Who hasn't heard of Alfred Hitchcock? He is an iconic director with a fantastic eye for suspense that nearly anyone can recognize. He was the father of the modern horror movie, proving that less is more in the gore category. He instead created a terrifying world where there didn't need to be buckets of blood in order to truly frighten an audience.
Perhaps best known for the 1960 film, "Psycho," his use of cutting the point of view at a rapid rate gave a sense of anxiety and fear for the subject at hand. In the famous shower scene from "Psycho" only a bare minimum of gore is shown to solidify the effect of the fright and horror.
His shots became iconic, the slow zoom away from Marion Crane's dead eye was a looming reminder of the her last moments and the fright she felt just before she was murdered.
Hitchcock liked to make movies about disturbing events or disturbed people. He himself having many fears and being obsessed with fear. He was supposedly afraid of police, authority, his own emotions, and sex. He liked to make movies about such fears as these as well as making movies that include bits of himself in a way. It is said that in "Rear Window" there is a character who is both a Peeping Tom and a voyeur. It has been noted that this is one of Hitchcock's alter-egos. While that is rather odd, Alfred Hitchcock did fantastic work and set the bar incredibly high for all filmmakers after him.
Wow. I have never watched a horror movie in my life because I know that I wouldn't be able to handle it. (And I'm not sure that I've heard of Alfred Hitchcock either, which is why I clicked on your blog.)However, I made myself watch that clip and found it to be less than scary. The only reason why I covered my eyes in this one is because I knew that it came from a horror film so I figured something bad would happen. Even so, I guess I like that about it. It was suspenseful, but not so overwhelming that I couldn't watch it. If super scary is what he was going for, then I guess I'd have to watch the rest of it to find out if it really was or not. But, I definitely agree that the absence of a ton of blood definitely made it more watchable. People who make movies today could learn a lesson from this clip.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Alfred Hitchcock and I've heard of the movie "Psycho" but I've never seen it. Im not in to scary movies at all but if they were all more like this one maybe I'd watch one on occasion. Nowadays, film makers work so hard on showing you every last detail and all the gore. If more was left up to the imagination like Hitchcock did in "Psycho" maybe more people would watch scary movies.
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