(Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
(essay by Troy)
Psycho, simply put, is the most influential horror movie of all-time. Here we have the film that took horror from being generally a genre with supernatural and gothic traditions, making it popular to place the emphasis on the modern, the domestic, and the psychosexual. Or, as Jamie has stated before it represents the “year zero” of the genre, creating a divide of those films that influenced Psycho and the films that were influenced by Psycho. 50 years later it’s narratives, themes, and aesthetics have been referenced and drawn upon in 100’s of films, yet no one has been able to quite perfect the combination of style, tension, timing, narrative misdirection, and morbid wit that Hitchcock did.
Filled with its fair share of remarkable moments, Psycho is forever connected to one indelible and iconic series of images, “the shower scene.” It’s memorable for several reasons. There’s the level of technical ingenuity that’s on display — it famously has not a single penetration of the knife, yet our mind connects those dots in the midst of the scene’s myriad of cuts and camera angles. Of course, there’s also an underlying sleight of hand at work here, Hitchcock slyly playing the audience “like an organ,” wherein he shifts our voyeuristic and objectifying gaze into one of complicity when Marion is attacked and her body is disposed of.
Those are part of what make this a staple of Film Study 101 classes, but what makes it stand the test of time is the abject fear it still manages to create, even after multiple viewings and the likelihood that everyone watching knows what’s lurking around the corner 40-minutes into the proceedings. I’ve seen it numerous times and it never fails to shock and chill me in its suddenness and violence, a combination of disorienting music and editing, murderous shadows, naked helplessness, and hemmed-in claustrophobia, finalized with Marion’s desperate grasp and a haunting focus on her lifeless stare looking back at us.
It’s the quintessential horror movie sequence and a permanent fixture in our cinematic cultural heritage.
(this film appeared on Troy’s list at #1, Jamie’s at #5 , Robert’s at #2, and Kevin’s at #2)
Hi! Troy…
Woot! Woot!
By the way, Who is Robert Denby?
Cont…
Why, he’s elusive DeeDee! But here’s some explanation:
http://capperwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Robert_Denby
and here:
(the exact quote is at 5:52, but is also referenced many times thereafter)
Now this is more like it….
I’m not usually one for picture posts but, in this case, the film above totally warrants a visual demonstration.
Call it the greatest “rug-pull” a director has ever devised in the history of the film, the genius of Hitchcock and screenwriter Robert Bloch is to get you to think the whole thing is about Marion Crane getting away with the larcenous crime she has committed. Nowhere, prior to her talk with the “nice boy” that runs the motel she pops into that rainy night, does the director or writer ever hint that the whole story is really a red herring for another narrative that is brewing in the background waiting to take the spot. The cutting the knife does in the shower sequence not only cuts poor marion to shreds, but splits the film down the middle by ending the secondary narrative (Marions story) and putting full attention on the primary tale (Norman’s story).
The casting could not have been any better, and everyone gives it there best shot. However, simmering through it all, is the presence of Anthony Perkins as Norman. The role of a lifetime is given the performance of the actors career and every choice he makes for the character, both psychologically and physically is dead on. From the small stutter whenever he’s nervous or aroused (and often times both at the same time) to the nervous chewing of the Halloween candy as Arbogast interrogates him on Marion’s whereabouts. There is an innoccence to it all that really is the center to a character who really, as we’ll find, doesn’t know the difference between what’s wrong and right and what’s fantasy and what’s real.
The scares of this film never stop, and in the case of the afforementioned shower killing, never really done more skillfully by a director and editor. However, whereas the killing in the bathroom and Arbogast’s death on the stairs are often remembered and shouted out as favorite moments, its the quieter sequences that are the truest fires building. The sequence in the parlor, during the rain storm as Marion and Norman “talk” about his Mother’s “illness” is a masterpiece of implied suggestion and brooding malevolance. Notice the way Perkins sits straight up the moment it’s suggested the old lady be put into an asylum, almost like he himself feels that the implication is meant for him. The smile that he gives Marion as he looks at the taxidermy hanging on the wall behind him (“MY mother there? Why, she’s as harmless as one of those stuffed birds..”) and replies, honestly, about his mothers inability to harm anyone or anything (which, in reality, she can’t) is a slow boiled hang on the face of the protaginist in a gleeful twist by the director to suggest everything but give you nothing. This is one of the greatest pairings of actor and director in the history of cinema and the finest performance ever in a Hitchcock film.
