12 Blatant Copycat Movie Pairs (And Which Was Better)

11. Psycho & Homicidal

A Bugs Life Antz
Paramount/Columbia

Right from the start, William Castle’s 1961 psychological horror Homicidal was accused of piggybacking on the success of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho released less than a year earlier.

And while it’s true that Homicidal shares a good few similarities with its predecessor – murder, an icy blonde, cross-dressing and a hotel (briefly) – the relationship between Castle and the Master of Suspense was more symbiotic than it first seems.

It’s said that after the success of Castle’s low-budget 1959 horror House on Haunted Hill, Hitchcock was inspired to create something in a similar vein and lo and behold Psycho was born. Castle, a fan of Hitchcock himself, in turn made Homicidal no doubt in part hoping to coast on the success of Psycho but also sticking to what he knew best – horror movies.

Which One Was Better?

Inevitably, it has to be Hitchcock’s Psycho. It’s a landmark film with such an influential legacy that to rank it below Homicidal would be to downplay its part in cinema history.

But to give Homicidal its dues, however derivative it may be, it’s still a great film and quite ground-breaking for its time and as the lesser known of the two it still has the capacity to deliver a few shocks to those that have yet to see it.

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