gaslight" and "the third man" are right in your wheelhouse
posted by NoMich at 8:39 PM on March 26, 2015
posted by NoMich at 8:39 PM on March 26, 2015
So many good suggestions above. One that hasn't come up is the terrific French thriller Tell No One, based on the (originally New Jersey-set) novel by mystery-rack stalwart Harlan Coben, who is only this year finally seeing more of his work come to the screen. The direction is only marginally Hitchcockian, with maybe a tad too much hard action (while star Cluzet makes a fine everyman, there's a certain Taken-like suspension of disbelief that he can run through Paris as quickly and hard as all that, nor that his 15-years-younger costar Croze is, in fact, his childhood sweetheart -- which is more than a background point).
And while there are clear differences in approach and style, I think that many David Cronenberg films fit the general mold, in being stylish psychological thrillers, though DC's obsession with dysmorphia and such often take him over the line into supernatural horror of a type Hitch never touched. Try the fully reality-based Eastern Promises, for example; it may be his single best film. The screenwriter for that, Steven Knight, is also responsible for Dirty Pretty Things, with an early Chiwetel Ejiofor performance, as well as Locke (which he also directed), which is a movie with deliberate technical limitations of a sort that might have intrigued Hitchcock (in the vein of, say, Rope) -- although it really isn't a mystery thriller in any real sense, "merely" a gripping drama, told in a way that slightly resembles the slow drip of information in a mystery.
RogerB, I don't think the list here is really "all good postwar thrillers" by any means, and the departures are generally given caveats, as I have in detail. The thing that I would say here is that Hitchcock is a superb director within his favored genre(s) but needs to be seen in context of other national cinemas and particular directors and eras. There are cinephiles who might not even include him in their top 100 directors, for all that. But there are few enough examples that really would be movies that could have been directed by Hitchcock from outward appearances, such as Charade, or Diabolique, so necessarily branching out is going to happen, and the great thing is that there are so many directions to branch out that will take you e.g. into the work of Kurosawa and other towering figures in cinema. As an exercise, this is something the viewer can only win (well, unless you start picking randomly from the "Thriller" row on Netflix, or taking a head shot of Liam Neeson as proof of superior thrillerocity).
Eponysterical, by the way.
posted by dhartung at 12:37 AM on March 27, 2015
And while there are clear differences in approach and style, I think that many David Cronenberg films fit the general mold, in being stylish psychological thrillers, though DC's obsession with dysmorphia and such often take him over the line into supernatural horror of a type Hitch never touched. Try the fully reality-based Eastern Promises, for example; it may be his single best film. The screenwriter for that, Steven Knight, is also responsible for Dirty Pretty Things, with an early Chiwetel Ejiofor performance, as well as Locke (which he also directed), which is a movie with deliberate technical limitations of a sort that might have intrigued Hitchcock (in the vein of, say, Rope) -- although it really isn't a mystery thriller in any real sense, "merely" a gripping drama, told in a way that slightly resembles the slow drip of information in a mystery.
RogerB, I don't think the list here is really "all good postwar thrillers" by any means, and the departures are generally given caveats, as I have in detail. The thing that I would say here is that Hitchcock is a superb director within his favored genre(s) but needs to be seen in context of other national cinemas and particular directors and eras. There are cinephiles who might not even include him in their top 100 directors, for all that. But there are few enough examples that really would be movies that could have been directed by Hitchcock from outward appearances, such as Charade, or Diabolique, so necessarily branching out is going to happen, and the great thing is that there are so many directions to branch out that will take you e.g. into the work of Kurosawa and other towering figures in cinema. As an exercise, this is something the viewer can only win (well, unless you start picking randomly from the "Thriller" row on Netflix, or taking a head shot of Liam Neeson as proof of superior thrillerocity).
Eponysterical, by the way.
posted by dhartung at 12:37 AM on March 27, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nickggully at 7:54 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]