Exhuming Hitchcock's Grave... Again
Friday, September 30, 2016 at 9:11AM 
Alfred Hitchcock was not above a remake. Or adaptations. Or self referencing. But this latest news is taking things too far in posthumous Hitchcock mania. A new show called Welcome to Hitchcock is going to "reimagine" Hitchcock stories one season-long mystery/crime at a time. The news gets worse: Chris Columbus will direct the pilot. Because, you know, Columbus has always excelled at taut psychologically provocative suspense (wtf?).
Sigh. After all the Hitchcock rip-offs and "sequels" and homages and "recreations" over the years, we do not need a ten episode reimagining of Psycho or Rear Window or Notorious; they're perfect the way they are. With the TV-making community scrambling to jump on the hot hot hot anthology train we all should have assumed that remakes were next. But if they must do this, let's hope they find a young director with an actual voice and gift for suspense to flesh out some of Hitchcock's less successful efforts instead. Any suggestions?
Reader Comments (4)
If they want to take a whack at some of his less successful films like The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn and most of all Topaz which was his biggest misfire I say have at it but of course they won't.
They'll go on the fool's errand of trying to improve on the perfection of Notorious, Saboteur, Rear Window and the like. Unless they intend to use some of the stories from his anthology series, some of those might work in an expanded form. But it does seem a bad idea especially with their choice of the first director they plan to use.
I'd say remakes of the more famous films are pretty empty gestures. If I wanted to watch a remake of Rear Window, I'd watch the peerless Simpsons take. A lot of Hitchcock's films have been refashioned and reworked already. Why would something 'straight' be entertaining?
Having said that, there's definite value to something like Bates Motel, however wary I am about the upcoming season with Rihanna as Marion Crane.
Thank you for this, Nathaniel. The whole idea of this series just makes me feel tired.
Are they going to set this in some sort of Hitchcock inspired universe? It sound a terrible idea- unless they come up with a really original take on the material- the Master of Suspense is probably laughing in his grave nobody can top Hitchcock at his best