Psycho (1960 film) Totally Explained

Everything about Psycho 1960 Film totally explained

Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock, from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano about a psychotic killer. It is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, which was in turn inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein. and highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics, Psycho is also acclaimed as one of the most effective horror films.
   Hitchcock embraced Psycho as a means to regain success and individuality in an increasingly competitive genre. He had seen many B-movies churned out by William Castle such as House on Haunted Hill (1958), and by Roger Corman such as Bucket of Blood (1959) that cleaned up at box offices despite being panned by critics. There were also a series of competing directors who had tried their hand at typical Hitchcock fare in such films as When Strangers Marry (1944), The Spiral Staircase (1946), Gaslight (1944), and so forth.
   Furthermore, both Hitchcock and Henri-Georges Clouzot had adapted two books by the same authors with very different results. Clouzot's Les Diaboliques (1955) was critically acclaimed and financially successful, earning him the title of the "French Hitchcock," while Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) had failed both critically and financially. Other reasons for shooting in black and white were to prevent the shower scene from being too gory and that he was a fan of Les Diaboliques's use of black and white. the same location as his television show. Psycho was shot on a tight budget of $806,947.55, The scene was later reshot by Hitchcock, however, a little of the cut footage made its way into the film.
   Filming the murder of Arbogast proved tricky due to the overhead camera angle (to hide the film's twist). A camera track constructed on pulleys alongside the stairway together with a chair-like device had to be constructed and thoroughly tested over a period of weeks. Most of the shots are extreme close-ups except for medium shots in the shower directly before and directly after the murder. The combination of the close shots with the short duration between cuts makes the sequence feel longer, more subjective, more uncontrolled, and more violent than the images themselves were they presented alone or in a wider angle. In order to capture the straight-on shot of the shower head, the camera had to be equipped with a long lens. The inner holes on the spout were blocked and the camera placed farther back, so that the water appears to be hitting the lens but actually went around and past it., but Herrmann begged him to try it with the cue he'd composed. Afterwards Hitchcock agreed that it vastly intensified the scene and he nearly doubled Herrmann's salary. The sound of the knife entering flesh was created by plunging a knife into a casaba melon.
   It is sometimes claimed that Janet Leigh wasn't in the shower the entire time and a body double was used. However, in an interview with Roger Ebert, and in the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Leigh stated that she was in the scene the entire time; Hitchcock used a live model as her stand-in for only the scenes in which Bates wraps up Marion's body in a shower curtain and places her body in the trunk of her car.
   Another popular myth is that in order for Janet Leigh's scream in the shower to sound realistic, Hitchcock used ice-cold water. This was denied by Leigh on numerous occasions.
   It is often claimed that, despite its graphic nature, the "shower scene" never once shows a knife puncturing flesh.

Censorship

According to Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, the censors in charge of enforcing the Production Code for the MPAA wrangled with Hitchcock because some censors insisted they could see one of Janet Leigh's breasts. Hitchcock held onto the print for several days, left it untouched, and resubmitted it for approval. Astoundingly, each of the censors reversed their positions those who had previously seen the breast now did not, and those who had not, now did. They passed the film after the director removed one shot that showed the buttocks of Leigh's stand-in. was that Marion was shown flushing a toilet, with its contents (torn-up paper) fully visible. In film and TV at that time a toilet was never seen, let alone heard. This tradition became so well-known that later shows like All in the Family and Sanford and Son added a laugh track every time a flushing sound was heard.
Also, according to the "Making of" featurette on the Collector's Edition DVD, some censors objected to the use of the word "transvestite" in the film's closing scenes. This objection was withdrawn after writer Joseph Stefano took out a dictionary and proved to them that the word carried no hidden sexual context, but merely referred to "a man who likes to wear women's clothing".
Internationally, Hitchcock was forced to make minor changes to the film, mostly to the shower scene. Notably, in Britain the shot of Norman washing blood from his hands was objected to and in Singapore, though the shower scene was left untouched, the murder of Arbogast and a shot of Mother's corpse were removed. Other negative reviews stated, "a blot on an honorable career," "plainly a gimmick movie," and "merely one of those television shows padded out to two hours." Positive reviews stated, "Anthony Perkins' performance is the best of his career... Janet Leigh has never been better," "played out beautifully," and "first American movie since Touch of Evil to stand in the same creative rank as the great European films." A good example of the mix is the New York Herald Tribune's review, which stated, "...rather difficult to be amused at the forms insanity may take... keeps your attention like a snake-charmer." Other films inspired by the success of Psycho include William Castle's Homicidal, followed by a whole slew of more than thirteen other splatter films.

Norman Bates was ranked the second best villain on their list of the 50 Best villains in cinema history.

The music in the film was ranked #4 in the list of the 25 best film scores of all time.

Norman's famous line "A boy's best friend is his mother" was 56th on the list of the 100 Most memorable movie quotes in history. It appeared on a number of lists by websites, TV channels, magazines, and books including the following:

Its shower scene was featured as #4 on the list of Bravo Network's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

The finale was ranked #4 on Premiere's list of "The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History."

#11 in Entertainment Weekly's book titled The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.