Don’t even let me get started on the all strings score by Bernard Herrman which includes the most recognizable piece of music in cinema history and is a perfect example of the power film music has on an audience. Hitch always said that 90 percent of the effectiveness of the film rested on Bernard Herrmann. The slashing of the strings in the first bars of the title sequence to start the movie is like a kick off to a great and fast chase and immediately signifies the rollercoaster ride that you’re about to get onto. I think the master of suspense musta been tickled pink when he saw the final edited version of the film with the score put to it for the first time.
TROY is so right here in his essay. This is the divider between the films that influenced some of the style of PSYCHO and the films that will be influenced by PSYCHO. You can argue that PSYCO is a thriller, or a dark comedy, or neo noir (and I have argued all of this at some point or another) but, when brass tax is asked for, I have to agree that categorizing this film in the frame of a split second its trues genre is horror, and it’s probably the greatest horror film of them all…
I cannot disagree on this choice at all…
As near to a perfect movie as they come.
I spent all day yesterday laying in bed with a severe case of the flu. I never even once came down to check the PC in fact. The symptoms began the night before, but I handled them well enough to attend a screening of PSYCHO at the Film Forum on Friday night with the family, Broadway Bob, Jason Giampietro, …..and…..Joel Bocko! Joel is spending several days in NYC with friends, and he took in Hitchcock’s classic on it’s opening day of a one-week run. Celebrated critic David Thomson introduced the film (intoning a very British “Good Evening” at the outset) and signed copies in the lobby of his new book “The Moment of Psycho” (How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America To Love Murder).
Talk about the coincidence of Troy’s post here?!? Well, to be honest, this was the odds on favorite from the start of this glorious venture to end up in post position. And while the boys insightfully agreed on having four #1s, it seems more than reasonable that this monumental horror classic be the final one covered in this countdown. Yes, this is absolutely the most influential horror film of all-time (a little Brian de Palma, anyone?) and it continues to set the bar in so many ways. Bernard Herrmann’s pulsating score is one of the cinema’s greatest achievements, and it’s vital in establishing the mood from the opening credit sequence. The fact that all of us had seen the film dozens of times over the years didn’t prevent us from enjoying it all over again. My oldest daughter Melanie (14) had never seen the film, and I observed her shielding her eyes during several sequences including the famous one Troy brilliantly re-enacts with his spectacular screen cap display.
This is really the definition of horror, folks, and a fitting finale to a one of WitD’s most spendiferous ventures.
Troy, Jamie, Kevin and Robert. Take ten bows apiece. You all deserve it.
I am shocked, SHOCKED to discover Psycho at #1. 😉 Well, I AM one for picture posts, and I DEFINITELY thought this was the right approach to take here. I especially like that you began with the shots of Norman peeking through the wall; that moment a) is the true beginning of our shifting our point of view to him (not the scene where he’s cleaning up which is usually listed as the turning point), b) our first clue that he’s a little bit creepy (well our first overt clue, he’s offbeat during his whole conversation with her), c) is when the tone of the film starts to shift, and things start to get weird. I’ve never seen the movie without knowing what’s coming so it’s hard for me to see as the twisty film everyone does; rather, I find myself more and more interested in all the clues Hitchcock gives us as to where we’re headed, and also the nature of our involvement and his presentation of Norman (who is charming from the first, but who simply never comes off as the slightly eccentric but somewhat wholesome all-American boy many reviewers seem to suggest; I don’t think Marion is soaking in his good advice in that dinner scene I think she’s thinking, get me out of the room with the wack job as soon as possible…). I may write more about the film in a week – I was going to do a write-up tomorrow, naming it as my “#1 horror film” in response to the countdown but I think another film will take that spot. Still there’s definitely some thoughts on Hitchcock’s classic circulating in my head that I’d like to focus on, even if just for a small little essay. Great stuff, here.
And congrats to all for accomplishing this ambitious countdown. It was a lot of fun.
My number #1 choice also! You guys did a great job here, congrats to all on the countdown. PSYCHO is just a perfect film, the music, the atmosphere, the direction, the black humor, the perfect pairing of Perkins and Leigh, the editing, and of course the pulling of the rug out from under the audience with the star dying so early. Pure cinema as Hitchcock would say.
Nothing much to say, perfect choice and just a good movie, a masterpiece, one of my favorite Hitchcock movies.
Good job guys. Another countdown comes to an end. Psycho is one of those films that has been spoken about so much its hard to add anything new. Troy’s use of images is a perfect way to wrap it all up.
Thanks for the comments everyone — glad you all enjoyed the countdown and the work we all put into it. I’m in a bit of a rush here (about to take our daughter out trick or treating) but there are some great thoughts on the film in the comments above, so I’ll attempt to get to them tomorrow as well as read through the post with everyone’s personal top horror films.
Happy Halloween!
Hope Madelyn has a great time dressed up yesterday Troy!
