Psycho screening report

Psycho is a 1960 American thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It stars Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, and John Gavin. The screenplay was written by Joseph Stefano, and it is based on Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho. The movie received mixed reviews first, but eventually turned out to be a great success and earned four Oscar nominations. It is also regarded as one of the best movies of all time.

 The story begins with Marion (Leigh) leaving Phoenix with $40.000 that she stole from her employer’s client, so she can start a new life with her boyfriend. One night she arrives at the Bates Motel where she is later brutally murdered. In the following, this screening report will examine the famous shower scene where Marion is stabbed to death.

Interestingly, there is no actual stabbing shown in the scene, because showing such violence on screen was taboo that time. There are, however, around 70 shots in only 45 seconds, which makes the whole scene quick, intense, and terrifying (it took seven days to shoot that scene, and Leigh worked only three weeks on the movie altogether). In an interview, Leigh said that showing nudity also needed to be avoided so she and the costume designer of the production had to come up with a special kind of tape, and they also used a nude model in order to find the perfect camera angle and to see how transparent the shower curtain is. What is more, Leigh said that the sound of the stabbing was achieved by stabbing melons. Also, since the movie is in black and white, the color of the fake blood did not matter: so they used chocolate syrup in the scene when the camera shows the circling down the drain of the tub. There is also an urban legend that they used cold water in the shower scene to make the scream more authentic, but Leigh denied this, saying that the crew was very concerned about the right temperature of the water.

All in all, Psycho had a great influence on the American movie industry. It made violence and sexuality more acceptable on screen, it is said to be one of the best Hitchcock movies, and it has become a classic.