Psycho (film)

Psycho (Psycho, in its original English title) is a 1960 American film from the horror and suspense genres directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam and Janet Leigh. With a script by Joseph Stefano, it is based on the 1959 novel of the same name written by Robert Bloch, which in turn was inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin serial killer.

The film takes place for the most part in a lonely motel, where a secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), has fled with stolen money from her company. The motel is run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). At the time it was made it was considered different from Hitchcock's previous work, North by Northwest (1959), because it was shot on a low budget, with the crew of a television series and in black and white.. Initially the film received mixed reviews, but upon review it garnered very positive reviews which led to four Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Hitchcock and Best Supporting Actress for Leigh.

Considered today as one of Hitchcock's greatest films, and lauded as a cinematic masterpiece by international critics, Psycho has also been hailed as one of the greatest films in movie history.. The film set a new level of acceptability for violence, perverted behavior, and sexuality in movies, and is considered the earliest example of the so-called slasher genre.

After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Pictures began producing sequels: three sequels, a remake, a TV movie, and a prequel TV series set in the 1980s. 2010. In 1992, the US Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot

In a Phoenix hotel room on a Friday afternoon, secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) argue about the fact that they can't get married because of Sam's debts.. After lunch, Marion returns to the real estate office where she works, where a client, Tom Cassidy (Frank Albertson), deposits $40,000 in cash as payment on a property. Marion's boss, Mr. Lowery (Vaughn Taylor), tasks her with taking the money to the bank. She promises to take care of it and asks for the rest of the afternoon off because of a headache. However, instead of taking the money to the bank, Marion decides to steal it and take it to Sam in Fairvale, California, so she can pay off her debts. When she is about to leave the city by car, her boss sees her at a traffic light, which makes her nervous. She drives into the night and parks the car by the side of the road to sleep.

In the morning, a highway patrol officer (Mort Mills) stops to inspect Marion's car and wakes her up. Her scared and nervous attitude arouses the suspicions of the officer, who looks at her driver's license and writes down her license plate number. He allows her to continue but follows her around for a while, which intensifies Marion's agitation. Trying to throw off her pursuer, Marion stops in a town and trades her car with an Arizona license plate for one with a California license plate, paying $700 cash from the money she stole. As the agent watches the scene, Marion quickly leaves the scene and continues towards Fairvale.

Picture of the film trailer: Hitchcock shows the house.

When night falls, a strong storm breaks out. Marion can't see the road clearly due to the rain and she ends up arriving at the Bates Motel, where she decides to rent a room for the night. There she meets young Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), the owner of the establishment, who explains that the motel rarely sees customers, since the new interstate highway has bypassed the local road, and Marion realizes that he probably took a wrong turn by storm. Still nervous about the police, Marion registers under the assumed name 'Marie Samuels', and Norman takes her to room #1, right next to the office.

Norman offers to share his dinner with her so she doesn't have to go out in the rain again. She agrees, but later overhears an argument between Norman and her mother coming from her house, located on top of a hill behind the motel. Mrs. Bates seems to have a low opinion of the beautiful young tenant, and doesn't want Norman to let her in the house, so he brings her milk and sandwiches to the motel office, where Marion is surprised by some birds. stuffed animals of Norman that are in the room, the product of his hobby of taxidermy. While Marion has dinner, Norman tells her about her life with her mother, who is sick and does not allow her to lead an independent life.

Norman's story inspires Marion to return to Phoenix the next day and pay back the money. Before going to bed, she decides to take a shower, and while she is showering, a mysterious figure who appears to be Norman's mother enters the bathroom and brutally murders Marion by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Norman discovers the murder and believes that his mother is responsible. He cleans up the crime scene and puts Marion's corpse, wrapped in the shower curtain, in the trunk of her car along with all of her belongings, including the unknowingly stolen money, which is wrapped in a newspaper.. Finally, he plunges the car into a swamp near the motel.

A week later, Marion's sister, Lila (Vera Miles), arrives at Sam's hardware store in Fairvale and asks if she's heard from Marion. A private investigator named Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam) also walks into the store and tells them that he is looking for Marion for stealing $40,000. Arbogast is convinced that Marion is somewhere in the area, so he begins a search of hotels and inns near Fairvale. When he arrives at the Bates Motel, Norman's uncertain and evasive answers make him suspicious. Arbogast looks at the motel log book and sees Marion's fake signature under her fake name. Then Norman acknowledges that "Marie" he stayed there the previous Saturday and left on Sunday morning. Learning that Norman's mother saw Marion when he was there, he asks to speak to her, but Norman refuses, saying that her mother is very ill and should not be disturbed. Arbogast phones Sam and Lila and tells them that Marion was at the Bates Motel, and that she is going back there to try and talk to Mrs. Bates. He returns to the motel and seeing no one there, he goes into the house. As he goes upstairs, he is attacked and killed by the same old woman who killed Marion.

