Psycho
Psycho is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was made in 1960. It stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles.
Marion Crane is a Phoenix office worker and she is tired of her life; she wants to get married to her lover, Sam, but she can't as she doesn't have any money. Her boss trusts her with $40,000 but instead of putting it in the bank, she runs away with it. However, on her way to see Sam at his California store, she gets caught in a storm, so she pulls into the Bates Motel. The hotel is managed by a quiet man named Norman Bates, who seems to be controlled by his mother.
Some of Hitchcock's thoughts on this movie is that the audience immediately thinks that the rest of the film will be based on the $40,000, so when Marion gets murdered, it leaves the audience in shock, as the audience believed that she was the main character and the main character never dies halfway through a movie, so it makes the audience apprehensive, knowing that anything could happen and anyone could be killed. The audience also knows that there is a murderer in Bates Motel, however they don't know when or where she/he will strike next, so they have to be ready always, which creates suspense throughout the movie.
This is an archetypal thriller for it contains non-diagetic music, it contains thrilling music whenever something is going to happen, getting the audience alert and building up suspense and excitement. Also, it creates tension throughout the whole movie, the first part being when Marion stopped her car to let people cross the road and her boss saw her after she told him she was going hoe as she felt ill, so the audience wondered what was going to happen next: Was she the psycho? Was she going to kill him?
Thrillers are characterised by fast pacing, frequent action. This is shown in Psycho in three different examples.
These examples are;
- The shower scene
- The car scene
- The staircase scene
The shower scene is the most iconic famous to be known in the history of horrors. Psycho wasn't seen as Hitchcock's best film, but it was the most memorable and Horrors nowadays owe a lot to this movie, especially the shower scene.
The shower scene is very fast pacing with frequent action for she is in the shower washing herself and then suddenly a silhouette appears on the shower curtain with a knife, making the audience wonder how Marion will get out of this situation. They assume that because she is made out to be the main character and in order for her to be the main character she must survive until the very end or not die at all, but she dies early and it leaves a big impression on the audience and it implies that nobody is safe. This scene also has non-diagetic music, quite thrilling as well to show that this scene is going to turn out badly. Then Marion gets stabbed numerous times and it is all very fast-paced throughout the scene.
The car scene is when Marion is trying to get away from her old life: she is driving away but there is a storm, so she can't see her way properly. Throughout her journey she is imagining what she has left behind; what her boss and colleague would be saying as well as her sister and everyone's reaction on her departure. This scene contains non-diagetic music and it starts to get louder once we hear everyone talking, making the scene very chilling and like something is going to happen. This scene creates a red-herring which is something that we think is going to happen but doesn't and it makes her seem like she is the psycho.
The staircase scene is when Arbogast, the detective, is trying to dig out information on the mother. He goes into the house and up the stairs. However, it then changes angle, where you can see a door opening and a silhouette of someone walks out. As Arbogast gets to the top of the staircase, a woman attacks him, presumably the mother and then she stabs him. He then falls down the stairs, again it is all fat paced and then when he gets to the bottom of the staircase, she stabs him numerous times. The music is chilling, it is like someone scratching their nails on a chalkboard, and it creates tensions and chills throughout the scene.
The shower scene is very fast pacing with frequent action for she is in the shower washing herself and then suddenly a silhouette appears on the shower curtain with a knife, making the audience wonder how Marion will get out of this situation. They assume that because she is made out to be the main character and in order for her to be the main character she must survive until the very end or not die at all, but she dies early and it leaves a big impression on the audience and it implies that nobody is safe. This scene also has non-diagetic music, quite thrilling as well to show that this scene is going to turn out badly. Then Marion gets stabbed numerous times and it is all very fast-paced throughout the scene.
The car scene is when Marion is trying to get away from her old life: she is driving away but there is a storm, so she can't see her way properly. Throughout her journey she is imagining what she has left behind; what her boss and colleague would be saying as well as her sister and everyone's reaction on her departure. This scene contains non-diagetic music and it starts to get louder once we hear everyone talking, making the scene very chilling and like something is going to happen. This scene creates a red-herring which is something that we think is going to happen but doesn't and it makes her seem like she is the psycho.
The staircase scene is when Arbogast, the detective, is trying to dig out information on the mother. He goes into the house and up the stairs. However, it then changes angle, where you can see a door opening and a silhouette of someone walks out. As Arbogast gets to the top of the staircase, a woman attacks him, presumably the mother and then she stabs him. He then falls down the stairs, again it is all fat paced and then when he gets to the bottom of the staircase, she stabs him numerous times. The music is chilling, it is like someone scratching their nails on a chalkboard, and it creates tensions and chills throughout the scene.
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