She did:
http://picasaweb.google.com/troyolson1/MadelynOctober2010#5534617730441725554
Hi! Troy,
Oh! yes, I had to return to read your precise and straight to the point post and share a link to my writer Andrew Katsis’ review of [Alfred] Hitchcock’s 1960 films Psycho…Writer Andrew Katsis Review Hitchcock’s 1960 Film Psycho
My writer Andrew, focused on the film important attributes in his review, but I on the other hand, decided in this same review to focus on the shower scene that you, so vividly, described in the quote that I quoted below…
Troy said,”Filled with its fair share of remarkable moments, Psycho is forever connected to one indelible and iconic series of images, ”the shower scene.” It’s memorable for several reasons. There’s the level of technical ingenuity that’s on display — it famously has not a single penetration of the knife, yet our mind connects those dots in the midst of the scene’s myriad of cuts and camera angles. Of course, there’s also an underlying sleight of hand at work here, Hitchcock slyly playing the audience “like an organ,” wherein he shifts our voyeuristic and objectifying gaze into one of complicity when Marion is attacked and her body is disposed of.”
Troy said, “Those are part of what make this a staple of Film Study 101 classes, but what makes it stand the test of time is the abject fear it still manages to create, even after multiple viewings and the likelihood that everyone watching knows what’s lurking around the corner 40-minutes into the proceedings. I’ve seen it numerous times and it never fails to shock and chill me in its suddenness and violence, a combination of disorienting music and editing, murderous shadows, naked helplessness, and hemmed-in claustrophobia, finalized with Marion’s desperate grasp and a haunting focus on her lifeless stare looking back at us…It’s the quintessential horror movie sequence and a permanent fixture in our cinematic cultural heritage.”
I agree with you, wholeheartedly…I must admit there are several films in the canon of films that are as you say…“permanent fixture in our cinematic cultural heritage,” but this one film and “that one moment” is permanently “etched” in those who have experienced this film “cinematic mind” …Forever more!
[Postscript:Troy, very nice screenshot(s) to accompany your review of director [Alfred] Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho and if you scroll up and down the page really fast…you, can experience the shower scene as it happened on film.]
By the way, I hope that Madelyn, enjoyed going Trick or Treating this year. I wonder if this was the first-time she experienced this custom which is usually celebrated in the United States, Canada, England and Ireland. (Methinks!)
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉 🙂
What a tremendous comment in every sense of the term!
DeeDee — Ha, I also tried that “screencaps as flipbook” method.
Hi! Troy…
I have to wait until my sound on my computer is repaired in order to hear the exact quote over there on the youtube video that you have posted.
However,
Thanks, for sharing the links…Now, I Know why the question is asked… Who Is Robert Denby?
DeeDee 😉 🙂
By the way, Sam Juliano…mentioned one recently released book about Hitchcock and Murder, but here are two very interesting book about the Hitch’s films and the psychology behind… \
…The Hitchcock Murders by author Peter Conrad and the recently, released [Abrams] book Piece By Piece by author Laurent Bouzereau…with a foreword by his daughter Patricia Hitchcock-O’Connell.
My question is…Will the books written about him [Hitchcock] ever cease?
DeeDee 😉 🙂
DEE-DEE…
While there have been many books that look at both Hitchcock’s life and his films, there is really only ONE book that is mandatory in the study of the great director and his works.
In all seriousness, the book is really authored by the director himself as its a transcript of 4 interviews Hitchcock did with interviewer, film critic and master director Francois Truffaut. The book is simply called HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT. I know I am one of many serious students in the study of film and this particular director and this book is indespesible when it come to digging into the methods and the thinking Hitchcock unfolded in the creation of these gems. Like an interview in a magazine, the director is put through a series of probing questions and, rather bluntly, is answered with the kind of droll bravado that could only be Hitchcock himself. The book is, at once, entertaining, informative, educational and, with his dry dark humor, absolutely hysterically funny. The book is set up into chapters that cover three films apiece and the book, in total spans Hitch’s entire career and every film he ever made. The passages on SHADOW OF A DOUBT ellude to his thinking that it’s his favorite of all his pictures and the chapters pertaining to PSYCHO and NORTH BY NORTHWEST reveal his fondness for what he called “something” fresh and new in each genre they are catergorized in, namely HORROR (PSYCHO) and ADVENTURE (NORTH BY NORTHWEST).
The book has been, consistantly, in print for more than thirty years and no lover of films library of books on the study of film is complete without it. The book is also packed with screen caps illustrating the visual genius of Hitchcock, one of the worlds greatest film-makers…
AMAZON will have it if you are interested and I know BARNES AND NOBLE keeps it in stock in both their stores and on the net…
Dennis, I love the book too, but my absolute favorite – and one Hitchcock himself was honored by is “The Art of Alfred Hitchcock” by Donald Spoto.