Receiving no word from Arbogast, Sam goes to the motel, but sees only Mrs. Bates's silhouette in the window. Lila and Sam decide to go to the local sheriff, Al Chambers (John McIntire) to inform him of the disappearances of Marion and Arbogast. Chambers and his wife Eliza (Lurene Tuttle) listen to the story of Sam and Lila. They phone the Bates Motel and he tells them that the detective has been there and then gone. When Lila mentions Norman's mother, the sheriff tells them that she has been dead for ten years and buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, having poisoned her lover and committed suicide. Sam and Lila insist that there is a woman there, and that Arbogast told them that Norman had forbidden him to see her mother because she was too sick. Norman, worried about all the people who have spied on him, decides to take her mother to the cellar and hide her there, despite the woman's protests.

Lila and Sam decide to go to the motel and register as a married couple to investigate. After checking in, they realize that room #1 is open, and they decide to go inside to look for clues. All they find is a piece of paper that Marion had made some notes on, which proves that she was there. Lila asks Sam to distract Norman while she goes home to talk to her mother. Sam finds Norman in the office and begins to talk to him, while Lila enters the house and begins to search the rooms upstairs, among which is the mother's, with a large bed in which the shape of a body is deeply marked in the mattress. Meanwhile, Sam starts talking about money to see if Norman will reveal anything about the $40,000. Norman becomes agitated, and when Sam asks if his mother might know about the money, Norman realizes that he is another "spy." Sam tries to stop Norman, but Norman hits him over the head and runs into the house. Seeing Norman approach, Lila goes down to the cellar to hide, where she finds Mrs. Bates sitting with her back turned. Turning the chair, she discovers that it is a mummified corpse. Lila screams and walks away from her, and at that moment, Norman walks into the cellar with a knife and dressed in his mother's clothes and a wig. Before he can attack Lila, Sam arrives and manages to subdue him.

In court, Lila, Sam and Sheriff Chambers are waiting to hear from a psychiatrist who has been called in to examine Norman. Dr. Fred Richmond (Simon Oakland) begins to relate that years ago, after the untimely death of his father, Norman had to depend on his mother. But when she became involved with a lover, Norman felt as if he had been replaced, and out of jealousy he poisoned them both. Unable to bear the guilt, Norman dug up his mother's body, preserved it, and began to treat it as if she were still alive. He began to recreate her mother in her mind as a second personality, going so far as to dress in her clothes and speak with her voice, thus giving him her life that she had taken from him. The personality of "Mother" she is jealous and possessive, just as Mrs. Bates was in life, and whenever Norman was attracted to a woman, "Mother" he killed her. Under the influence of 'Mother', Norman killed two other young women before Marion, and also Arbogast. The psychiatrist says that the "Mother" it already totally dominates Norman's mind. Sitting inside a dungeon, Norman thinks like "Mother." She regrets condemning her son, but says the murders were Norman's doing and she can't let them believe she was the culprit. The last scene shows Marion's car being towed out of the swamp.

Cast

The voice of Norma Bates, Norman's mother, was performed by Paul Jasmin, Virginia Gregg and Jeanette Nolan, who also provided the voice for Lila's screams when she discovers Norma's dead body. All three voices are mixed, except for the last intervention, which is entirely by Virginia Gregg. A young Ted Knight appears as the security guard in the last scene. As in most of his films, Alfred Hitchcock makes an appearance in one of the scenes; in this case he is the man outside the real estate office.

Production

Preproduction

The House and the Bates Motel are still standing in Universal Studios, and has become an attraction of it.

The film was based on Robert Bloch's 1959 novel of the same name, which is itself based (although very lightly) on the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. Hitchcock acquired the rights to the film through an agent for $9,500

Hitchcock embraced Psycho as a means to recapture success and individuality in an increasingly competitive genre. He had seen many William Castle B-movies, such as House on Haunted Hill (1959), and Roger Corman's, such as A Bucket of Blood (1959).

