The Master of Suspense at His Schlockiest

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2020)

"When I was a budding young cinephile, my parents started to introduce me and my siblings to some of Hitchcock's tamer films like "North by Northwest", "Vertigo", "Rear Window", and this film. These films made quite an impression on me when I was young, but I grew older and watched more of Hitchcock's oeuvre, and whenever I was in the mood to watch one of his films I found myself gravitating towards either rewatching my favorite- "Psycho"- or checking out one the films of his that I had not seen as a child (like "Rebecca" or "Notorious"). It had been a long time since I had revisited this film, so when we at TMM decided to revisit Hitchcock, I thought this would be a great time to go back to a movie I hadn't seen in probably fifteen years.
I remembered this film to be pretty intense, but that was from the perspective of myself as a child. I honestly was a bit nervous to revisit this, because, out of all of Hitch's films, I have to say that this one probably has the schlockiest plot. Nevertheless, I started my journey to Bodega Bay, and to my delight, I found the film not only still holds up, it completely elevates all of the schlocky elements to the point that it becomes artistic. It just goes to show you how great of a director Hitchcock really was.
I think the thing I like most about this film is the way that it sort of starts off as a rather melodramatic romance, plodding along rather pleasantly, before it shifts, ever so violently, and suddenly the viewer finds him or herself in a horror flick. This sort of structuring isn't unusual for Hitch (look at "Psycho" which starts out as a thriller about a secretary stealing forty-thousand dollars, before it shifts, and we're suddenly watching a movie about a mad, cross-dressing serial killer), but it does put the viewer in a position of feeling unprepared for whatever will happen next. I think one of the reasons I like that shift so much is because A) it allows time for us to get to know the characters and their backstories, and B) when freak phenomenon happen (realistic or fantastical) usually there isn't a lot of warning when said phenomenon occurs. Not only does it feel far more realistic to have our characters wandering about their lives, going about whatever it was that they would normally be doing before the phenomenon happens, it makes it much more frightening when that shift does happen.