Psycho Opening Scene Analysis

Another scene that’s important to dissect is the infamous shower scene where Marion is murdered by Norman’s “mother.” This scene is important because it again shows how Hitchcock is able to manipulate his audience. This one short scene has over 30 cuts that move in rapid succession from various angles. These tricks

Psycho is a 1960 American film directed by Alfred Hitchock. The screenplay of the movie written by Joseph Stefano was inspired by the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch on the year 1959. This film is categorized into the horror-thriller genre of film. The starring was Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, Vera Miles as Lila Crane and John Gravin as San Loomis.

The film “ Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock was set in the sixties and was about a secretary Marion Crane who goes on a run after embezzling forty thousand dollars from her employer in order to settle the debt of her boyfriend, Sam Loomis. Overcome by exhaustion, she stops by Bates motel for the night where she meets the polite owner Norman Bates

Alfred Hitchcock in the film Psycho and Peter Shaffer in his stage production Equus both explore the true nightmares that manifest from sexual and emotional repression. The writers emphasise the motives and the reason for the characters actions opposed to how the causations of this repression occurred. Conversely, both works draw on the common theme of the disturbed human psyche, offering a critical perspective on the upbringing of each individual with regards to their early development, each characters subcontious fixations and abnormal behaviours through the use characters behaviours and representations. The characters Norman Bates and Marion Crane in Psycho and Allan Strang and Martin Dysart of Equus all face internal struggles against

Shocking audiences of the 1960’s, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ is one of the most influential films in motion picture history, often being referenced to as the the origin of thriller films. Hitchcock successfully incorporates cinematography, music, and multiple techniques, rendering the perfect amount of tension and suspense right until the climax of the film. Thus, evoking the thrill after which the genre is named.

Since it’s infancy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, horror has followed certain conventions that results in an awakening of the senses, evoking intense emotions of fear and terror in the audience. Horror feeds off triggering the primal fears embedded within all of humankind, creating a sense of menace that is the very substance of this genre. Furthermore, the central menace of a piece tends to enlighten the human mind to the world of the paranormal and the enigmatic, dark side of the unknown. The movie “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a perfect example. Infamous for its shower scene, but immortal for its contribution to the horror genre, “Psycho” was filmed with great tact, grace and art in regards to horror conventions.

Hitchcock's Psycho Psycho first hit our screens in 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It faced major controversy, as it was different. Horror films before this were more unrealistic and gruesome. Psycho was a groundbreaking film of the horror genre. It was more realistic the events could happen in reality.

Throughout cinema, there has always been space in our hearts for the gore and intrigue that come from horror films. Though they come with different plots, there remains “the monster”, the character that brings along disgust, horror, suspense, and even sympathy. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), our monster is Norman Bates, the boy next door. This was one of the first times in American cinema that the killer was brought home, paving the way for the future of horror movies. According to Robin Wood in “An Introduction to the America Horror Film” (183-208), Bates follows the formula of the Monster being a human psychotic. This is conveyed through his normal façade portrayed with his introduction, the audience’s ambivalence, the use of

The main character of Psycho is Mary Crane who starts as a nice real estate office worker but when she is supposed to take $40,000 in cash to the bank she runs off to help pay off her lover’s debt to his ex-wife. She stops at a hotel to stay the night but is killed by the hotels owner’s mother. This is one of the biggest plot point in the movie because it starts the search for her that leads the other characters to the hotel to figure out where she went. A detective is given the case to find her to get the $40,000 from her and the detective, Milton Arbogast, follows Mary’s sister, Lila Crane, to Mary’s lover, Sam Loomis, because Lila thinks that Sam is hiding Mary’s.

The shower scene is a very iconic scene, you can see the shadow of Norman through the shower curtain as he approaches with the knife to kill Marion. The viewer can’t recognize this because of the angle, and the shadow casted upon Norman's

Before the Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock made its way into theaters across the world, film was produced in a completely different way. Some of the elements that were in Psycho were things that nobody saw in movies before. According to Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, when the movie came out, it took place in “an atmosphere of dark and stifling ‘50s conformity” and that the elements of the film “tore through the repressive ‘50s blandness just a potently as Elvis had.” (Hudson). Alfred Hitchcock changed the way that cinema was made by breaking away from the old, “safe” way of creating a movie and decided to throw all of the unwritten rules of film making out the window. The main ways he accomplished this task was by adding graphic violence, sexuality, and different ways to view the film differently than any other movie before its time.

Previous horror movies of the era consisted of some type of creature or mind controlling alien as the protagonist. The Wolfman, Dracula or an alien from Mars hunting down our fellow human beings to be consumed as food or to be used as a pod to carry out their sinister deeds. Hitchcock presents the idea that monsters are not the aliens that come from space or emerge from a coffin each night to attack humans but the humans themselves. Psycho reshaped what was indeed considered to be terrifying in such films. Norman, the mild-mannered manager of Bates Motel, seems shy, innocent, and superficially-childlike. He is also respectful and courteous to his victim-to-be. It is difficult for the audience to suspect him of being the potential murderer. Norman’s psychotic nature is only discovered when Marion’s sister and boyfriend begin searching for her. Hitchcock reveals how the schizophrenic Norman has two different personalities: himself and his deceased mother. The portrayal strenuously conflicts with the image that Norman depicts in his first encounter with Marion. It is not the violence that Norman depicts, but his character, that is the scariest part of the film. Despite Norman acting harmlessly on the outside, Hitchcock portrays him as a person that is highly disturbed and volatile from within. When he talks to Marion, he appears likable to the audience. In no way do they see a person capable of committing such acts of violence. At least, not yet. The audience trusts the monster from the beginning. Bigfoot and Godzilla that were the primary aliens in the previous horror movies lost significance in the horror genre with Hitchcock’s presentation (Hein). Monsters like Norman Bates exist in our society, but some people can hardly accept this. The presentation of humans as being monsters to other humans has become one of the most significant elements of the modern-day horror film.

Exploring How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates The Audience In Psycho Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is thought to be, by most, the greatest film director of all time. He was born in Leytonstone, London on13 August 1899. He directed many great films such as The Lodger, The Birds, Sabotage, Notorious, Rear Window, and of course one of his greatest achievements ever, Psycho in 1960. He directed the first British sound film - Blackmail.

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that appears on screen, such as the actors, props and costumes. In the movie Scream, the characters wear outfits to make their roles obvious. The girl’s boyfriend is wearing a highschool jersey which shows who he is quite easily and the killer is

Alfred Hitchcock is widely considered one of the most essential directors of all time and has undeniably revolutionized the cinematic art form and horror genre movement. A key ingredient to his productions is the psychoanalysis of the movie’s villains and the deceivery at comes with deep psychosis. These elements are what have taken Hitchcock from a good director to a legend. Hitchcock layers his movies in ways in which every time one watches his films they can pick up on a new detail that deepens the meaning and effects of the storyline. This is exactly what he does in his 1960 film, Psycho. By layering Freudian psychoanalysis, creating a twist ending and suspense, and giving the villain of the story, Norman Bates, a deeply rich background story, Hitchcock creates phenomenon in the audience arguably scarier, then Norman’s murders. Through this use the psychoanalysis and backstory, the audience also feels sympathy for Norman. This duality is what makes Hitchcock a wonderful artist and Psycho, a piece of art.