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that shower scene is awesome but not just the shower stab itself, i mean, the way the camera roves post-kill over the corpse and then from her tight pupil and the drain is just amazing. AMAZING. eisenstein would be proud-- and though it's a continuity edit it's also a montage proper. fantastic, just... eye-gasm. most perverted of all, it's from a murder. ah, to be disturbed. i wish i had the 24-hour psycho machine. maybe can make one with handbrake + VLC! i'll hang it on the wall... i'll project it on a sheet to see both sides dat movie... oh damn. |
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You're identifying another common theme that connects Hitchcock to Spielberg here. The power of the "villain POV" shot. That scene in Psycho was rather unlike anything before it as far as I can remember, the "Shark-vision" scenes in Jaws have always reminded me of it. That and the redundant, throbbing score accompanying both scenes. Maybe I'm wrong though and this didn't come from Hitchcock. Please correct me if that's the case. |
P.S. My favorite Hitchcock film is and always has been Rear Window. I'm not sure if this makes me some kinda pussy or what, but that film is damn near perfect in every way, and truly, undeniably terrifying. It taps into an entirely different kind of horror than Psycho or the Birds. A more complicated narrative also, as it grapples with the moral murkiness of privacy violation "for the greater good," an honest to God, real world horror that we still haven't learned any more about or come to terms with in any overarching societal way.
Rear Window > petty much everything |
And these were the last two movies I watched. No shit.
After T-Day, I couldn't stomach the thought of watching anything even remotely serious. I found escape in this shit. These movies are fun. ![]() ![]() |
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I'm of the opinion that Hitchcock was only at his best when he limited himself with locations etc. I'd quite happily go the rest of my life never seeing Vertigo (HOW that film was voted Sight and Sound's best film ever is beyond me), North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much etc. again. The opposite is true for Rear Window, Rope and the like. Honestly, the films where he had free reign in the story to go wherever bore the hell out of me. |
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I've never thought of it quite that way before, but I think you're right. In television, they call it a "bottleneck" episode when the entire thing takes place in one location, with only a handful of characters. These episodes are often revered, standing apart from the rest of the series (see Breaking Bad'a Emmy-winning "The Fly"). I think a lot of feature length films that use these strategies stand out as well. Like Rear Window, Wait Until Dark, etc., and I think part of this is because it kind of forces everyone involved to go to the limits of their comfort zones, and to bring nothing less than their A-game acting, directing, screenwriting. If they don't, the film won't hold anyone's attention. Rear Window holds my attention. I've seen it more than any other Hitchcock film, and I'd watch it again right fucking now. Honestly I consider it one of my top 10 favorite films of all time, and have for as long as I can remember. |
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Fair enough about it not being the best film ever, I mean, what is? I tend to think in that particular poll, critics were just desperate to find something that'd replace Citizen Kane as almost the default 'best ever'. As for whether Vertigo is even the best Hitchcock film is debatable. Saying that I do love it and I would say it's kind of the ultimate Hitchcock film, dealing with most of his obsessions. If someone who'd never seen a Hitchcock film asked me to recommend one that represented what he was all about, I'd give them Vertigo, even though my personal favourite is The Birds. Quote:
The musical score maybe but according to Spielberg himself the 'shark vision' stuff was inspired by underwater shots in Creature From the Black Lagoon, which was his fave movie as a kid. Another bit of Spielberg/Black Lagoon trivia: in Duel, the sound when the truck finally falls off the cliff is that of the creature's roar, slowed down. This'll all sound like I'm just trying to shoehorn CFtBL into every discussion but in the case of Spielberg, and Jaws in particular, it does have massive relevance. Creature From the Black Lagoon ![]() Jaws ![]() |
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Ah! Creature From the Black Lagoon, of course. I knew you were going to say this before I even read this post. I remembered your previous mentions of this film just as I was scrolling down to see who said what most recently. You're right. Shark-vision was a total CFBL throwback. I haven't seen that film in forever. Maybe it's time I revisit. |
Ah, it's always time to revisit Cftbl, even if you only saw it a few weeks ago :)
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then again, i think it's going to be THE BIRDS this weekend
because.. whattamovie! |
thanks to you !@#!@$!s i've got REAR WINDOW and THE BIRDS lined up for *very soon*.
really looking forward to this. i think rear window was the first hitchcock i watched, in some remote 3rd world cineclub. ah fuck that was a nice place. also saw my 1st fassbinder there. |
Vertigo is my favorite.
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oh i love vertigo too. i think i still have the VHS ha ha ha.
but the best screening of vertigo ever was at the uptown theatre in washington DC-- they had a humongous, curved screen, built to show 70mm movies gaaaah that was... eyegasmic waiting for 4k bluray because i'll never have fast internet again eta: the uptown lives!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptown...hington,_D.C.).) |
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Yup. Beyond "creepy" or "spopky" or "suspenseful." That one is just plain unsettling and genuinely freaky as shit throughout. |
Recently:
The Legend of Billie Jean St Elmo's Fire Pretty in Pink Breakfast Club Pump Up the Volume |
Continuing through the list: Aliens 3
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haven't watched it in years but yeah. had its original elements. that whole XYY business. and roc was good in it. am i the only one who didn't like 2? alienZ or whatever? |
^you defend 3 but don't like Aliens? What?
Alien 2 is an actual movie. An Italian unofficial sequel. Full title is Alien 2: On Earth. I'm a huge Alien/Predator fan and in the past year I convinced my wife to watch all of the Alien & Predator movies in release order. It was awesome. My short thing I'll say is that I *like* all the movies a lot. Or rather, I love most of them, and I like a lot the ones that most people hate. I just love the franchises in general. |
well i'm not a huge cameron fan. he's a technical genius, but... i don't know. it's hit or miss with him. have you seen avatar? unfuckingwachable (for me anyway). my mind vomited afterwards.
so right now i can't recall much of aliens except... winona? and some flamthrowers in a base? i forget, just... zero impression, just-- fucking trite. alien, the riddley scott one, was genius. with 3 i didn't expect a lot, but the whole supermacho prison angle and ripley always in danger of being gangraped made it thematically interesting. know what i mean? it wasn't about monsters in space, it was a rape movie about rape terror. and that-- it did well. even the monster looked like a pecker. "i want you to have my babies". what was aliens about? like "really" about? i used to like winona though. was she in it or am i dreaming it? |
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