Screening Report:  The Murder Sequence in Strangers on a Train

Jump scare and grotesque images are some of the typical ways a horror director can threaten a spectator’s sense of security. These familiar techniques can make a film too predictable, too generic, and too “hemorrhagic.” But Hitchcock does something completely different.   He exploits the spectators’ expectations in the horror genre, which makes him one of the most influential filmmakers. His precise filmic language, which manifests in the mise en scène, pan shots, close ups, chiaroscuro photography, and symbolic sounds, creates an unspoken mood that is threatening and ominous and, at times, seductively and disturbingly disorienting.  Suspense manifests itself through our anticipation of what might happen next. But usually, what we normally anticipate is not always in accord with our initial thoughts and feelings. This unique style from Hitchcock makes him one of the most creative auteurs in the suspense and horror genre.

Strangers on a Train is about a famed tennis player, Guy, who is frustrated being married to a philandering woman. While on a train ride, he meets a gregarious and charming psychopath, Bruno, and is later lured into a personal conversation about removing people from their lives: For Bruno it is his father, and for Guy, it is his wife. The conversation ends up being misconstrued into a murder-for-hire pact as Bruno decides to get rid of Guy’s wife, Marion, in exchange for Guy to get rid of Bruno’s father.

This plot brings us to the most striking scene that epitomizes Hitchcock’s subversive filmmaking in Strangers on the Train, which consists of the events that lead to Marion’s murder. The entire sequence is shot in low-key lighting, which creates a mood of mystery, eeriness, and uncertainty. The images of Marion and her friends appear in silhouette form as they enter the tunnel. This confuses the spectators—especially when we know that her killer, Bruno, is following her. However, there are moments in the sequence where we do not know Bruno’s whereabouts. It looks as if he has lost her because he is no longer in the field of shot. Hitchcock’s unknowns always keep us in suspense. But at the same time, we can anticipate his presence soon, since he is on a mission to kill Marion.

Hitchcock places the murder scene in an atypical environment—a carnival. Usually, it is a setting filled with pleasure and excitement, a notably nonthreatening place and event. We would never associate a carnival as a place of terror. However, Hitchcock uses this setting in an ironic sense where excitement morphs itself into a horrific thriller. This is underscored by two conflicting sounds: the ambient sounds of the carnival festivities that suggest amusement such as bells, whistles, music and then later, the confusing sound of a woman’s scream. We would normally think that the killing is actually going to happen in a carnival tunnel ride since it is the perfect setting: dark, hidden, and surreptitious.   When Marion and her friends enter the tunnel, we hear a woman screaming. We are convinced Bruno has killed Marion and has completed his mission, which can be seen as a relief as we are spared from the visual macabre. But such idea is debunked as Marion exits the tunnel unscathed. At this point, we learned that the scream is from excitement and not from terror. Thus, what we would normally expect does not happen.

As a result, we are convinced that death is not imminent, as we relax a little after finding out Marion is unharmed, especially in the most opportune moment. But this is the perfect time when Hitchcock decides to frighten us—and does so by exploiting our expectations. When Marion is actually killed, we do not actually see the event happening before our eyes. Rather, it is reflected on one of the frames of Marion’s glasses, thereby, providing a frame-within-a-frame technique both literally and figuratively. Such a technique makes it more disturbing. Hitchcock captures a silent, slow kill and the eyes cannot help but zero-in on this close-up shot, thereby, delineating any irrelevant images. What we see is more than what meets the eye.
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Hitchcock became one of the Hollywood directors who displayed both a sense of artistic control through creative expression. The anticipatory set-up that is often unpredictable epitomizes Hitchcock’s auteuristic vision when it comes to suspenseful and subversive storytelling. As spectators, we are constantly lured into the common trap of comfort and familiarity but in actuality, we find ourselves in a world of unpredictable terror.

Written specifically for the Film Criticism and Theory Course (Unit 4 Auteur Theory and the Studio System) on November 20, 2014