As Alfred Hitchcock explored film noir further into his career, a distinct darkness would overtake his film’s outwardly wholesome Americana, and shadow would engulf his ill-fated characters. Breaking with the idealistic characters of Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock weaves a tale of deeply troubled people in Notorious. The film blends elements of melodrama, romance, spy […]
2013
Cinema Fearité Presents ‘The Witches’, A Hammer Film That Goes From Horrifying To Hysterical In Three Acts
With a television and film career that spans over seven decades, Joan Fontaine has always been one of the more versatile actresses in Hollywood. Her big break came in the early forties, when she became one of Alfred Hitchcock’s girls. For Hitch, she made Rebecca in 1940 (which won the Oscar for best picture as […]
Touch Of Noir: Alfred Hitchcock’s Descent Into Film Noir Begins With ‘Shadow Of A Doubt’
Alfred Hitchcock, renowned for his thrillers, has never been prominently associated with film noir. Certainly, he was never linked to noir as directors such as Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger were, yet his style is preeminently, demonstrably noir. Hitchcock’s first film noir, and fifth film made in the United States since his arrival in 1939, […]
Cinema Fearité Presents ‘Orca’, The Other Dorsal-Fin-In-The-Water Movie
In 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws opened a lot of doors for the man-versus-nature horror film. In the years that followed, theaters saw heroes fighting different kinds of fish (Piranha), other aquatic animals (Alligator), and even landlocked beasts (Grizzly), all in imitation of the big shark blockbuster. In 1977, the film that seemed to be the […]
Cinema Fearité Presents ‘Invisible Invaders’, A B-Movie With Aliens…That Turn Into Zombies…Then Back To Aliens
One of the biggest challenges in making an alien invasion movie is giving the audience something new and different. Should the aliens be bobble-headed egg-brains like the campy classics in This Island Earth and Mars Attacks!, or should they be the sleek and swift, genuinely terrifying beings from Alien or Independence Day? In 1959, screenwriter […]