In addition, both Hitchcock and Henri-Georges Clouzot had adapted two books by the same authors, with very different results. Clouzot had directed Las Diabolicas (1955), based on a novel by Boileau-Narcejac, which was acclaimed and financially successful, while Hitchcock's film Vertigo (1958), Based on Boileau-Narcejac's novel D'entre les morts, it did not receive good reviews or financial gain at the time. Hitchcock also had to constantly reinvent himself, caring about Psycho for its originality and as a way to regain acclaim as one of the best directors of suspense.

Ned Brown, Hitchcock's agent, explains that Hitchcock liked the story because the story's problem began with Marion's death. James Cavanaugh wrote the original screenplay, but Hitchcock did not like it. Hitchcock reluctantly agreed to meet with Stefano, who had worked on two films as a screenwriter (Anna di Brooklyn, 1958; The Black Orchid, 1958). Despite being new to the industry, the meeting was positive and Stefano was hired.

The script was relatively faithful to the novel, with some adaptations by Hitchcock and Stefano. Among the changes that occurred, we can mention the place where Arbogast dies, in the stairwell, and the relationship between Sam and Marion, since in the novel it reflects them as friends, while the film reflects them as lovers.

Paramount, whose contract guaranteed another Hitchcock film, did not want to produce Psycho. The official position of the production company was that it considered the book "too disgusting" and "impossible for a film", that it did not like it "at all", so it denied the usual budget. Thus, the film had to be financed through through the creation of the production company Shamley Productions (which had produced Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The original set for the Bates House and Motel were built in the same studio as the set for The Phantom of the Opera, which still stands at Universal Studios in Universal City, near Hollywood, and is a studio attraction. The motel's highly celebrated design is inspired by Edward Hopper's painting House by the Railroad.

To keep costs down and for Hitchcock's own convenience, most of the production crew was that used previously on the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including the cinematographer (John L. Russell), set designer, supervisors, and first assistant director. Bernard Herrmann was hired for the soundtrack, George Tomasini as editor, and Saul Bass in the art department. One of the reasons for producing the film in black and white was not to show the bloody shower scene in color. In total, it cost him $62,000 to hire his workers.

Hitchcock cut Janet Leigh's usual salary by a quarter, paying her just $25,000. Her co-star, Anthony Perkins, settled for $40,000. Paramount distributed the film (1960-1968), but years later sold its shares to Shamley Productions and Universal Pictures distributed the film from 1968 onwards.

Shooting

The film, produced by Hitchcock, was shot at Revue Studios. Psycho was made on a budget of $806,947.55, from November 11, 1959 to February 1 1960. Almost all of the film was shot with 50mm lenses on 35mm cameras.

Before shooting began in November, Hitchcock sent assistant director Hilton A. Green to Phoenix to scout filming locations and shoot the opening scene. The scene was to be filmed aerially so that the camera slowly zoomed in on the hotel window where Marion and Sam were, but the helicopter was too shaky and it was done in the studio in a simpler way. Other workers they filmed Highway 99 between Fresno and Bakersfield, California day and night for the screening of Marion Travels to Phoenix.

During filming, Hitchcock was forced to do retakes. The scene with Marion's eye, where the camera zooms in on him and starts to spin away, was very difficult for Leigh, as the shower kept running and the spray of water made her blink. It was also filmed. the opening scene several times, as Hitchcock felt that Leigh and Gavin had not been passionate enough. Finally, the scene where the mother's body is discovered was tricky, as the chair movement had to be coordinated and that of other elements present in the scene.

According to Hitchcock, a series of shots featuring Arbogast climbing the stairs and being stabbed by the mother were filmed by Hilton Green, in collaboration with Saul Bass. However, when Hitchcock saw the scene, he didn't like it and ultimately decided to do it himself.The filming of the Arbogast murder proved difficult, requiring several attempts to get the perfect angle and working for weeks.

Filming locations

• 4270 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.
• Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, United States (House and Motel Bates).
• Falls Lake, Backlot, Universal Studies - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, United States (Pantano where Marion Crane's car is located).
• Gorman, California, United States (Lugar where Marion parks to sleep).
• Jefferson Hotel, 109 S. Central, Phoenix, Arizona, United States (Inexpensive Hotel Room).
• Los Angeles, California, United States.
• Phoenix, Arizona, United States (Opening panoramic scene).
• Revue Estudios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Estados Unidos (Interiors).
• Route 99 at Fresno-Bakersfiel Road, California, United States (Lugar where Marion Crane leads to the Bates Motel).
• San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Shower scene

Hitchcock and Janet Leigh during the shooting of the shower scene.

