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Queer/Adaptation pp 209–223Cite as

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Hitchcock Goes to Italy and Spain: Euro Horror and Queer Adaptation

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture ((PSADVC))

Abstract

This chapter explores L’orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock (Riccardo Freda, 1962) and El techo de cristal (Eloy de la Iglesia, 1971) as films that adapt the work of auteur Alfred Hitchcock. These Euro horror films are significant in two ways: first, both productions rewrite themes and motifs haunting Hitchcock’s oeuvre, thus “downgrading” auterism to exploitation while blurring any boundary dividing high art from lowbrow entertainment. And by moving away from heteronormative narrative tropes to focus on female subjectivity and deviant sex, these two films invite a queer reading in which heterosexuality itself is strange. Second, these films rewrite Hitchcock from the perspective of different nationalities (Italy and Spain), and draw on a wide and fluid net of signifiers, producing a decentering of originality and auterism.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns

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  1. Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Pamela Demory

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Pagnoni Berns, F.G. (2019). Hitchcock Goes to Italy and Spain: Euro Horror and Queer Adaptation. In: Demory, P. (eds) Queer/Adaptation. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05306-2_13

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