Anastos Blogspot: Psycho (1960): Review

Figure 1: Film Poster.

Psycho (1960) is an American suspense horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie stars Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. The screenplay is based on the crimes of Ed Gein. The film is about Marion Crane who runs out with the money of a customer in order to go and meet her love and marry him. In her way she stops in a motel to rest for the night where she meets Norman. The film depicts social taboos and the psych situations that exist in our societies. “With Psycho, Hitchcock dabbled in cinematic taboos, pushing the censorship envelope. For example, this was the first American motion picture to feature a toilet being flushed. Also, Janet Leigh is shown in her underwear on more than one occasion.” (Berardinelli, 1990). Clearly from the beginning we can see that Norman’s personality is enslaved into his mother character.

Figure 2: The characters of Norman and Marion.

The film is shot in black and white in the 1960s. It’s shot in black and white in order to be more realistic and to give a better experience as a horror movie. Also the orchestral music in the film gives more suspense to the film. “It adds a great deal of atmosphere, foreboding, and mystery that might have very well been lost in color. And the flawless, eerie music score by Bernard Herrmann, which has been largely ripped-off since, is one of the most well-known scores in motion picture history.” (Putman, 1998). The shots are clearly indicating a psychotic atmosphere during the whole movie. Long shots and close shots in different angles indicating that the characters are being watched by someone 3^rd make the scenes more intense and gives a different sense to every scene. Especially in the scene where Norman is telling to Marion about his unusual hobby it’s clearly that he is being watched by someone. Probably by his mother.

Figure 3: Norman being watched by someone 3^rd.

Marion is being murdered in the famous shower scene where shooting by 77 different angles and 50 cuts achieved the remarkable scene which remained in the history of horror films. “The shower scene, now one of the most famous and replayed moments in movie history, was just the knife's edge of this masterpiece of fear-dredging, Freudian obsession, and sadistic humor.” (Meyerson, 1999).

Figure 4: Marion being murdered in the shower.

Hitchcock uses a variety of techniques to keep the suspension and to change from one scene to another. It’s clearly seen where he zooms in the swirling blood in the bathtub and changing to Marion’s eye. “Hitchcock’s brilliance in shifting from the blood swirling down the drain to a close-up of Marion’s sightless eye is one of the most chilling sights in motion picture history.” (Harris, 2007).

Figure 5: Swirling Blood scene in the shower changing to Marion’s eye.

In the end many incidents happen, another murder of the detective that has been hired to investigate the disappearance of Marion. Norman is psyched with his mother persona which has died 10 years ago. He has a double personality and he was the one who committed all the crimes. In the end of the film we can clearly see the good use of edit where in Norman’s face his skeleton mother face is overlayed in the cell that he has been locked.