Old Hollywood filmmaking really set the bar for today’s directors, the best example being Alfred Hitchcock with his masterpiece Psycho (1960). Alfred Hitchcock’s spontaneous, psychological thriller, Psycho(1960) is the Origin of all movies of the psychological drama genre. “It is based on the book Psycho written by Robert Bloch, which, was based on the true story of serial killer Ed Gein even though Hitchcock claims it was inspired Bloch feels the whole idea was stolen. Psycho is one of the most known films in movie history and will continue to be because a lot of directors take aspects from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho(1960)” (Andrews,2014). “The plot revolves around Marion Crane, who has for ten years worked as an assistant. She dreads the fact she and her lover, Sam Loomis, a poor hardware store clerk, who can’t get married due to alimony payments. Marion is trusted with her boss’s money to take to the bank but instead, she decides to steal it. Marion thinks she can flee town without anyone tracking her with the money to join Sam in Fairvale, California where he lives Before anyone notices she fled with the money almost getting caught multiple times. Marion is able to make it to Fairvale at the Bates Motel where she stops because of her inability to drive due to the rain. the motel is run by Norman Bates, an insane taxidermist who lives with with his controlling mother in the old house on the hill overlooking the motel. Norman tells Marion his mother is mentally mad which is true but hides the fact that he also had mental issues. That evening after norman makes her dinner, Marion starts to regret her choices and thinks about returning to her workplace to return the money. But she never gets the chance to because Norman Bates brutally murders her in the shower and hides her body. Numerous people come looking for her, including Sam and Marion’s worried sister who convinced Lowery not to press charges if Marion returns the money, and a private investigator named Arbogast who was hired by Lowery. Many times people came to search for Marion at the hotel but Mrs.Bates would go to any risk for the truth to not be brought to light.” (IMDB)
“Psycho(1960) has become one of the most recognizable memories in cinema narration. Reasons for this were the critics’ slow screenings, forcing them to drive their reviews, their dislike of the high risk the film went for sparked great publicity. The Psycho(1960) film’s plot and style single-handedly ushered in an era of ‘slashers’ with graphic killings. Many of Hitchcock’s films were forbidden by censorship until the mid-1960s Psycho was scandalous and a prime example of film history because it’s sensational, sexually charged, risky, and very violent for it’s time”(AMC,Robb,2010). Some people refrained from going to theatre’s because of how uncomfortable it was for them and for the many people who did but they loved it. This is the kind of film that has been researched for years, and will continue to be researched for many more years to come going down as one of the most historic films and record breaking films ever. Because of the era, many people weren’t sure how to feel. The point of the shower scene is to leave a weird combination of feelings inside of us. It puts the thought in our mind of being attacked and also being the attacker too and also putting ourselves through a mental attack. The movie focused on us as viewers stripping, grilling and staring at Marion until we want her and her skin. America was very repressed in the 1960s to the point where Psycho(1960) was the first film to have a toilet in it and a flush which was really mind-blowing. Psycho(1960) shocked many people from the very start by having Marion the leading lady having being a mistress in a hotel and only in her undergarments indicating that she had sex which was considered a really private topic at this time. The murder in the shower is this movies most vital scene and one of the best-known of the entire film universe. “The shower scene was shot from December 17th to December 23rd, 1959, with 77 different camera angles with Janet Leigh and her daughter. The final scene ran three minutes and includes 50 cuts Most of the shots are close-ups which are used a lot in these films to express how the character is feeling and the internal conflict they are facing. There was also many medium shots in the shower directly before & directly after the murder. The combination of the close shots with their short timespan makes the scene feel more subjective than it would have been if the images were shown alone an example of the technique Hitchcock described as “transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience. He also was the creator of subliminal messages to tell when the trouble is coming”(Psycho 1960). The cuts were so quick that lots of watchers claimed they’ve saw shots of the knife going into her skin. viewers also claimed they saw Janet Leigh’s breast. Alfred Hitchcock has confirmed the numerous allegations that people are saying are not true the editing is just so quick that your mind feels like you seen something you didn’t. Hitchcock seems to have a special pluck on the artistic mind, This is why he made it clear he wanted the soundtrack to be nothing but the water, the stabs, the screams, and No music. Hitchcock had a good eye for what will grab the audience’s attention as he did keep everyone at the edge of their seats. Many people were so fascinated they had never seen advanced editing to this degree, this was work to be very proud of because even other A-list directors were wanting to use this immediately. Hitchcock was even able to edit the mother’s voice which was portrayed by three different actresses. In the present day directors edit their scenes together and try to imitate Hitchcock did with the real actor or actress or they use a stunt double.
