Wish I'd been there

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2008)

Just like Psycho, this stroke of technique would have been interesting to watch in innocence, before EVERYONE knew what was going to happen. (If there was ever such a time - how did they advertise this?!) It's as though, having established his new identity as a hack-ripping horrormeister, Hitch then decided to hack and rip his own oeuvre. The first hour of this plays out as a very straightforward - even dull - light romance with comic overtones - "To Catch a Thief", say, divested of intrigue and relocated into the swinging 60s. Then suddenly, very late in the proceedings, everyone starts getting their eyes pecked out! To an extent the joke's on us, because the first half is annoying and the second not consistently scary. But boy does it have its moments, and the sheer misanthropic audacity of the whole enterprise is impressive and worthy of our admiration.