Review of Hitchcock (2012) by Renzo V — 22 Mar 2014

"BEHIND EVERY PSYCHO IS A GREAT WOMAN".

- The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, get a homage in this 2012 biographical drama 'Hitchcock'. In the film we follow one of the greatest directors struggling with the relationship with his wife Alma and the making of a controversial horror film called 'Psycho'. With lots of familiar sounds and references to Hitchcock's work, this movie brings a fun and entertaining view of this eccentric man. With Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, Titus), Helen Mirren (The Queen, Calander Girls), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Avengers), Kurtwood Smith (Robocop, That 70's Show), Danny Huston (American Horror Story Coven, Robin Hood), James D'Arcy (Cloud Atlas, An American Haunting) and Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003, Total Recall 2012).

After the success of his film 'North by Northwest', Alfred Hitchcock (Hopkins) want to film the novel 'Pyscho', a horror story based on the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein. Because the gruesomeness he wants to show he can't find financers and the movie studios are very doubtful to work with him, so Hitchcock convinces his wife Alma (Mirren) to take a mortgage on their villa and pay for the production. No explicit violence or nudity may be shown, that's why Geoffrey Shurlock (Smith) keeps a close eye on the project. While Hitchcock chooses the beautiful Janet Leigh (Johansson), Anthony Perkins (D'Arcy) and Vera Miles (Biel) as his star cast members, Alma starts working closely together with a writer named Whitfield Cook (Huston)to big frustration of her husband who thinks she has an affair. Due to the many problems, the filming of 'Psycho' goes slowly. But Hitchcock is determined to bring something to the big screen that the audience has never seen before...