A Hitchcock film has been adapted for a new demographic: smartphone users

Hitchcock films thrive on the terror of the ordinary

Hitchcock's films rely on seemingly ordinary elements—like birds or hotels—but slowly turn them into menaces, thanks to the director's pioneering camera techniques. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

A number of Hitchcock's most celebrated films are based on novels

Hitchcock’s films are often cited as being literary, and with good reason—many of them are based on works of literature. This list from the Los Angeles Public Library not only names the many novels that were adapted for the screen by Hitchcock, like "Rebecca (1940)," but also provides excellent context for how and why Hitchcock came to make his adaptations.

Hitchcock's career began shortly after World War I

Nearly 60 years after beginning in the silent film era in 1919, Hitchcock produced his last film, "Family Plot," in 1976. Over his decades-long career, Hitchcock brought a literary sensibility to previously maligned genres like thrillers and innovated numerous camera techniques.

How Alfred Hitchcock changed cinema

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock changed moviegoing with "Psycho." At a time when audiences came and went during screenings, he enforced strict start times, banned late arrivals, and kept plot details secret. The result? A $32M hit that helped shape modern theater etiquette.

Hitchcock uses recurring images, themes, and tropes in his films

Movie nerds Adam Frost and Zhenia Vasiliev break down eight of the director’s “trademark obsessions,” including his penchant for killing blonde leading ladies, the way mothers are portrayed, and the various ways characters are killed.

How soap operas are being reimagined for the smartphone

Apps like ReelShort, FlickReels, and DramaBox purport to offer "micro dramas," but they strongly resemble soap operas, with serial melodramas about romance and murder. This NPR piece unpacks the trend, highlighting why this new format appeals to demographics that never connected with daytime soaps.

Watch Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film noir, 'Rebecca'

"Rebecca" was Hitchcock's first American film and is the only Hitchcock film to win the Academy Award for best picture. The story, based on a 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier, is about a widower (played by acting legend Laurence Olivier) and the haunting direction his life takes in her wake.

Hitchcock's TV show emphasized the director's playful yet suspenseful tone

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was a television series that aired from 1955 to 1965, offering viewers weekly bites of the director's unnerving storytelling. Hitchcock acted as host, framing the short films with his haunting voice and gothic language.

Hitchcock regularly made cameos in his own films

Long before Tarantino was born, Hitchcock was casting himself in his movies’ bit parts, allowing careful audience members to find the director walking through the fictional world he’d created. The history behind that decision was an accident.

Alfred Hitchcock's work continues to influence movie directors today

Hitchcock’s importance and influence are exemplified in the specific tropes (such as the MacGuffin and the killing of innocents) and techniques (like the dolly zoom) that the director pioneered and popularized, demonstrating just how far-reaching his influence remains.

Hitchcock believed film editing was a form of mosaic

In this interview, Hitchcock explains why he doesn't like the term "cutting" because it implies "severing something." Instead, he believes cuts in film allow for a fuller picture and uses the famous shower scene from 1960's "Psycho," which he says uses over 78 different cuts, as an example.

10 films that influenced Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock influenced generations of filmmakers who came after him, but this article focuses on the films that influenced the master himself. Among the titles on the list are Lyman Howe’s “A Ride on a Runaway Train,” which allegedly inspired the sexually charged ending of “North by Northwest,” and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Les Diaboliques,” which many people believe is responsible for the pivotal shower scene from “Psycho.”

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a Hitchcock superfan

Famed director Martin Scorsese breaks down what makes four Hitchcock films (“Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” and “Psycho”) so remarkable and discusses how Hitchcock’s style influenced his own work, including his 1980 film, “Raging Bull.”

'Rear Window' was based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich

Hitchcock's 1954 film, which many consider among the director's greatest, was based on Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder." The story is characteristic of his dark, claustrophobic work.

Breaking down the music theory of Hitchcock's 'Psycho'

One of the defining features of Hitchcock’s film “Psycho” (1960) is the music, especially the sounds you hear during some particularly grisly scenes. This analysis from The Music Professor analyzes how that music complements the film, highlighting the way strings match the intensity of the film’s screenplay and black-and-white cinematography.