Robin Wood’s “Hitchcock Films” rates highly as well.
Yeah, I originally was going to accompany this with excerpts from the Truffaut book, but there’s really only one paragraph on the shower scene, per se, so I skipped it. It is a fascinating book, as you say, as close to an autobiography as we’ll ever get.
I also read the first half of the Patrick McGilligan biography, which I thought was quite exhaustive, though I seem to remember some quibbles over the authority of the book (or am I misremembering again).
Great presentation Troy, and I must say… this sequence is so often discussed but my favorite image, or move in it is still shown in the last cap here. The violence of her head hitting the cold tile floor still does it for me. As an actress this must have been incredibly difficult; you’re cold, wet, and the tile is unforgiving and the take must have needed several tries. After awhile it must have hurt, but they nailed it.
Oh and the transition/dissolve from the drain to the pupil (that starts this move) is pretty great too.
I still have no problem saying the shower/bathroom kill in Argento’s DEEP RED is just as affective, though most here wouldn’t want to humor that for a nanosecond.
Kudos to you Jamie for giving me the idea…I just followed it through to completion.
I too love that last cap — in fact, the hardest part was determining exactly where to stop start and what to leave out. I liked starting at the moment Norman begins his descent into what he’ll end up doing, by peeping in on Marion and I initially was going to go through the moment that Norman discovers the body, but it’s just more powerful ending on that last image of Marion’s eyes staring at us.
I wonder what’s been copied/homaged more, the pulling back of the shower curtain or the drain/eye dissolve?
You are probably right — there are a number of scenes that are similarly affective to this one in horror history. I like the one in DEEP RED too (a film full of memorable death scenes), but the power of the PSYCHO scene is in its affecting nature mixed with its iconic/defining nature.
@Dennis:
Hi! Dennis…
Oh! yes, I own that book (Hitchcock/Truffaut:The Definitive Study Of Alfred Hitchcock by Truffaut)
As a matter of fact, I’am offering it in a contest next month over there on my “horror” blog along with a trivia book (about Hitch’s films) and a reproduction poster of Hitch’s 1960 film Psycho… Therefore, every word that you have written in your critique/comment…pointing out the “merits” of this book and why it should be on my bookshelf, I can in all honesty agree with you…I have no other choice!
@ Jamie:
Jamie said,”Troy, and I must say… this sequence is so often discussed but my favorite image, or move in it is still shown in the last cap here. The violence of her head hitting the cold tile floor still does it for me. As an actress this must have been incredibly difficult; you’re cold, wet, and the tile is unforgiving and the take must have needed several tries. After awhile it must have hurt, but they nailed it…”
Now, in response to your comment…I don’t think that actress Janet Leigh, had to experience or go through any of the “pain” and “suffering” which you pointed out in your comment.
Therefore, I would advise you, to pick up a copy of the aforementioned book that Dennis, mentioned…Because on page 277 of this book director Alfred Hitchcock, pointed out…
“I used a live girl (Instead of, a specially made up torso…which would have spurted blood away from the knife… Yikes!) who stood in for actress Janet Leigh, a naked model (I think the live girl name was Marli Renfro,) we only showed Miss Leigh’s hands, shoulders and head all the rest was the stand-in…”
…Jamie, if this scene required as many takes…I would think that it hurt her body double Miss Marli Renfro Instead of, Miss Janet Leigh.
On personal note: I don’t think that major star(s) in films experience the “slings” and “arrows” when it comes to filming the difficult action or scenes in films. (Not unless…they wanted to for instance, while watching a documentary about actor Burt Lancaster, it was revealed that he did his own stunts in a film entitled The Train.)
DeeDee 😉 🙂
Hi! Sam Juliano, Allan, and Troy…
Wow! Troy, I just checked out the photographs of Madelyn, was she dressed as a Camel? I especially, like the photograph of the lady holding Madelyn, and the man with the mask on and Madelyn, don’t even blink an eye…to show that she is frighten.
Troy, I don’t think that you, took too many photograph…Ha! (All Of the photographs are great!)
By the way, How is Madelyn doing? Because her lip looks as if she never had a cleft…Even though I think that you should accept and love a child come what may…Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉 🙂
She’s a monkey, DeeDee and she is doing fantastic. As you point out, her lip looks fantastic and according to her surgeon, everything is going perfectly on that front.
As for her not scaring easily, it’s true, stuff other kids apparently get scared at she just laughs at it or investigates it. I think I have a fellow horror film watcher on my hands 🙂
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