Starting Sunday May 8, the Oxford Mail and Phoenix Picturehouse are once again staging their annual film festival, which this year will be showcasing the greatest films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Over the six-day salute to the world’s number one scare-meister, we’ll be screening some of cinema’s most shocking and celebrated thrillers, including Psycho, North By Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window, Frenzy, The Lodger and Strangers On A Train.

Many of these films have not been presented on the BIG SCREEN for decades in this country and according to Jeremy Smith, entertainment’s editor on the Oxford Mail, this is one festival that promises to deliver shocks and thrills aplenty.

He said: “From the unforgettable shower scene in Psycho to the iconic crop duster attack in North By Northwest – named by Empire magazine as the greatest scene of all time in its 1001 Greatest Movie Moments guide - this week-long presentation of Hitchcock classics clearly shows how the Leytonstone lad, famous in his own right for his blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameos, laid the groundwork for today’s cinema.”

Phoenix Picturehouse manager Suzy Sheriff added: “This is the fifth year of the festival and each time it gets more ambitious and exciting “Alfred Hitchock is as synonymous with thrills and scares as James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar) with groundbreaking epics and Steven Spielberg (E.T, Jurassic Park) with blockbusters “I can’t wait for the festival to start.”

* The Alfred Hitchcock Festival starts on Sunday, May 8 at 1.30pm with a double bill of The Lodger and Strangers On A Train. This is followed by Vertigo (Monday, May 9, 9.00pm), Rear Window (Tuesday, May 10, 9.00pm), Psycho (Wednesday, May 11, 9.00pm), Frenzy (Thursday, May 12, 9.00pm) and North By Northwest (Friday, May 13, 9.00pm).

Tickets are HALF PRICE for anyone who presents a copy of that day’s Oxford Mail.

For further information call Jeremy Smith on 01865 425435 or the Phoenix on 01865 316570. Or go to www.facebook.com/PhoenixPicturehouse and www.twitter.com/PhoenixPH