“Psycho(1960) was Alfred Hitchcock’s most financially successful film. The movie made $32 million in the box office when released, with a very low production budget of $800,000. Hitchcock’s composer Bernard Herrmann, who rated two films most often voted the greatest in history. The film was selling out its first week it was released and continued to for 3 months after the release. Although the Hitchcock sparked much controversy with the film he never won an oscar for the film Psycho(1960) and this was also the last film he was nominated for. It’s very surprising that Hitchcock never got a oscar for his work in Psycho(1960) but directors who have used his style have won many awards for their films” (Weinberg,2015).
After Hitchcock’s death in 1980, Psycho(1960) was recreated in 1998 by Gus Van Sant and also by Chris Bacon who crafted the movie into a tv show named The Bates Motel (2013). The Bates Motel(2012) had rave reviews and rejuvenated the Psycho franchise as it gave the backstories of all the characters in Psycho(1960). The Bates Motel(2012) also broke history itself as they casted American singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty as the first black actress to play Marion. The Bates Motel(2012) was the first successful television remake of Psycho(1960). The film was so remarkable directors couldn’t help but to remake it and try to be better than the classic but they cannot. “Alfred Hitchcock was the first director to do numerous never before seen features in his movie because he was the only director who wanted their work to be genuinely good and original. Hitchcock’s dedication is shown when the movie Psycho(1960) premiered in theatres and Hitchcock made sure that no one seen any glimpse of the movie before showtime”(.
I love the shower scene for many different reasons than most people. To me it’s so amazing to see how our technology & movies have evolved. It all would be very cliche The shriek chain, the dive stab, the deliberate zoom because it’s duplicate with much more enhanced technology. Today violent scenes are realistic and have much more gore and intensity But it would not be possible or even thought of if Hitchcock wasn’t the risk taking film-maker we know him as today. Without this movie ever being released america’s film would still be repressed for many years. Also without all the scandalous moments such as Marion being in the shower naked was looked upon so wrong that people wanted to look at the film more because it’s like a guilty pleasure. I always look back at this scene and applaud it for all it has done for most of the movies that fall in the category of psychological thrillers. With one single scene (The shower scene) Hitchcock made the close-up a very vital aspect in psychological dramas. Hitchcock used the close-up to make you be able to sense the character’s internal conflict. This film becomes even more iconic to me due to the fact that it was created 57 years ago and it still drags in the attention that it did when the film was released. No other director that produces movies of this genre has broke all of the social barriers at in the 1960’s. Hitchcock was an absolute stepping stool for future directors and he was the first person to make a genuine & candid psychological genre in theatres. Many directors use the style of directing Hitchcock used such as Robert Zemeckis,David Lynch,Brian De Palma,David Fincher,Guillaume Canet, Martin Scorsese,and many more, these directors like to use Hitchcock’s directing and editing style to make their scenes imitate the same intensity as Hitchcock. I was even inspired to copy the style of shots Hitchcock used in the shower scene in a scene i shot in my Film & genre class because the look it creates is so intriguing. In conclusion Alfred Hitchcock is the first true psychological thriller film-maker due to his boundary breaking scenes and originality that forever changed film and he will forever be a legend.