Film student Giulio (Elio Germano) becomes suspicious of his beautiful neighbor Sasha (Elisabetta Roccetti) of being involved in her mother’s 
death when he realizes how closely the whole situation resembles the plot of the Hitchcock film Strangers On A Train, and his curiosity may be the death of him.
This isn’t Dario Argento’s worst film but it isn’t his best either. In fact it’s not even a film it’s a made for TV movie.There are definitely problems with the screenplay as to why certain characters behave the way they do since it can defy all logic at times and certain parts of the film, such as the very beginning, really make no sense at all. You can figure out pretty early on who is the murderer so there really is no surprise at the end despite Argento trying to make us take a different path. So, if you are looking fo a mystery in which you can’t guess the ending at all then this probably won’t be the film for you to watch.
Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini, who have collaborated many times before in such films as The Church and Opera, direct this. Unlike those two films though this one falls a bit flat in the originality department. it’s quite obvious that this film is a tribute to Hitchcock and it contains elements from Strangers On A Train, Dial M For Murder and Rear Window. Some of those elements though made the lead character Giulio seem kind of creepy. Not only does he spy on his neighbors with binoculars he likes to stare at his half naked female neighbors quite diligently. Do Italian women like to parade half naked in front of their open windows or is this just something that happens in this movie? Anyway, instead of Giulio being sympathetic he really comes across as a stalker because he is spying on and following about the two women who he suspects of the mother’s murder. The other main problem I have with this film is that certain actions of the characters don’t make sense at all. Arianna (Cristina Brondo) puts her life in danger in order to catch the murderess in the
act? I realise that it’s a homage to Grace Kelly in Rear Window, but I don’t think the Kelly’s character in that film would have done something so stupid. Then there is the whole first scene. I understand that it connects Giulio’s present behaviour to that of when he was a child, but what he witnesses makes no damn sense! After watching Mother Of Tears, and seeing Argento’s portrayal of witches in that film, I’m guessing that’s what the women he see’s slaughtering a chicken are supposed to be. Who the hell knows though!
Do You like Hitchcock is of course directed by Dario Argento and while it is not in the style of his best films it looks perfectly acceptable. I sense from watching this though that Argento’s directorial style has become more and more lazy throughout the years, so if you are looking for something totally original when it comes to that in this film you aren’t going to see it. For some reason he has a real fixation on door locks in this. I mean seriously, he shows us closeups of lock mechanisms locking and unlocking several times. I think the best filmed scene in this is when Giulio is making a quick getaway from being caught spying on some people and he stumbles about with his scooter in the rain. Even though it looks really nice, with all the rain and thunder, just the fact that he is trying to start his scooter while dragging his broken leg behind him is kind of funny I’ll admit. It might have to do with the dubbing though because the moans and groans sound really fake and almost sexual. I also like that the building where the murder occurs has an outside staircase that it surrounded bya glass structure. Seeing various characters go 
up and down them is kind of voyeuristic. Since there is only one murder, and another death, in this film it really doesn’t have that much blood and guts in it.
Elio Germano is okay as Giulio but I feel that his performance can be a bit over dramatic at times, especially when the character interacts with the mother played by Elena Maria Bellini. My goodness is that woman annoying! If I had a mother like that I would move to the other side of the country and lose her phone number! There is no way in hell that an actress could think that such over reaction type acting can be a good thing so I am partially blaming Argento for this performance. I think he wants her to act like a loving mother but she comes across like a smothering ‘helicopter’ type parent. Then there is Giulio’s girlfriend, Arianna (Cristina Brondo), who is also annoying as all hell. Do you see a pattern here? Almost every single character in this film is annoying and the actors pretty much all overact except for Chiara Conti who plays Federica. I really like her because she plays the role calmly and more believably, which actually makes you feel quite sorry for her and the awful situation she finds herself in.
If you love Argento’s earlier films you’ll be disappointed by this, but on the other hand if you think that The Card Player and Mother Of Tears are awful then you’ll probably like this. Bloofer Lady thinks it’s okay but is still disappointed that Argento has become complacent with just being average.
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[...] review of Do You Like Hitchcock? is up on Horror Movie Empire. One of the only good things that Argento has done [...]