“Do you trust me? You do know that films are lies, don’t you? Might I lie to you in this film? Oh yes, I will. But just once. I promise.”

Story: Who better to tell the story of Alfred Hitchcock’s life and work better than ol’ Hitch himself? Oh, you say he passed in 1980? Well, he’s a trickster, so perhaps he’s got one last trick up his sleeve…

Scares: Only if you count clips from his suspenseful films.
Splat Factor: See above.

Subgenre: Documentaries Told By The Person Themselves (OR ARE THEY)
Year Released: 2024 (2022 – festival circuit)
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Based on the work of the legendary director, Alfred Hitchcock

Trick or Treat?: I’ve been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock since I was old enough to have a library card. I used to read his short story collections as if my life depended on it. “12 Stories for Late at Night” “Stories they wouldn’t let me do on TV” and “Skull Session” maintained a regular place on my nightstand. I also tuned in to reruns of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” whenever my parents didn’t realize I was still up and in front of the TV. So I’ve seen a slew of Hitch documentaries; why would this one strike my fancy?

Because in Hitchcock, we get to hear from the man himself. Oh okay fine; so it’s the voice of talented performer Alistair McGowan, speaking words written by this doc’s writer/director, Mark Cousins. Cousins’ inordinate amount of research take a new look at what would otherwise be a rehash of well-worn paths. Hitchcock breaks down Hitch’s art, and how the man seemed to view the world, by looking at what Cousins calls “less expected themes” like height, loneliness, escape, and desire. As McGowan’s Hitch talks about his films, it’s a veritable mini-film school; scenes are focused in on, POVs and camera angles are dissected, and even dialogue – or the lack thereof – is all shown to be in service to these overarching themes.

Who’s to say if Hitch himself would have said these things? Well, in-between McGowan’s superb vocalization and Cousins’ in-depth research, it sure feels real. This documentary doesn’t look too deep into Hitch’s real life though, but we do get an adorable look at the relationship between Hitch and his wife Alma, a talented writer and editor in her own right. There’s no mention of the obsessions Hitch was known to have had with several of his on-screen starlets, Tippi Hedren most famously among them. But this makes sense from the standpoint of the documentary; it’s in Hitch’s own words, and it’s about his artistry. He probably wouldn’t have talked to the general public about his indiscretions.

At two hours, unless you’re a huge Hitchcock nerd (guilty) or a film student, it’s a lot to take in all at once. If you’re not able to see this on the big screen, you can easily break it up into two or three “episodes”; there are six over-arching themes in this film, each beginning with a chapter card that looks like something an artist would have come up with for one of Hitch’s mid-20th century films. I found myself pausing the film a few times myself, so I could really get into what this documentary was discussing. That, and so I could thoroughly enjoy the vast amount of archival footage used in this doc. Hey, how else are you gonna see what Hitch wants to show you here, without looking at the films themselves?

There are moments when some of the still shots of Hitch are kinda creepy, as if the man himself was staring right into my head thinking “see – see what I put onscreen? See it?” Hitchcock is a love letter to the man himself, a way to re-visit his work with fresh eyes, which is something I never expected to experience. This film nerd was over the moon. Hitchcock would make a great double-feature with 78/52, a similarly fascinating bit of navel-gazing at the shower scene from Psycho.

Don’t be surprised if you want to schedule a Hitchcock marathon after this; I know I do. And hey; ’tis the Halloween season, so treat yourself to a few of Hitch’s spooky entries.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 pumpkins.