Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

Argento has obviously seen better days, but there are still traces of his genius in this slow-moving TV movie about a kid obsessed with the films of Hitchcock who thinks a neighbor living across from him may have been murdered by someone he knows. The murder itself is about the only gory moment in the movie, which will come as a disappointment to lovers of past Argento splatter classics like CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, TENEBRAE, DEEP RED, SUSPIRIA, THE PHANTOM and OPERA. The film pays homage to STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, PSYCHO, VERTIGO, DIAL M FOR MURDER and REAR WINDOW. Badly acted, and the stilted English spoken by the actors in an Italian setting makes it hard to watch at times. The killer's identity comes as no surprise in the end.

"Do You Like Hitchcock?" is a decent thriller, but not even close to being a slasher.**SPOILERS**Working on his thesis, film student Giulio, (Elio Germano) manages to run into neighbor Sascha, (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and her friend Federica Valli, (Chiara Conti) both Albert Hitchcock fans, at a film store where he rents films for his paper. When a strange murder occurs in her apartment nearby one day, he notices similarities between what happened and several of the events starts to mirror scenarios of Hitchcock's movies. Even though girlfriend Arianna, (Cristina Brondo) tries to convince him how ridiculous the theory is, he is still convinced when he uncovers a string of evidence that supports his theory, and when he finally has the evidence to prove it, races to stop them before the guilty party strikes again.The Good News: There was a couple of good points here to this one. The first point is that the film has a rather obvious amount of fun dealing with the Hitchcock theme. This part is quite fun, managing to incorporate a whole list of influential moments, from plot-points to camera edits and even direct scenes lifted directly from his films, none of which will be spoiled here but there's an obvious sense of fun when it deals with them. There's also a lot to like about the finale, which here is just all sorts of fun. From the revelation about the killer to the encounter in the apartment where he's being dunked under the water repeatedly all the way through to the utterly outstanding chase through the house across the street followed by the roof-top encounter all delivering quite well and certainly being quite exciting. These are all really great scenes, and that they all flow together in a natural way so as to be even more exciting. It also works well with it's one absolute stand-out scene, where the victim spies on another couple, is caught, and must escape before he is captured. Everything about this scene, from the rain-drenched setting, to it's place in the mystery, how it plays out with the failing scooter trying to work with the one person chasing after them, just works so well and is an outstanding, thrilling scene that is the best part of the film. The only other good thing about this one is the constant nudity, which is really nice as all of them look good providing it. Otherwise, that's all for this one.The Bad News: There wasn't much wrong here, and it's really only one flaw to the film. The fact that the film is more of a thriller than a straight-up horror film might be the only thing that's really wrong here, as it's more of an aesthetic choice concerning all the usual areas that come up. There's only one kill in here, brutal as it can, but nothing else, which doesn't make it fall into a stereotypical slasher, there's hardly any shots of a killer wandering around chasing after people, there's very little active threat to the hero until the end, and even then it's questionable, but these all scream this is a thriller and not a slasher. Due to that, the film can come off as just incredibly boring for some out there, since it doesn't really offer up anything that will make this one appear to be a fast-moving film, despite our introduction to the plot early on with the kill and it's short running time. There's just a lot of time spent on other elements building up the mystery that becomes routine in these kinds of films. It's something that could be a problem for those that don't enjoy that type and find themselves interested in more traditional horror-based fare, which is perhaps what is the most wrong with it. Rather than really hurting it, though, this is just a factor that boils down to being a personal preference rather than something which can truly be said to harm it, as the approach might be something that appeals to you, but there's some which don't really enjoy that and need to be warned of in here.The Final Verdict: Not that actively bad, but not really all that great either as this one just isn't a horror film like so many of his others. Give this a shot if you're into Hitchcock's films or are an unabashed Argento fan, though those looking for something approaching his earlier works will be severely disappointed here.Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence, Language and Nudity

A bright young man (Elio Germano), who loves cinema... especially Alfred Hitchcock's film. A cross from his apartment, a woman is brutally murdered. He heard the screams but he didn't see the crime. He slowly realized that the dead woman's daughter rents "Stangers on a Train" quite often. He thinks that the dead woman's daughter and another mysterious stranger are copying the crime from that classic picture. But not everything what it seems to this die-hard movie fan.Directed by Dario Argento (Suspiria, Inferno, Mother of Tears) made an interesting plotted but OK suspense thriller with a few of the director's flamboyant touches. Argento's film gives tribute obliviously to Hitchcock but also to filmmaker Brian De Palma and Argento himself. Since this was made for Italian TV with plenty of nudity. "Do you like Hitchcock?" is really about voyeurism but it's the cast really weight down the flick (not mentioning the poor English dubbing).The DVD has an good anamorphic Widescreen (1.66:1) transfer and an decent Dolby Stereo 2.0 Surround Sound. The DVD's special features are a brief behind the scenes footage and the director's biography. It is one of Argento's less memorable works but watchable to say the least. The Highlight is Pino Donaggio (Body Double, Carrie, The Howling) music score. Written by the director and Franco Ferrini (Demons 1 & 2, The Card Player, Opera). (***/*****).

I had pretty high expectations from this movie as it is a tribute from the great Dario Argento to the great Alfred Hitchcock.Dario Argento is one of the living directors i have the greatest respect for, and one of my personal favorite directors of all-time, and there is probably no true cineaste around to doubt that Alfred Hitchcock is one of THE most influential and greatest directors in the history of motion pictures.That being said, I was slightly disappointed with "Ti Piace Hitchcock?" aka "Do You Like Hitchcock?" of 2005. Not because it's not nearly as gory and brutal as Argento's ultra-violent masterpieces from the 70s and 80s - I expected it to be mild for Argento standards, since it's a made-for-TV tribute from a genius director, Dario Argento, to another genius director, Alfred Hitchcock, and this doesn't call for the extreme violence of films like Suspiria or Opera. What I did expect, however, was the suspense, that Argento usually delivers, and I was therefore a bit disappointed, as I found all the parts of the movie that were meant to surprise way too predictable. There is a lot of tension, and the movie highly entertains, no doubt about that but the plot-twists are quite lame and it is simply not nearly as suspenseful as we're used to from Argento, especially after he delivered another great and highly suspenseful Giallo, "Non Ho Sonno" aka "Sleepless" in 2001.The performances are great, Elio Germano delivers a solid leading performances and all three leading actresses - Elisabetta Roncchetti, Christina Brondo and Chiara Conti are both sexy and excellent in their roles, especially Roncchetti is drop-dead gorgeous and delivers a great performance in a great femme-fatale role. The score by Pino Donaggio is very good, but then again it is not nearly as brilliant as the scores by Progressive Rock band Goblin and their genius keyboard-player/composer Claudio Simonetti.Over-all, the movie delivers suspense, atmosphere and good entertainment. It is just not very good for what it is (or could have been), a Hitchcock-tribute from Argento. Argento fans like myself run risk of being a little disappointed, but it is definitely worth the time.