Hitchcock created his own archetype with the 'Hitchcock Blonde'

The most iconic Hitchcock Blondes from the director’s catalog include Kim Novak, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly. The roles they played contributed to the gothic and foreboding aesthetics that have come to be associated with Hitchcock’s work.

Hitchcock's 'Psycho' broke many established rules in film

Hitchcock flouted convention for “Psycho,” which many consider his masterwork. Hitchcock broke new ground with the 1960 film, with risqué imagery and shocking twists. The film was the most commercially successful in his long and illustrious career.

'Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators' featured 'Hitch' as a character

The young adult detective novels, which ran from 1964 to 1987, prominently featured Hitchcock's name on their covers and included introductions supposedly written by the author. Hitchcock was also a character in the books, working with the young detectives. His name was removed after the 30th book was released.

Alfred Hitchcock influenced modern horror director Jordan Peele

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele has built a filmography that’s equal parts thrilling, suspenseful, genre-bending, and literary. It’s no surprise, then, that so many critics have been quick to name Peele as the second coming of “the Master of Suspense.”

Hitchcock struggled to make movies at his peak in the 1960s

Despite being at his peak, iconic director Alfred Hitchcock had many unrealized movie projects in the 1960s. The reasons are manifold, including difficulties with casting, budget limits, and controversies around project themes. This podcast breaks down the mysterious hurdles the director faced.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 film 'Spellbound,' starring Ingrid Bergman, features a surreal scene designed by Salvador Dalí.

Alfred Hitchcock influenced the way Spielberg shot 'Jaws'

Steven Spielberg realized the key to unlocking the terror of the shark in "Jaws" would be by obscuring it, remembering an important lesson from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” Spielberg recalled, “It’s what we don’t see that is truly frightening."

Famed director Brian De Palma idolizes 'Vertigo'

Brian De Palma, director of “Carrie,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Scarface,” discusses the influence of Hitchcock on his career, including how it led him to abandon engineering and pursue a career in filmmaking. He says Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” in particular changed his understanding of “cinematic language.”

Letterboxd, the social media app for movie reviews, was named one of Time's 100 most influential companies of 2026.

Alfred Hitchcock influenced thriller filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan

There may be no more obvious heir to Alfred Hitchcock’s throne than M. Night Shyamalan, the director known for suspenseful films like “The Sixth Sense,” “Signs,” and “The Village.” It should come as no surprise that Shyamalan says he’s a big fan of “the Master of Suspense,” going so far as to cite Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” as a major influence, one he called “epic and haunting.”

Watch 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'

Robert Wiene’s 1920 film remains a significant film for the horror genre, illustrating the power that relatively simple visual choices, like shadows and jagged angles, can have on an audience.

The 'second screen' effect has realigned the writing for Netflix's original shows

As more subscribers put Netflix on in the background, the company has encouraged more expositional dialogue in its original scripts. Filmmaker Justine Bateman claims the streamer doesn't "want anything on your show to distract [viewers] from their primary screen."

Spielberg was inspired by Hitchcock, Kubrick, and other visionary directors

The influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” can be seen in the cinematography and tone of Spielberg classics like “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

The 2022 best picture winner, 'CODA,' was an Apple+ original

Streaming has changed more than how we watch movies—it's changed the way we recognize them during awards season. When movie theaters shut down during the early days of the pandemic, studios had no choice but to release their films on streaming. Once the shift occurred, there was no going back.

Memorabilia from Hitchcock's career is archived and known as the 'Alfred Hitchcock Papers'

The Alfred Hitchcock Papers are part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Collection, the world’s largest film-related archive. The collection consists of more than 52 million items, including photographs, posters, screenplays, costumes, props, and the films themselves.

The jump scare, a horror genre trope, was invented to keep costs low

RKO Pictures hired Val Lewton to produce horror films in the Universal model: small budgets, big spectacles. His first movie was 1942's "Cat People" and he used tension and offscreen terror to save money. A perfect example is the movie's jump scare, a misdirection technique that catches viewers off guard.

