Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Pilot (1985) User Reviews

For TV this was really good

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 2 May 2007]

A pilot for an updated version of Alfred Hitcock's 1950s TV show. The stories have all been done before on the old show but here they're in color, updated and had a very well-known (for the time) cast. This went up against a stupid mini series called "Lace II" and clobbered it in the ratings. It led to a revival of the show with Hitchcock introducing and closing each episode (his bits were from the old show and were colorized). The show quickly crashed and burned which was too bad. I thought it was well-done.

This pilot film was just incredible. Never dull with good acting and direction. It was four half hour stories strung together. The ending story "An Unlocked Window" with Annette O'Toole was easily one of the most chilling stories I've ever seen network TV. The ending had me shaking--and I don't scare easy! The chances of seeing this are probably VERY slim. I mean, how often do they show the pilot films for a failed TV series? Still see it if you get the chance.

Better Than Amazing Stories

[dylanduin · 8/10 · 4 January 2014]

I was a Junior in high school ( 11th grade/16 yrs. old ) when this and Spielbergs Amazing Stories were announced as an hour block on the same night. Everyone was, of course, beside themselves with excitement over Spielbergs return to television, myself included. Little did we know.

Within a matter of weeks it was obvious that Amazing Stories was a well produced bore, and the revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents was the true gem. It was evident from this, the first episode.

Incident in a Small Jail- Ned( Deliverance )Beatty and Lee( punk band Fear/ Mr. Body in Clue )Ving in a classic mistaken identity story.

Man from the South- A truly twisted performance by John Huston, in one of Roald Dahls best short stories. James and the Giant Peach this is not.

Bang! You're dead!- THE NRA nightmare of all time.

An Unlocked Window- 1980's Annette O'Toole in a nurse uniform ( Meow! ), in a rainstorm, while someone is going around strangling nurses. I'll save you Annette, just give me smooches.

Sorry, flash backed to teenage boy me.

All in all one of the best pilots of the 80's.

Favorite Hitchcock episode

[Quentintarantado · 8/10 · 3 April 2008]

I did a bit of research and found out Carlos was played by Jose Ferrer in the 1979 version and by Peter Lorre in the 1960 version (starring the unknown Steve McQueen!). I don't know how this version of Man from the South rates in comparison, but it's easily my favorite of the colored Hitchcock TV episodes. Also, John Huston is excellent (probably reprising his role as Noah Cross in Chinatown). It's interesting that this character, Carlos, has been played by three excellent actors. Maybe it's necessary in order to portray how monstrous Carlos is. Times have really fallen when the guy makes a bet for what looks like a TransAm. McQueen was going to get a Jaguar. The premise itself is inherently suspenseful and probably director-proof.

The Man From The South

[a_baron · 10/10 · 2 December 2014]

(This is a review of "The Man From The South" only)

I saw this more years ago than I care to remember, more than I can remember, and it was this short episode from a writer with whom I am far from enamoured and originally a director - Hitchcock - whom I have always believed to be extremely over-rated, that convinced me of something that my own folly could never have done, that of the stupidity, the madness, and at times the evil that is gambling.

John Huston was better known as a director but here he turns in a fine performance as the avuncular yet evil old man who lures a young gambler down on his luck into an insane bet. The ending should have been predictable when the glamorous woman walks into the room wearing long, elegant gloves, but it took me by surprise then. It goes without saying that countless gamblers have paid a fair bigger price than the intended victim herein nearly did.

Watch this, learn, and gamble no more.

Original Black-and-White AHP Versions Led Me Here

[jasonbourneagain · 9/10 · 16 October 2018]

I did not see the 1985 AHP Pilot episode together, but saw them in separate episodes. What led me here were three episodes from the original AHP presents. I saw "Bang! You're Dead!" with Billy Mumy as the little boy, "Man from the South" with Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre and the great atmospheric chiller episode "An Unlocked Window" with Dana Wynter and T.C. Jones. I finally was able to see all the 1985 versions and they were great updates in their own right. "Bang! You're Dead!" is still unfathomable that something like that would happen, but I suppose we think it can only happen to some other family and not ours. Yet, who knows what happens when the favorite uncle comes to visit and just so happens to have a loaded gun in his luggage? The one episode whose original I have not yet seen is "Incident in a Small Jail." I saw only the Ned Beatty and Lee Ving version and Ving's Curt Venner character is quite menacing. He makes you believe he did it or could do it while salesman Larry Broome seems like a caring typical traveling salesman. "Man from the South" was a nice update with John Huston, Melanie Griffith, Steven Bauer and cameo roles of Tippi Hedren and Kim Novak. I enjoyed the episodes so much that I went out and bought a Zippo lighter. It does work fine and would light ten times in-a-row easily. The trick would be to make sure both the fluid and flint were adequate. That said, being under pressure of having one's finger chopped off immediately may make one nervous and miss. Finally, "An Unlocked Window" episodes were both great, but I enjoyed the original better. Clearly, it was the atmosphere that was created and Hitchcock's crew did a masterful job in making a show with parts of his great crime and suspense masterpiece "Psycho" film. Still, the story was compelling in the '85 version. 9/10 stars for AHP Pilot.

Bang Your Dead

[dtucker86 · 10/10 · 20 September 2023]

This movie was the pilot for a short-lived revival of Alfred Hitchock Presents where they basically just colored his humorous introductions by computer and did reboots of many of the old episodes, the only difference is they were in color with different actors nothing very original about that. These four "playlets" in the film are reboots of the old show as well. The Man From The South had originally starred a young Steven McQueen. I think the best of these shows is Bang! Your Dead. Hitchcock had foresaken his usual dry humor in introducing the original saying it was dealing with the serious episode of guns and children. Its chilling that today that message is as important as ever. There is real Hitchcockian suspense as the adults race the clock to find that little girl with the loaded gun. Billy Mumy, who starred in the original episode, has a cameo. Mumy gave an intervew where he talked of how Hitchcock threatned to nail his foot to the floor if he didn't stop fidgeting during a scene. Apparently he never forgave Hitchcock for that!

An unlocked window

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 17 May 2022]

In "An Unlocked Window" two nurses spend a terrifying night in a secluded large house in the country while there's a serial killer on the loose. An ok remake of 1964 version in the old Alfred Hitchcock hour, though definitely not on par. For one, the shock ending isn't as shocking, and if I had seen this one first I would've sussed it out. Secondly, it seems to be rushed and not as developed. But it still watchable due to the good sort.