References in popular culture

Psycho has become one of the most recognizable films in cinema history, and is arguably Hitchcock's most well-known film. The iconic shower scene is frequently spoofed, given homage to and referenced in popular culture, complete with the violin screeching sound effects. The Simpsons in particular has spoofed it on numerous occasions. while Principal Skinner's relationship with his mother is reminiscent of Norman Bates's.
   Notably, director Brian DePalma has referenced Psycho in his early films, borrowing Bernard Herrmann's famous shrieking violins for scenes in Carrie and (more briefly) in Dressed to Kill, a movie whose plot is heavily inspired by Psycho.
   An early stabbing murder in the "Terror in Topanga" segment of the horror anthology film Nightmares uses similar frenetic editing as that done for the shower murder in this movie. That '70s Show's Halloween special "Too Old To Trick Or Treat, Too Young To Die" parodies a number of films from Hitchcock's oeuvre, including a scene in which Kelso and Laurie mimic the shower scene from Psycho using red raspberry shampoo.
   In the last episode of the first season of The Golden Girls, the series leads find it hard to sleep after watching Psycho. Swiss thrash metal band Coroner used a still photograph from the film for the cover of their 1991 album Mental Vortex.
   In the survival horror video game Silent Hill, the protagonist Harry Mason visits a run-down Bates Motel, whose owner is identified simply as "Norman." Also, one of the streets in the town of Silent Hill is named Bloch after Psycho's author.
   Rapper Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" features the song "Kill You" a song containing the lyrics, 'A blood stain is orange after you wash it three or four times in the tub / But that's normal, ain't it Norman?' is a reference to the film Psycho's "Norman Bates".
   In World of Warcraft, the innkeeper of the Sepulcher in Silverpine Forest is Innkeeper Bates. Puddle of Mudd made a music video in the Bates motel for the song "Psycho" which also makes references to Michael Myers and Leatherface.
   The television series Charmed also makes a reference to Psycho in the episode entitled, "Chick Flick". When Piper Halliwell (played by Holly Marie Combs) runs away from Bloody Mary, she runs into the bathroom, locks the door, and hides in the shower, to which she says, "I'm being stalked by 'Psycho' killers, and I hide in the SHOWER?!", referencing the shower scene in Psycho.
   In a special episode of Fear Factor the contestants are staying in the Bates Motel, with several stunts that were inspired by the movie.
   In the 1999 video game Front Mission 3, a fictional serial killer named Anthony Barkins (also using the alias of Norman Bates) is mentioned throughout the game. His name is a reference to Anthony Perkins, the actor who played Norman Bates.
   An ad campaign for Gibson's Robot Guitar features one where an unnamed obese male is in the shower, crudely singing the main riff from Smoke on the Water. The scene then continues to the point where the Robot Guitar kills the man, with a version of the screeching violins played by overdriven guitars. the scene ends with the man's hand sliding down the shower wall, with the fender logo on his hand.

Interpretation and themes

The film often features shadows, mirrors, windows, and, less so, water. The shadows are present from the very first scene where the blinds make bars on Marion and Sam as they peer out the window. The stuffed birds' shadows loom over Marion as she eats, and Mother is seen in only shadows until the very end. More subtly, backlighting turns the rakes in the hardware store into talons above Lila's head. The sex and violence in the film were unlike anything previously seen in a mainstream film. "[T]he shower scene is both feared and desired," wrote French film critic Serge Kaganski, "Hitchcock may be scaring his female viewers out of their wits, but he's turning his male viewers into potential rapists, since Janet Leigh has been turning men on ever since she appeared in her brassiere in the first scene."

Sequels and remakes

The film spawned three sequels: Psycho II (1983), Psycho III (1986), and the prequel (1990), the last being a TV movie written by the original screenplay author Joseph Stefano. Anthony Perkins returned to his role of Norman Bates in all three sequels, also directing part III, and the voice of Norman Bates' mother was maintained by noted radio actress Virginia Gregg with the exception of Psycho IV where the role was played by Olivia Hussey. Vera Miles also reprised her role of Lila Crane in Psycho II. The sequels were generally considered inferior to the original. Hitchcock didn't participate in the making of any of the Psycho sequels (he died before any of them were made).
A spinoff of the Psycho series is Bates Motel (1987) a failed TV pilot turned TV movie. In it, the Bates Motel is bequeathed to Alex West (played by Bud Cort), a fellow inmate of the institution Norman Bates has been committed to. Because of Norman's death, it isn't considered canon to the rest of the Psycho series. Anthony Perkins declined to appear in the pilot, so Norman's cameo appearance was played by Kurt Paul, who was Perkins' stunt double on Psycho II and III.
In 1998, Gus Van Sant directed a remake of Psycho. The film is in color and features a different cast, but aside from this it's a virtually shot-for-shot remake copying Hitchcock's camera movements and editing. A Conversation with Norman (2005), directed by Jonathan M. Parisen, was a film inspired by Psycho. It premiered in New York City just three days short of the 45th anniversary of the premiere of the original film. It starred Christopher Englese as Norman, Grace Orosz as Marion and Tom Loggins as Sam.

Partial bibliography

The following publications are among those devoted to the production of Psycho:

Naremore, James. Filmguide to Psycho. Indiana University Press, 1973.

Anobile, Richard J.; editor. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (The Film Classics Library). Avon Books, 1974. This volume, published before the proliferation of home video, is entirely comprised of photo reproductions of film frames along with dialogue captions, creating a fumetti of the entire motion picture.

Rebello, Stephen, Psycho: The Making of Alfred Hitchcock's Masterpiece. Cinefantastique, April 1986 (Volume 16, Number 4/5). Comprehensive 22-page article.

Rebello, Stephen. Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. Dembner Books, 1990. A definitive "making of" account of all stages of making of the film as well as its aftermath.

Leigh, Janet with Christopher Nickens. Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller. Harmony Press, 1995.

Durgnat, Ramond E. A Long Hard Look at Psycho (BFI Film Classics). British Film Institute, 2002.

Kolker, Robert; editor. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho: A Casebook. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Skerry, Philip J. The Shower Scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho: Creating Cinematic Suspense and Terror. Edwin Mellen Press, 2005.Further Information

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