The world's great villains as directed by history's greatest film director. An in-depth exploration of their motivations, psyche, and what makes them special. That's Hitchcock's Villains.
We had already spent an entire year with his films. Did we have anything else to say? It turns out we did. Alfred Hitchcock's villains are so well-realized, so deep, so fascinating, we HAD to explore them further. We HAD to get inside their heads. We HAD to figure out what made them stand out from the cinema crowd.
That's exactly what we (Eric San Juan and Jim McDevitt) do in Hitchcock's Villains: Murderers, Maniacs and Mother Issues (Scarecrow Press, 2013), a book Publisher's Weekly called a "probing appreciation" of "Hitchcock's misfits."
Praise for Hitchcock's Villains
“This probing appreciation by San Juan and McDevitt (A Year of Hitchcock: 52 Weeks with the Master of Suspense) looks at the complex, twisted minds of bad guys in the films of Alfred Hitchcock … Film buffs and diehard Hitchcock fans will delight in this serious discussion of these peculiar fellows who, after all, are “merely fun house mirror reflections” of the British director.” – Publisher’s Weekly
“In 2011, San Juan and McDevitt wrote the well-received A Year of Hitchcock (Scarecrow Press), which analyzed the over 50 silent and sound films that Alfred Hitchcock directed. In this follow-up volume the same authors examine the various forms of villainy that have been portrayed in his films … The coverage is thorough and probing and the authors’ insight into this material is impressive. . . .[I]t will be a fine addition to libraries specializing in film studies.” —American Reference Books Annual
“Hitchcock’s Villains is written in a personable, imminently readable way, perhaps making it feel light at first blush. It is not intellectually light however, and brims with thought provoking suppositions and assertions. Hitchcock neophytes will find much value in the overview quality of both Hitchcock’s work and the salient points of his biography.” —Pretty Clever Films
“Hitchcock demonstrated an affection for his villains, the authors point out, and they offer an engaging investigation into the nuances of the characters he created.” –Book News, Inc.
“San Juan and McDevitt give us a satisfying version of Hitchcock lite, with enough interesting tidbits to whet our appetite for juicy gossip . . .[I]f one wants a book to keep by the television, so that one may riffle its pages for quick facts and racy conjectures, Hitchcock’s Villains will do nicely.” —The Journal of American Culture