Family Plot

Hitchcock, 120m, 1976

Hitchcock's final opus, it is befittingly a mellow suspense comedy, which keeps you pleasantly engaged. A wealthy single woman engages the services of a spiritual medium to locate her heir, illegitimate son of her deceased sister, who had been discarded to protect family honor. Another strand of narrative is about a jeweler who carries out a series of kidnappings for a ransom in diamonds. One of the hilarious sequences is about a chase sequence in a dangerous winding road where all the controls of the vehicle have been put out of function and the driver has to manage his hysterical female companion. There are memorable scenes in a graveyard and in a church and the director has enough room to exercise his macabre sense of humor in this less than terrifying parting offering.

Stars: 3.5/5