10 Remakes Of Alfred Hitchcock Movies, Ranked According To IMDb

Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary filmography has cemented his place in history as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His stories are gripping, suspenseful, and inspirational to generations of filmmakers, some of whom have attempted to recapture the magic in Hitchcock’s work.

Whether it was comedic takes such as Throw Momma From the Train or straightforward remakes such as Psycho, many of Hitchcock’s best films have been remade in one way or another. Though these films are hit or miss, a few Hitchcock remakes have garnered high scores on IMDb.

10 Psycho (1998) – 4.6

The purpose of remakes is hotly debated in the film fan community, but most agree that a remake should add something new to the material that wasn’t there before. Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho took the exact opposite approach and recreated the original film shot-for-shot with new actors and sets.

Though the plot is still strong, the remake has little of the magic in the original film. Many aspects of the original film still hold up today, and therefore a remake was wisely seen as pointless. Psycho was very much a product of its time and fed off of the burgeoning fears of the 1960s. By remaking the film nearly 40 years later, Gus Van Sant’s take was somehow less scary than the original.

9 The Phantom Fiend (1932) – 5.6

The advent of synchronized sound in films ushered in the first rush of remakes in film history as audiences clambered to see some of their favorite stories re-told with the new “talkie” technology. The Phantom Fiend tells the story of a landlady who suspects that one of her lodgers is a notorious serial killer who stalks the streets of London.

Hitchcock’s The Lodger was one of his best films of the silent era, and it was only natural that the suspense classic get a sound facelift in the 1930s. With its simple premise, The Phantom Fiend is an enjoyable film, even if it falls short of the original. Interestingly, actor Ivor Novello played the mysterious lodger in both versions of the film.

8 Rear Window (1998) – 5.6

Modernizing a story is usually one of the most common tropes of a remake, and Rear Window brought its story to the turn of the new millennium. A paralyzed architect spends his days watching his neighbors from the window of his technology assisted apartment. Soon he begins to suspect that one of his neighbors could be a murderer.

Rear Window made the best of a bad situation when it cast recently paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve in the lead role. By giving the part to person in the same situation as the character, it lends a lot of credence to main plot device. Though it made a noble attempt, the remake is far from one of the greatest mystery films of all time, like its predecessor was.

7 The Lady Vanishes (1979) – 6.0

Throughout his career, Hitchcock dabbled in many different sub-genres and espionage was one he often returned to. The Lady Vanishes sought to remake the film of the same name by modernizing the actors but leaving the setting untouched. A young couple traveling through pre-WWII Nazi Germany finds that a passenger on their train has mysteriously been kidnapped.

The original film was a tense mystery that also added elements of politics and espionage. The remake, sadly lost a lot of the timeliness that added weight to the original film. Though the cast is stellar and features legends like Elliot Gould and Cybill Shepherd, the material isn’t particularly elevated by being remade in more modern times.

6 Step Down To Terror (1958) – 6.0

Each successive decade of the 20th century saw films grow grittier and grittier as censorship was loosened and moral strictures were expanded. Step Down to Terror follows a wanted criminal who holds up with some family members in a small town and slowly suspicion grows around the shady character that came back into their lives.

Step Down to Terror is a thoroughly enjoyable film with a wonderful film noir aesthetic. Though the film takes the story in darker and more violent directions, it suffers for being a remake. Shadow of a Doubt features one of Hitchcock’s greatest plot twists, and Step Down scrambles add new wrinkles to the familiar story.

5 Throw Momma From The Train (1987) – 6.3

While most remakes are money oriented and cynical, occasionally a project comes along that is clearly a love letter to its source material. Throw Momma From the Train is a comedic twist on the suspense classic Strangers on a Train. A writer meets man with a similar dilemma, they both want someone dead. Together they decide to take care of each other’s problems but it seems that one is more willing than the other.

By changing the genre of the film entirely, Throw Momma from the Train is able to exist both as a remake and a standalone film. It is funny enough on its own that it doesn’t need the support of any kind of name recognition to keep it entertaining. The performances from leads Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal is a match made in comedy heaven and together they carry the film.

4 The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) – 6.6

Many of Hitchcock’s best films are based off of books and plays, and are therefore fair game for filmmakers to remake them at will. The Thirty Nine Steps expands the scope of the original film by adding much larger political implications. An engineer stumbles across a plot to assassinate a world leader and he must work to stop it in order to prevent the outbreak of WWI.

While the original film has a somewhat smaller scope, the 1970s remake expands the implications to ratchet up the tension. Sticking much closer to the book in which it was based on, the remake is a fair adaptation with a more complex story. That being said, compared to the original film, it is lacking the Hitchcock touch that elevated the film as one of his most underrated classics.

3 A Perfect Murder (1998) – 6.6

In many ways, films of Hitchcock’s era were limited by censorship and they were forced to be incredibly creative with how sex and violence was shown on screen. A Perfect Murder is not limited by such strictures and attempted to pull Dial M for Murder into the new millennium. A wealthy man finds that his wife is having an affair and concocts a plan to have her murdered by her own lover.

While the original film was a subtle and tense thriller, A Perfect Murder steps up the violence and isn’t afraid to offer a grittier view of the classic story. Though the performances are all strong, the film suffers from its own modernity. The time in which the original was made was enough to explain away its own narrative strangeness, but the new film’s grittiness also demands it to be more realistic.

2 Disturbia (2007) – 6.8

Many of Hitchcock’s films have been remade not just once, but multiple times, and Rear Window is a prime example. Disturbia follows a teen under house arrest who spends his time spying on his suburban neighbors. Slowly he begins to suspect that one of his neighbors is a cold blooded murderer.

The changes made in Disturbia are all interesting additions to the older story. By making the character younger, it changes the way that the outside world sees him, and the addition of his criminality adds yet another wrinkle. Though few films could live up to Hitchcock’s original, Disturbia was a fine homage to its source material.

1 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – 7.4

Who was better suited to remake a Hitchcock film than the master himself? The Man Who Knew Too Much modernized the original and featured Hitchcock at the helm to steer the ship once again. An American doctor and his wife witness a murder while on vacation in Morocco and are pulled into a complicated plot of international intrigue.

With more technology at his disposal, Hitchcock could present his story in the way he always intended. Featuring modern actors and dazzling technicolor visuals, the remake was an all around improvement of the original film.

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