Michael Haneke indicted all those viewers who look toward violence and torture for their mass entertainment.

When Lionel’s (Timothy Balme) love for a local girl is no longer held down by his controlling mother (Elizabeth Moody), decaying zombie-like creatures emerge to act as horrifying expression of momma’s villainous control.

Totem is heartfelt and life-affirming, without succumbing to the generic temptation of being too sentimental.

The 39 Steps is one of Hitchcock films based upon an innocent man forced to go on the run, like The Lodger (1926), Saboteur (1942), North by Northwest (1959).