12 Films That Tried To Coast On Alfred Hitchcock's Legacy
A sampling of flicks that Hitch-ed their wagons to the Master of Suspense.
![12 Films That Tried To Coast On Alfred Hitchcock's Legacy](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/1/808541_320x180.jpg)
Hitchcock gave modern filmmakers an endless well of opportunity to run off with his genius. A few modern productions succeeded, while others were poor imitations. You don’t even need a pair of binoculars to peep the list.
![Throw Mama From the Train (1987) CRACKED COM Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951) inspired this dark comedy starring Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal. Throw Mama literally includes a scene where DeVito goes to see Strangers. Later, he tests out the plot on his own mother.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/5/808555.jpg)
Source: Flavorwire
![Stoker (2013) CRACKED.COM This thriller starring Nicole Kidman was in- spired by one of Hitchcock's earlier films, Shadow of a Doubt (1943). In both films, buried family secrets are uncovered with dramatic flair.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/4/808554.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
![A Perfect Murder (1998) CRACKED.COM A Perfect Murder phones it in with imitations of Hitchcock's Dial 'M' For Murder (1954). Critic Rita Kempley's Washington Post headline read, Dial M for Mediocre.She also noted, Rotary phones are inherently more suspenseful than mobile ones...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/3/808553.jpg)
Source: Washington Post
![Panic Room (2002) CRACKED.COM Director David Fincher's Panic Room stars Jodie Foster and a young Kristen Stewart who turned eleven while filming. The film is a tribute to Hitchcock classics like Psycho and North by Northwest.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/6/808546.jpg)
Source: Las Vegas Sun
![Mulholland Drive (2001) CRACKED.COM Director David Lynch drew inspiration from Hitch- cock's Vertigo for his psychological thriller, Mulholland Drive. Roger Ebert's wrote, Betty and Rita have two lesbian love scenes so sexy you'd swear this was a 1970s movie...](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/2/808552.jpg)
Source: RogerEbert
![Mad Men (2007-2015) GRACKED.COM This dapper TV series was inspired by two Hitchcock films - Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959). Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner stated, Vertigo feels like you are watching someone else's dream...and Cary Grant in Northwest plays an Adman [like Draperl.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/7/808547.jpg)
Source: Esquire
![Hitchcock (2012) 5 SET CLOSED ABSOLUTELY NO ADMITTANCE CRACKED.COM Anthony Hopkins, in prosthetics, stars in the title role and Helen Mirren as his wife. Scarlett Johansson also stars as Psycho's Janet Leigh. The New York Times said the film relied on fantasies about the iconic director rather than giving viewers the full picture.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/0/808550.jpg)
Source: NY Times
![Halloween (1978) CRACKED.COM Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho (1960) invented the slasher film. Without Psycho, we wouldn't have Halloween (1978). Halloween starred a young Jamie Lee Curtis whose mother, Janet Leigh, was the original scream queen from Psycho.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/5/1/808551.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
![Disturbia (2007) CRACKED.COM In 2010, a judge threw out a lawsuit accusing the Spielberg-backed film of copying the story on which Hitchcock's Rear Window was based. Critic Philip French said, Disturbia was a limp teenage by-the-numbers version of Rear Window.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/5/808545.jpg)
Source: The Guardian
![Bates Motel (2013-2017) CRACKED.COM This Psycho-inspired TV series offered a modern-day prequel to the Hitchcock classic. Setting Bates Motel in a contemporary period and a different town allowed Norman and his mother to explore newer, creepier terrain.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/8/808548.jpg)
Source: Variety
![Basic Instinct (1992) CRACKED.COM Director Paul Verhoeven said his erotic thriller was inspired by Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), since he knew it by heart. Both films are set in San Francisco, and both leading men play police detectives with a weakness for attractive and dangerous women.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/9/808549.jpg)
Source: Sight & Sound
![What Lies Beneath (2000) CRACKED.COM This Robert Zemeckis-directed thriller starring Michelle Pfeiffer was an obvious nod to Hitchcock's Rear Window. According to Entertainment Weekly, however, only parts of the film were greater than the sum of the whole.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/4/4/808544.jpg)
Source: EW