Inner demons: grappling with childhood trauma in horror movies
Longlegs, from writer-director Osgood Perkins and son of Psycho star Anthony, tells a story that gives us clues to its maker’s unusual upbringing
September 2023
The seven best films to watch on TV this week
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On to Evil Dead Rise: the seven best films to watch on TV this week
The Oscar-nominated animation is a delightful tale of a tiny talking shell, and there’s an inventive addition to the saga about demonic forces
August 2022
Psychodrama review – Hitchcock thriller prompts tale of acting and abuse
Emily Bruni stars as a mid-career actor who thinks she’s landed a dream role in a stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
May 2022
Psycho review – well worth getting scared in the shower all over again
The rereleased, uncut version highlights the calculation and skill that went into making a genre-defining horror classic
November 2021
Gaga, Gucci and prison ferrets: how true crime conquered the world
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci stars Lady Gaga in a tale of fashion and murder. But is true crime – once the soul of cinema, from thrillers and horrors to westerns – now outgrowing the big screen?
June 2020
Psycho at 60: the enduring power of Hitchcock's shocking game-changer
In 1960, audiences were unprepared for the director’s devious rug-pulling thriller and years later, its impact still reverberates
March 2020
Film blog
From Fight Club to Brief Encounter: how self-isolation would change classic films
It’s now difficult to watch movies without worrying about the two-metre rule – here are the retrospective plot changes required to mean old movies pass muster
November 2019
'Parents sent me to therapy': you tell us the films that scarred you as kids
After Guardian writers reminisced about the films that caused nightmares in their younger years, you responded with a long list of alternative options
June 2019
Twelve Cabins Twelve Vacancies review – intimate take on Hitchcock’s Psycho
Chris Durnall fuses his own story with that of the classic thriller to create a lyrical study of grief and family
May 2019
Psycho to The 39 Steps: on set with Alfred Hitchcock – in pictures
The innovative director made a string of suspense-filled classics. Here, in images from Alfred Hitchcock: The Complete Films, we see him telling actors how to faint, wear handcuffs – and play an icy blonde
November 2018
Skin suits and black magic: Suspiria and the true stories behind classic horrors
The Suspiria remake has arrived, but what inspired the original? From Psycho to A Nightmare of Elm Street, explore the real horrors that influenced cinema
June 2018
Ranked
The scariest horror films ever – ranked!
Occult chiller Hereditary is the latest in a proud line of big-screen blood-curdlers. Our critic picks his 25 most terrifying
February 2018
John Gavin obituary
Actor who played in Psycho and Spartacus – and almost became the next Bond
November 2017
78/52 review – misfiring documentary on Hitchcock’s Psycho
There’s too much detail, not enough thought, in this analysis of the infamous shower scene
October 2017
78/52 review – Hitchcock's Psycho shower scene gets an expert autopsy
An array of film-makers and writers line up to praise the skill of the iconic sequence – but leave the trickier issues frustratingly unaddressed
January 2017
First look at Rihanna as Marion Crane in new Bates Motel trailer
The star plays the character made famous by Janet Leigh in Psycho in the latest season of the small-screen expansion
October 2015
Cinema now
Nitin Sawhney interview: ‘Pather Panchali was really moving, with incredible acting’
The musician chooses Satyajit Ray’s classic debut as his all-time favourite
August 2015
Readers recommend
Readers recommend: songs about mood-changing music
A rush of joy? Or moved to tears? Suggest songs with lyrics that refer to other songs or music that can bring about a change in state of mind or emotion, says Peter Kimpton
April 2015
Alfred Hitchcock; The Man Who Knew Too Much reviews – how the master exploited our fears
Two new analyses of Alfred Hitchcock’s macabre imagination are equally compelling
January 2015
Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Wizard of Oz is most influential Hollywood film
Judy Garland’s 1939 musical tops academic study’s list of films of cultural significance, with Star Wars in second and Psycho in third
