I'm not an expert on Dario Argento, having only seen a few of his films, but I do know that his fans generally feel his most recent movies are not up to his older films. From this film (and after earlier seeing his Dracula film), I think I can see why that is the case. As you probably have concluded from the title, this movie is aimed at being a tip of the hat to Alfred Hitchcock, and it does indeed have a number of references to several Hitchcock movies. And the movie does have three scenes (an outdoor scene taking place in the rain at night, a bathtub sequence, and the climatic sequence) that do have a taste of the suspense style Hitchcock was known for.
Yet even in those three scenes, the movie doesn't have the impact found in Hitchcock's (as well as Argento's) best films. The movie has three big problems. First, it's really cheaply made. Even though the story didn't require stuff like special effects, the movie has a real tacky look. The second problem is that the movie is really slow for the first two-thirds. Padding abounds. The third problem is that the central protagonist is not very sympathetic. In fact, he's kind of annoying.
I could list a number of other problems with the movie, like what the point of that long opening scene was, but that would be redundant. To sum up, this is disappointing stuff for Argento and/or Hitchcock fans. About the kindest thing that can be said about the movie is that it isn't as bad as Argento's "Dracula".
Yet even in those three scenes, the movie doesn't have the impact found in Hitchcock's (as well as Argento's) best films. The movie has three big problems. First, it's really cheaply made. Even though the story didn't require stuff like special effects, the movie has a real tacky look. The second problem is that the movie is really slow for the first two-thirds. Padding abounds. The third problem is that the central protagonist is not very sympathetic. In fact, he's kind of annoying.
I could list a number of other problems with the movie, like what the point of that long opening scene was, but that would be redundant. To sum up, this is disappointing stuff for Argento and/or Hitchcock fans. About the kindest thing that can be said about the movie is that it isn't as bad as Argento's "Dracula".