10 films that influenced Alfred Hitchcock

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.”

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.”

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.”

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'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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

'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.

Alma Reville was Hitchcock’s wife—and his secret weapon

Alfred Hitchcock is rightfully considered an important figure in film history, but to call him an “auteur” minimizes a significant figure in his filmography: Alma Reville, his wife, assistant director, and collaborator. Reville contributed to his work in many ways, and Hitchcock would say she had given him “the most affection, appreciation, encouragement, and constant appreciation.”

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.

'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.

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."

The inaugural Cannes Film Festival featured legendary directors

The festival’s first year was 1946. It featured 11 films from some of the world’s best filmmakers, including Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, George Sydney, and Billy Wilder.

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 first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

HBO's success inspired Showtime, AMC, Netflix, and more

HBO’s success in the early 21st century bred plenty of imitators, who were now more willing to embrace darker, more challenging series like “Weeds,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “House of Cards.”

Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs were influenced by their classmate Lucien Carr

Much has been written about Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs’ time at Columbia University in the 1940s, but less attention has been paid to Lucien Carr, another student and one of the trio’s close friends, who murdered his childhood stalker.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.