Hitchcockian

Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.Elements considered Hitchcockian include:

*The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
*The presence of a domineering mother in her son's life (e.g. Psycho).
*An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
*Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
*Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from "Foreign Correspondent" or the crop-duster plane sequence from "North by Northwest".
*Characters generally get out of sticky situations by using their wits, rather than just shooting the place up.
*Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in "North by Northwest" or "The Man Who Knew Too Much".
*Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
*Use of darkness to symbolise 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, such as in "North by Northwest".
*The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
*Undertones of or characters implied as being homosexual, such as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train, Vandamm and Leonard in North by Northwest, or the murderers in Rope.
*Use of a macguffin or plot device that goes unexplained.

Some films or scenes considered Hitchockian, aside from Hitchcock's own films, include:

* "Basic Instinct"
* "Body Double"
* "Blow Out"
* "Blood Simple."
* "Cape Fear"
* "Charade"
* "Clue"
* "Collateral"
* "Dead Again"
* "Disturbia"
* "Dressed to Kill"
* "Fatal Attraction"
* "Flightplan"
* "Foul Play"
* "Frantic"
*"Hanky Panky"
* "Midnight Lace"
* "Misery"
* "Niagara"
* "No Way Out"
* "Panic Room"
* "Phone Booth"
* "Presumed Innocent"
* "Shining Through"
* "Wait Until Dark"
* "Perfect Blue"

ee also

*Alfred Hitchcock
*Alfred Hitchcock's filmography

External links

* [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1146038_1__,00.html] - Entertainment Weekly's EW.com feature: What, exactly, makes a film "Hitchcockian?"