Flashback Friday: Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)

Hitchcock (Gervasi, 2012) is in theaters now, so today we're taking a closer look at the scary film who's production is the focus of the new movie. As shocking and horrifying as ever, the first "slasher" film has inspired dozens of imitators over the years, including Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980). Plus, how many of us are still so afraid to take a shower? Today on Flashback Friday, we're analyzing Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror masterpiece, Psycho.

(WARNING: The following analysis assumes that you have seen Psycho. There WILL be heavy spoilers, so tread carefully before reading this edition of Flashback Friday.)

Psycho is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most important works. It rivals North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Rear Window in arguments about which movie remains the director's greatest. Psycho is certainly his scariest. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for this film, his fifth after previous recognition for Rebecca (1940, Best Picture Winner), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), and Rear Window (1954). Hitchcock famously never won an Oscar, despite his great strides for film progress. The closest thing he ever got to it was an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968.

Alfred Hitchcock is an autuer of cinema, meaning a director who takes full creative control of his works. He's known for his meticulous, calculated, and planned shooting style for movies. Hitchcock personally details every shot, every angle to his movies. A showman by nature, his television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965) brought him into the public eye by personally appearing in each episode to introduce and conclude the story. He also appeared in a cameo appearance in all of his films, as well as personally leading the theatrical trailers and promos. Everyone at the time knew his face and name.

He gained the monicker "The Master of Suspense", and for good reason: in all of his films, he managed to scare audiences through intense thrills and perilous adventures. Another style of Hitchcock is his frequent use of romance. He filmed several passionate and controversial love scenes throughout his career, and established the "Hitchcock Blonde" as a strong woman to aid the hero. Alfred Hitchcock remains one of the principal figureheads of entertaining audiences, and not critics. He cared little for his production crew, actors, or distributers. As long as audiences liked his movies, he was satisfied.

For all these reasons and more, people thought they knew what to expect when they went to see Psycho. They had no idea the horror they were about to experience.

The production of Psycho is just as interesting as the film itself, and for that reason it is the topic of the new movie Hitchcock. In short, the production was financed by Alfred Hitchcock only, as Paramount Pictures thought the movie would be a failure. A cheap man, Hitchcock used the production crew of Alfred Hitchcock Presents to save money and time by not needing to get to know any new staff members. The film was filmed in black and white so that he would not need to create realistic blood (the blood used in the movie is chocolate syrup). The screenplay was written by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel Psycho by Robert Bloch. And all of the film was overseen by Hitchcock's "third and fourth hands"- his wife, Alma, who's approval or disapproval highly influenced Hitchcock.

The story of Psycho follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a woman from Pheonix, Arizona who is dating highly indebted Sam Loomis. To help her boyfriend out, Crane steals $40,000 from her employer, and subsequently runs away to Loomis' home in California. Along the way, and after a series of misadventures, Crane ends up having to avoid a thunderstorm. She pulls into the Bates Motel, where she meets the motel's bizarre caretaker, Norman Bates- a man controlled by his domineering mother. Her night at the motel remains an unforgettable cinematic experience. After a conversation with the creepy Norman Bates, Marion decides to return the money in the morning after the storm has passed. She begins to take a shower, until a mysterious figure enters the bathroom. Concealed in the shadows, the "mother" figure pulls back the curtain and repeatedly stabs Marion to death. Norman, shocked at seeing a dead body, covers his mother's tracks by burying Marion's body and her car in the marsh near the Motel.

The second part of the story involves Sam and Marion's sister Lila Crane searching for Marion. After Norman's "mother" murders a private detective sent to find Marion, Sam and Lila personally go to the Bates Motel to investigate. After looking around, they eventually find the corpse of Norman's mother. They subdue Norman, who is taken under arrest. A psychologist reveals that Norman is psychologically insane, his mind split into the two personalities of himself and his mother. The mother in some ways did kill those people, as Norman truly believed that he was her. Deeply disturbed, the film ends with Norman smiling in a prison cell as Marion's car is pulled from the marsh.

