Horror Movies

True, most of his films are thrillers, not horror. But I think Psycho clearly crosses the line into horror due to its shocking, violent nature, (something most Hitchcock movies lack) as well as its use of a serial killer. The same applies to Frenzy. As for the Birds, it too has a great deal of violence and terror, as well as a supernatural edge in place of the murderer/criminal/kidnapper antagonist that typically occupies a Hitchcock movie.

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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

I've always seen Psycho, and The Birds as Horror. Psycho(Horror/Thriller) being one of the more influential forerunners of the 'slasher' film, a sub genre of Horror.

Definitely. The point I was trying to make was that the heyday of American horror BEGAN in 1960 with Psycho and ENDED in 1980 with Hitchcock's death; hence my original statement about Sir Alfred taking the genre to his grave. After all, most American classics of the genre were made during this 20 year period.

Just because it was easier than writing up some more entries for my top 100, I put together a list of American horror films from 1980 which prove Hitchcock didn't take the genre to his grave. Not that I had too, of course, as the statement is ludicrous. However...

The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Drag Me To Hell, A Nightmare On Elm Street, A Nightmare OnElm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Joy Ride, The Others, The House Of The Devil, Scream, Scream 2, Urban Legend, The Faculty, The Blair Witch Project, The Devils Rejects, Saw, Saw II, Trick R Treat, Land Of The Dead, Final Destination, The Dawn Of The Dead (2004), Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, Happy Birthday To Me, Near Dark, The Hitcher (1986), From Dusk Till Dawn, Grindhouse, Cabin Fever, Ring, Frailty, Hollow Man, Hide & Seek, Poltergeist, Fright Night, The Fly, The Thing, An American Werewolf in London, Dressed To Kill, The Fog (1980), Maniac, Maniac Cop, Friday The 13th (1980), Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday The 13th: Part 6, Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, The Hidden, Halloween III (I know I'm in a small minority here), Prom Night (1980), Cherry Falls (and here), May, Scanners, The Stepfather (1987), The Entity, Arachnophobia, Stir Of Echoes, Sleepy Hollow, Interview With The Vampire, Lake Placid, Needful Things, Wrong Turn, The Mist, Open Water, The Shining.

Now, I don't expect anyone to agree with all those choices. Neither do I think I've listed every applicable choice, but I think there's more than enough to convince pretty much anyone that American horror has been far from buried since Hitchcock died. Not that he had much to do with horror, anyway.

Hitchcock isn't a name associated with Horror, sorry to the one who thinks it is.

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Suspect's Reviews

Hell yeah, that's all I got to say!!

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I didn't say the genre was dead and buried, I merely mentioned that the MAJORITY of classic American horror films came before 1980. Psycho and The Birds, of course, but also Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jaws (if you consider that horror), The Omen, Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, and Alien, to name the heavy-hitters. That's not to say there haven't been SOME classics of the genre following Hitchcock's death, as I can agree with you on The Shining, Poltergeist, Night of the Living Dead, Scream, Blair Witch Project, etc. That being said, perhaps my first comment was a bit of a poor generalization, but I hardly think that the American horror films made after Hitchcock's death reach the heights of other horror films made when Hitchcock was alive.

And as I said before, Hitchcock IS more associated with the suspense thriller than horror. But between Psycho, The Birds, and Frenzy, it's hard to deny the impact he made on that genre as well.

So you just leave all your graves dug up do you?
No one denied that. But nothing halted when Hitchcock died except his heart.

I hear denial. And like I said, I'll admit that my first comment was a poor generalization, BUT I do see a significant decline in the quality of American horror movies following 1980. It was merely something that I wanted to point out. If you disagree, that's fine, but I hardly think it's neg rep worthy.

Niceeeeeeee. Add The Orphanage - one of the best horror/supernatural films to come out, and this was in the 00s. And lots more.

HK, you forgot Romero's Day of the Dead...shame on you

Anyway...whilst I'll agree the 70's was the golden era of horror cinema (and pretty much all cinema really); I believe this has less to do with Hitchcock's passing and more to do with the political and social climate of the era - Vietnam, Watergate etc etc...contrasted with the boom time of the 80's and 90's.

I don't think it's any coincidence that the noughties has seen a return to the harder edged ultra-violent horror of the 70's with the economic crash, Middle Eastern conflict and political scandal after political scandal. I conceed this is no reflection on quality (unlike some others I happen to think many of the French new wave horror films are sickening garbage), but so were many of the 70's horror movies; it's all about being selective and rooting out the good stuff...which is definitely still there.

To echo the sentements of others around here though; I've never really thought of Hitchcock as a horror director per se, even if a handfull of his films fall into that category. His legacy is undeniable, but there have certainly been plenty of excellent horror movies made since 1980. Maybe HitchFan97 just needs to explore the genre a bit more...

I say check out Alejandro Amenábar's Tesis from 1996, which is as intelligent and thought provoking as it is suspenseful and out and out frightening.

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

Only surreal,sci-fi,supernatural horror is scary to me...Inland Empire by David Lynch is not even horror,but scared me more than any horror film...no one mentioned Woman in Black,i remember that was so creepy,i had to pause it about 6 or 7 times when i watched it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098672/

@Used Future Interesting theory, I'll definitely check out Tesis.

Few days ago,i watched Scream 4...it was not that bad as i was expecting.

Sorry, but "took it to his grave" is what I took from that.

I'm not sure I agree that the majority of classic American horror films were released before then. Of course, this would depend on the definition of classic, but you could be right. However, as UF said (and what I didn't really understand from what you said) was that the link between Hitchcock, his death and classic American horror or horror, as you originally stated. Personally I think American film in the 70's is probably as good as it got, but I don't see the connection between Hitchcock or his death. It's more to do with, as UF said, social changes, economics and the growing power of the director, the first group of 'film student' directors, returning vets from Vietnam and, mostly, the fact that Hollywood had no idea what was successful anymore and, therefore, was prepared to take risks both on people and stories/films.

As WT said, no one has. I think Psycho has a huge influence. Much less from the other two. Especially Frenzy, as much as I like it.


I haven't neg repped you. I think I've only neg repped about 3 or 4 people in my entire time here.

You could. But Hitch limited it to American horror. Were I to include horror from other countries, it would've been a different (and probably longer) list.

I completely agree. Pinocchio frightened me a lot more than any of the horror films I was watching when I was very young.

*UF, I didn't forget Day of the Dead, I just don't like it or rate it. That said, I should've included it. After all, I included The Shining. *

The connection with Hitchcock's death was simply an interesting coincidence that I wanted to point out, as I personally feel that American horror was at its finest prior to 1980. Anyways, I know you didn't neg rep me, I was talking about WT in that post.

Sorry about that. Obviously, I thought that was aimed at me.

You could certainly make an arguement that it was at its best in the 70's. I wouldn't bring the 60's into it, except to point out Psycho. You could include the films of Roger Corman and William Castle, I don't remember either making the modern horror that Psycho started in America.

BTW, if you've not seen it, take a look at Peeping Tom. Released a few months before Psycho, it's more of a modern horror than Psycho (IMO) but was hated, not just critically reviewed, but hated by them as a sick, perverse film. That's why it didn't really come to prominece until the 80's.

Day of the Dead was the worst Romero movie ever made, even worse then The Crazies.

I've heard of Peeping Tom, but I never really got around to seeing it, unfortunately. I'll have to add it to the Netflix queue.

When i was little kid,i was afraid of scene in ,,Dumbo,, where he and mouse get drunk,scene with Pink elephants on parade.