A comparison of Alfred Hitchcock and Edgar Allan Poe. For both madness exists in the world

Fear, terror and suspense are the most vivid emotions created by Poe's stories and by Hitchcock's films. Several themes are common to both: the madness that exists in the world, the paranoia caused by isolation which guides people's actions, the conflict between appearance and reality along with the double aspect of the human nature, and the power of the dead over the living. Not only the themes are similar in both men's work but also …

…Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock, in their themes, their methods for reaching the reader or spectator, and their fascination with the human mind and its complexities -- their view of the world. The semblance of two of the most well known masters of terror and suspense is striking -- as seen in Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and Hitchcock's Psycho. Both men are fascinated by mystery, by horror, by madness, by death.