Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger Reframed for the Vertical Microdrama Era

Hitchcock’s 1927 silent thriller finds new life in a vertical, mobile-first format.

Alfred Hitchcock Reframed for the Microdrama Generation With Vertical Re-Release of The Lodger

One of cinema’s most foundational thrillers has been quietly reengineered for a new generation of viewers — not through restoration, but through orientation.

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, the 1927 silent thriller that cemented Alfred Hitchcock as a filmmaker to watch, has become one of the first classic feature films to be fully reframed for vertical, mobile-first viewing. The experiment is now live in the U.S. via UK-based microdrama platform Tattle TV, marking a notable — and potentially controversial — moment in film preservation and distribution.

Originally released as a widescreen silent feature, The Lodger follows a mysterious tenant suspected of being a serial killer targeting young blonde women on Tuesday nights. Long regarded as Hitchcock’s first true thriller, the film introduced themes of suspicion, voyeurism, and moral panic that would later define his career. Now, nearly a century later, those same images have been algorithmically reframed to fit the vertical language of modern mobile viewing.

According to Tattle TV, the project represents “one of the first known instances of a classic feature film being fully reframed for vertical, mobile-first consumption.” While licensing restrictions prevent the vertical version from being released in the UK or EU, the silent film’s U.S. rights allow for this type of adaptation — opening the door to reinterpretations that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago.

Tattle co-founder Philip McGoldrick cited the company’s use of AI-assisted workflows as a key factor in making the conversion viable, positioning the app as an early adopter in the race to bring archival and classic cinema into the microdrama ecosystem. The platform has already made waves by discussing plans to repackage other British cultural staples, including Monty Python, alongside original vertical programming.

For genre fans, the move raises larger questions. Is this a gateway for younger audiences to discover foundational horror and thriller cinema — or a step toward fragmenting film language beyond recognition? Either way, The Lodger becoming vertical feels symbolically fitting. Hitchcock’s earliest nightmare about being watched is now literally designed to be consumed in the palm of your hand.

Whether this reframing becomes a novelty or the start of a wider trend, one thing is clear: the past is no longer off-limits to the scroll.