“Back on track, after a two day break due to DWTS watching. Sadly, my boy Louie has been eliminated, which means the show will no longer be interfering with this blog.
Trying to get in a few of the suspenseful and scary films this week, prepping for Halloween this weekend. Figured a Hitchcock movie was a good place to start. Those are some of the ones Im most stoked about on the list. Up til today, Psycho was the only one of his I’ve seen (which I absolutely love) and Ive really been meaning to check the rest out. If nothing else, it’ll make that Hitchcock Halloween trivia episode of That 70’s Show make that much more sense. If you’re a fan of the show, you should really check it out. Season 3, I think, or 2. One of those season’s Halloween episodes was called “”Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young To Die””. Maybe this one? You’ll know you got the right one if Fez is dressed as Frankenfurter, not Batman. Moving on.
Side bit of trivia before I get started. According to IMDB trivia, Rear Window is NPH’s favorite movie. Yay!
This one stayed consistent with the feeling I’ve had towards most of the movies on the list. Started great, slowed down in the middle, sensational ending. I think in this case, the expectations were set just a smidge too high. I’d expected it to be a bit faster paced and more suspenseful throughout. However, those last 15 minutes or so proved exactly why Hitchcock is the master of his genre. I really was at the edge of my seat with my heart pounding.
Another thing that grew on me was the set. At first, it seemed a little too fake. But it worked so beautifully with the film. I love how everything was done from the protagonist’s apartment. You only saw what he could feasibly see. And you know that helpless feeling you get when you’re watching a movie and you want to warn the characters that there’s someone on the other side of the door? This time, you actually had someone on screen to share that feeling with, which was just genius. Im really looking foward to the other movies old Alfred’s got for me this fall.
Also worth mentioning that this was my first introduction to Grace Kelly. Oh my God that woman is gorgeous. I now understand every compliment that’s ever been said about her. Absolutely adored her. And this was James Stewart’s first appearance on the list. He’ll be popping up quite a bit more.
Final thought, although this may be a long thought. I wanna talk a bit about Rear Window vs Disturbia. Yeah, that silly movie with Shia LaBeouf where he thinks David Morse is his friendly neighborhood serial killer. Disturbia was very losely based on Rear Window: guy confined to his house watches the neighbors for entertainment, and thinks his neighbor killed someone. Now Disturbia wasnt anywhere near as smart and well crafted as Rear Window, but it is worth a watch if it interests you. Much more faster paced (definitely a plus for me) but more for today’s audience, particularly the younger crowd. Not saying there’s anything wrong with Rear Window. Its by far the superior of the two and I’d definitely recommend it first. But Disturbia takes just enough influence from it balanced with enough creative license that it works. I really enjoyed it when I first saw it, and I gave it another watch a few weeks ago and also got really into. Dont know how I woulda felt about it if I saw Rear Window first though. Anyways, I just thought this was an appropriate chance to plug an underappreciated flick.”