Hitchcock\u2019s movies have been analysed to death \u2013 excuse the pun \u2013 dissected by endless film theories, picked apart frame by frame for symbolism and given more psychoanalysis than a therapist\u2019s sofa. But the obsession makes sense: without him, the modern thriller genre wouldn\u2019t exist, and we\u2019d all still be sitting in cinemas completely unsure of how to properly panic.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFirst up is Vertigo<\/em> (1958), which might not go down well if you suffer from acrophobia, though it\u2019s well worth the dizzy spell. It\u2019s about a retired sleuth coaxed back into detective work by an old friend to investigate his wife\u2019s strange behaviour. Obsession turns deadly, fear of heights stops being figurative and no one is who they seem as he gets closer to the truth. To top it off, it stars the indomitable James \u201cJimmy\u201d Stewart alongside the magnetic Kim Novak!<\/p>\n\n\n Then comes Psycho<\/em> (1960), cinema’s most famous plunge into the mind of a murderer. Anthony Perkins created the eternal blueprint for movie killers with Norman Bates, the eerily friendly motel proprietor who is entirely too tied to his mother’s Oedipal strings. After an embezzling secretary pulls in for the night, film history is made. Imitators have spent decades trying to recreate its defining scenes \u2013 including that<\/em> final double-exposure shot \u2013 proving that while we all go a little mad sometimes, few do it as brilliantly as Hitchcock.<\/p>\n\n\n Be sure to check screening times via the House Samyan app or website<\/a>, and keep an eye on their Facebook<\/a> and Instagram pages<\/a> for the latest updates. Death comes for us all, though in this case, it\u2019s strictly death by boredom you\u2019ll be escaping, because Hitchcock\u2019s films are infinitely watchable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good evening… or rather, good news, ladies and gentlemen! Alfred Hitchcock is in the house. Well, House Samyan, to be precise. (He did say that puns are the highest form of literature, after all.) Starting 21 August with limited screenings, Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960) are coming to the big screen as part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":29355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","category-the-arts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.koktailmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/vertigo-1024x614.avif\")
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