Hulu debuted a movie about Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2025.

Osamu Dazai's 'No Longer Human' found a new generation of readers, thanks to TikTok

The novel was published in 1948, a month after the writer's suicide, and went on to become a classic of Japanese literature. Decades later, an English translation gained popularity on TikTok, where younger readers praised the book for its handling of alienation. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1896 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered special effects.

Netflix's original movies are designed to play in the background, appealing to audiences who watch them passively, often while doing chores or looking at their phones.

Alma Reville was Alfred Hitchcock's wife, but she was also a screenwriter, consultant, and secret weapon for the Master of Suspense.

Netflix's 'Kaleidoscope' experimented with non-linear storytelling

Netflix has regularly experimented with how it releases episodes, but its miniseries "Kaleidoscope" experimented with linear storytelling by crafting a show that supposedly allowed viewers to enjoy the show in any order they pleased.

Edwin Porter's 1903 adaptation of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was one of the earliest American full-length narrative films.

How to catch a TikTok thief

Someone took a 10-second clip of a parody video made by Hugh Clegg and posted it to TikTok, where it racked up millions of views. The uncredited clip meant viewers assumed it was owned by the uploader, an assumption Clegg was eager to rectify. His messages and comments had no real effect outside of earning him temporary bans for "spamming." So he decided to moonlight as a private eye.

Movie trailers used to air after the film, hence why they’re called ‘trailers’

These in-theatre advertisements used to “trail” the movie rather than precede it. The first movie trailer shown at the movies dates back to 1913, when marketer Nils Granlund put together rehearsal footage of an upcoming Broadway musical to drive ticket sales.

S-Town: Murder in a small Alabama town

From the team behind "Serial," investigative journalist Brian Reed goes back to his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama, to probe an alleged murder. The hit series was downloaded a record 10 million times in four days, wrapping seven mini-stories in each episode into a twisting narrative with an ultimately suspenseful and surprise ending.

Stephen King is drawn to horror's childish power

This 1986 appearance promoting King's directorial debut finds him reflecting on what makes horror, which he says is its ability to strip away pretense, reducing supposedly sophisticated people to terrified children. He also seems to have already soured on the movie business, calling filmmaking "a primitive way to create," a not-so-subtle dig at Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining," which notoriously disappointed King.

Dickens' live readings sometimes used visual projectors that predated cinema

Dickens was interested in adapting his work in various forms. With his live readings, he sometimes used a 'magical lantern,' a popular tool that projected moving slides. In addition, some stage plays of Dickens' work that included ghost scenes used the magical lantern to cast apparitions on stage.

TikTok explained: how the app became a global phenomenon

Since 2018, the short-form, video-sharing app TikTok has gone from launching in the US to becoming a habit-forming cultural force that’s signed up more than half of the country's population as users.

Watch how a mixed reality app transforms a space into a haunted house

"Hauntify" incorporates a user's physical surroundings into the gameplay. Available via the Meta Quest app store, the software utilizes the mixed reality device's cameras and sensors to map a user's environment, from which evil spirits that must be repelled appear to emerge suddenly.

Disney tried to adapt 'The Catcher in the Rye' for the screen, with plans to reimagine it as an animated film about German shepherds.

Reimagining YouTube as cable TV, complete with channel-surfing

The site streams YouTube content as if it were broadcast television, providing the ability to flip through channels and enter videos mid-stream, and you also can't easily skip ahead. The product is designed in part to bring back serendipity to video discovery.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of 'The Anxious Generation,' contends that children are losing the ability to pay attention as they spend half their lives perusing social media content designed to hook them.

Ten of the most horrifying moments in film

Many films in the genre lean into gratuitous horror, putting off the average viewer. This list of ten moments highlights particularly terrifying scenes from films that otherwise met with mainstream acclaim, from "Mulholland Drive" to "The Lord of the Rings."

Rather than relying on blood and gore, folk horror involves remote settings and ancient traditions.