The originality and different nature of Psycho prompted a creative promotion campaign. For starters, critics were not allowed to see the movie beforehand (which, some say, led to their initial terrible reviews; their grades changed by the end of the year). Hitchcock himself directed the theatrical trailer for the movie, an infamous mini-movie that had Hitchcock touring the Bates Motel. The trailer contained no footage from the actual film, further surrounding the upcoming movie in mystery. Hitchcock also "casted" the mother figure, throwing off the scent of the movie's twist ending; in addition, the whole cast and crew were sworn to secrecy.

When Psycho finally did open in theaters, Hitchcock's most ambitious move was strictly enforcing a "No Late Admittance Policy" to the theater. He did this so that late audience members would not be upset over not seeing super-star Janet Leigh, who dies in the first third of the film. This ensured that no one felt cheated when they saw the movie. While theater chains were worried this policy would hurt box office receipts, their fears were relieved when audiences doubled just to see what all the hype was about. Long lines waited outside the theater for hours before the next showing, and popular word of mouth gave the movie a highly successful box office gross.

Themes of Psycho include the romantic ironies of failed love interests, much different than Alfred Hitchcock's other films. No character in the movie has a strong romantic relationship: Marion loves the highly indebted Sam, Sam loves his girlfriend's sister Lila, and Norman loves his dead mother. Hitchcock believes none of these characters can ever be happy, as none of them experience true love. Also, no character is able to escape the past: Marion cannot steal the money without fearing the consequences, Sam cannot escape his father's debts, and Norman is stuck in the past with his mother. Not even the city of Pheonix can escape the past; the famous opening skyline sequence features several construction crews repairing damaged buildings.

There are several important symbols in Psycho. First, birds are frequently alluded to, whether in names (main character Marion Crane, city location Phoenix, Arizona), props (stuffed birds throughout the Bates Motel, rakes shaped like talons in the shadows of Sam's shop over Lila), or acting styles (Norman frequently cocks his head like a bird when talking to people, and mentions that Marion "eats like a bird"). Second, light and dark are often used to portray intense feelings of intensity, though not in the usual sense. Light oftentimes conveys "danger", as in the brightened bathroom during the shower scene, and with the neon Bates Motel sign. Shadows and darkness hide certain locations in mystery, and sometimes the darkness is more inviting than the light.

The shower scene took a week to film, a long time considering the short overall production time. Hitchcock liked the way a shower could convey to the audience a sense of rejuvenation and cleansing for Marion, further adding to the shock the sudden murder would create. For a forty-five second scene, it had over 100 different camera angles. The orchestral shrieking score featured in the scene, written by Bernard Hermann, is ranked as the #2 Best Film Score of All Time. For those closely watching, the rain foreshadows the importance of water in the movie. (Fun Fact: the shower scene also features the first time a toilet was ever flushed in a movie).

A full blog post could be written about the character of Norman Bates. His name means "normal", which makes viewers wonder whether this was intentionally ironic or further adding to the shock. Anthony Perkins, who played Norman, was praised for his performance, but after Psycho was typecast in playing the same type of role over and over again. But, he cited Psycho as his favorite performance, and didn't regret ever doing it until the day he died.

The audience is made to have sympathy for Marion initially, as the beginning follows her. After her death, the audience switches their point of view to Norman, a switch that also makes us sympathize the controlled son. This turned out to be an ingenious strategy, as we are prevented from suspecting that Norman could be so evil. We question our own judgements, much like the characters do, and as such we are further scared by the film's ending.

The twist ending shocks many viewers, and for good reason. Hitchcock intentionally alludes to the "mother", with several "MacGuffins" (things done in the film that seem important, but mean almost nothing in the end), including the $40,000 and the subplot involving a pastor believing someone else was buried instead of Norman's mother. We do not expect that the mother is dead, and in some strange way, we sympathize with Norman for his struggles, despite knowing how twisted an individual he remains.

Psycho is not only one of the scariest movies of all time, but is one of the best films ever made. The American Film Institute named it the #1 Most Thrilling Movie of All Time, and ranked it in their top 20 of the best films ever. It's my personal favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie. Only one question remains.

Who's up for a shower?