Monday, January 14, 2008

Psycho - The Shower Scene


Before the Nightmares, before Friday the 13th, before Holloween, there was Psycho. Thanks to Hitchcock, the slasher movie lives on. This scene shocked movie audiences in more ways than one. Seeing Janet Leigh taking a shower was atypical by 1960 standards. Killing off the star of the movie was unimaginable by Hollywood standards. In fact, this might actually be one of the most important scenes in movie history. Hitchcock was a genius, but he was also crazy and obsessive about his films. Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for only $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret(good thing the internet didn't exist back then).

Forget about the rumors you heard or read on Wikipedia: No, Hitchcock did not arrange for the water to suddenly go ice-cold when the attack started.

The stabbing scene in the shower is reported to have taken seven days to shoot using 70 different camera angles

Hitchcock originally envisioned the shower sequence as completely silent, but Bernard Herrmann went ahead and scored it anyway and after Hitchcock heard it, he immediately changed his mind.

Yes, the blood was Bosco chocolate syrup.


Contrary to popular belief, the knife does penetrate flesh, albiet for only 3 frames.

As you may know, there's going to be a remake of a couple Hitchcock films, mainly The Birds. The film is in pre-production and is being directed by Martin Campbell, the same guy who directed Casino Royale and Vertical Limit. Lets hope it's a little different than the Psycho remake.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know, never thought this scene was that scary.

Anonymous said...

I heard about this scene a million times. It's hard to understand how it was ground breaking in todays world. I have to admit the end when hes in the cell scared the hell out of me when I was little. This is the scene where his mind is completely dominated by the persona of his mother. She blams Norman for the crimes,& plans on demonstating to the police shes harmless. "They'll see, they'll know, & they'll say "Why she wouldnt harm a fly."

Anonymous said...

Are you guys crazy? This is one of the best movie deaths ever. It's not always about blood and gore. Hitchcock knew how to build suspense. You have to watch this movie from beginning to end in order to truly appreciate it.

Sandee said...

This movie is a classic. I've watched it more than once. Love it. Have a great day. :)