November 20th, 2020

After 60 years of people being scared to take showers, I think it’s time we shine a light on everyone’s worst fear// donovan Harris, 8th Grade

After 60 years of people being scared to take showers, I think it’s time we shine a light on everyone’s worst fear: Alfred Hitchock’s Psycho.  I don’t know if any other youngins like myself have seen or even heard of Psycho, but if you have: congratulations. And if you haven’t, allow me to break it down.

The movie begins with a woman named Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). She steals $40,000 from the bank she works at in Phoenix, Arizona to start a new life. She takes several backroads on the freeway, attempting to avoid police, but after driving through a heavy rainstorm, she stops at the run-down Bates Motel in somewhere in California, where she meets the polite, yet eccentric proprietor, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who has an interest in Taxidermy, and a complicated relationship with his mother. What happens next is the stuff nightmares are made of. 
This movie has gone on to become one of the greatest ever made, breaking boundaries at the time using fast cuts, nudity, and even a toilet (I’ll get to that later.)  But this movie was insanely well done, the actors were amazing, and the movie earned Hitchcock his final Oscar, and $32 million.  There really isn’t a flaw with this movie, it has everything horror and thriller fans could ask for, so I’m going to give  9.9/10.


However, there’s more than what meets the eye in Psycho. Here are my top 6 behind-the-scenes things to look out for.

1. Robert Bloch

Robert Bloch, who wrote the novel Psycho, was inspired to create Norman Bates from serial killer Ed Gein. Yes, he was based off of a real person. But what’s even scarier, that many didn’t know was that Bloch lived only 40 miles from where Gein committed his murders.

1.  The Effects.

Let’s talk about the shower scene where Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) stabs Marion to death while she is showering. Now, back in 1960, things were different.  They did not show Marion Getting stabbed, it was just a series of fast cuts of Norman and Marion. Norman is seen touching Marion only once. And even if it was shown, let’s just say it didn’t go over well. The blood that spirals down the drain after Marion is “stabbed” is just chocolate syrup. The sound of the Knife piercing Marion’s flesh is just a prop man stabbing a melon.

1.  Toilet

Here’s a weird one. Psycho is the first American film to feature a toilet.  Sounds crazy, right?  But when Marion flushes torn up pieces of paper down the toilet before she is killed in the shower, that is the first American film shot of a toilet

1. The Birds

If you haven’t watched this movie before, watch it, and notice how many bird references there are. But if you can’t watch the movie, I'll list them for you. Notice the protagonist’s name, Marion Crane.  The movie takes Place in Phoenix, Arizona.  And while Marion is sitting and eating with Mr. Bates, he states, “You eat like a Bird”  to Marion.  And I, personally, doubt it’s a coincidence that Hitchcock’s next movie just so happened to be The Birds.

1.   We Wanna See Psycho!

Due to Janet Leigh’s star power at the time  the movie was made, people did not expect her to get murdered in the beginning of the movie. And Hitchcock knew this, so he did Something Drastic.  He set down a policy to movie theaters that they  would not allow any late moviegoers to see Psycho, because they would be confused seeing some random woman, and some random man, totally unaware of all the backstory.

1.  Hidden Gems

If you end up watching Psycho, the following gems are hiding in the movie:
-A ginormous studio light is left on while Marion is driving through a rainstorm, but Hitchcock kept this in the movie, because he didn’t think people would notice.
Hitchcock makes a cameo at the beginning of the movie wearing a cowboy hat outside of Marion’s office.
- Pay attention to the wordplay in Norman’s name: he is neither a woman, Nor Man.  Norman.




In conclusion, Psycho is a very well done, spooky, and iconic movie that has a lot of secrets not known to the average viewer.  I decided to break it down because there’s so much you can analyze, and it’s a personal favorite of mine.  Thank you for reading, and before I depart, I want to say one thing...

keep your hotel room door locked, or something might happen...