The shower murder of Janet Leigh's character is the pivotal scene of the film, as well as one of the best-known in movie history. As such, it spawned numerous myths and legends. It was shot between December 17 and 23, 1959, featuring 77 camera angles. The scene lasts 3 minutes and includes 50 shots. Most of the shots are close-ups, except for the shots to the shower just before and after the murder. The combination of close shots with a short duration makes the sequence more subjective than it would have been if the images were presented alone or at a wider angle, exemplifying the technique Hitchcock described as "transferring the threat from the screen to the public mind".

The famous screeching music movement of violins, violas, and cellos used in the shower scene was a piece for strings created by composer Bernard Herrmann, titled "The Murder" (The Murder). All the music in the film Psycho is clearly influenced by the musical language of Dmitri Shostakovich, especially the second and third movements of his String Quartet No. 8, composed that same year. Hitchcock wanted the original sequence (and all the motel scenes) to be without music, but Herrmann begged him to try the music he had composed. Later, Hitchcock agreed that the music intensified the scene and almost doubled Herrmann's salary. The blood in the scene is chocolate syrup, in fact, one of the keys, since in black and white films it gives more veracity. The sound of the knife entering the protagonist's body was created by sticking the knife into a melon.

Sometimes it's argued that Leigh isn't in the shower all the time, and that she used a stunt double. However, in an interview with Roger Ebert, and in the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Leigh stated that she was on the scene the whole time: Hitchcock used a model as his double solely to the scenes in which Norman wraps Marion's body in a shower curtain and puts it in the trunk of Crane's car.

One of several popular myths is that Hitchcock used ice cold water to make Leigh's scream in the shower realistic. Leigh denied this on numerous occasions, stating that he was very generous with the provision of hot water. All screaming is Leigh's. The most notorious urban legend of the production of Psycho began when Saul Bass, the graphic designer who has created many of Hitchcock's film title sequences and storyboards of some of his scenes, he claimed that he had directed the shower scene. This claim was refuted by several people associated with the film. Leigh, who is the center of the scene, declared: "...absolutely not!" I have said emphatically in any interview I have given. I've said it to your face in front of other people... I was in the shower all seven days and believe me, Alfred Hitchcock was by his camera for every one of the seventy-something takes'. Hilton Green, the assistant director and cameraman, also denies Bass's claim: "There's not a single shot in that movie that wasn't directed by Hitchcock himself. And I can tell you that I never turned the camera on for Mr. Bass to direct." Roger Ebert, a longtime admirer of Hitchcock's work, also took to humorously the rumor, stating: "It seems unlikely that a perfectionist with Hitchcock's ego, he dared to let someone else direct such a scene."

However, critics such as Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn have established that Saul Bass contributed substantially to the creation of that scene in his capacity as a graphic artist. Along with designing the opening credits, Bass is also credited as image consultant. In François Truffaut's interview with Hitchcock, he asked about the scope of Bass's work, to which Hitchcock replied that in addition to the opening credits, Bass had provided ideas for the Arbogast murder (which he claimed to have rejected), but made no mention of providing the script for the shower scene. According to Bill Krohn, Hitchcock's first claim of directing the scene was in 1970, when he presented a magazine containing 48 drawings used as scripts as proof that he had directed the scene. he had directed the scene.

Krohn, in his book Hitchcock at Work (where he analyzes the production of Psycho), refutes Bass's claims, but points out that his scripts introduce aspects key to the final scene, particularly the fact that the killer appears as a silhouette, and details like the shower curtain being down, and the transition from the drain pipe hole to Marion's eyes. As Krohn mentions, this detail is very similar to the introductory scene Bass designed for Vertigo.

Krohn's research also notes that Hitchcock filmed the scene with two cameras: one a BNC Mitchell, the other an Éclair handheld camera that Orson Welles had used in his film Touch of Evil (Thirst for evil). In order to create an ideal montage for a greater emotional impact on the audience, Hitchcock filmed a lot of footage of this scene which he then cut out in the cutting room. He even went so far as to bring a Moviola to evaluate the necessary footage together. The last sequence, which Hitchcock worked on with the advice of his editor George Tomassini, does not go beyond the basic structural elements established in Bass's scripts.

It is often claimed that, graphic as it is, the "shower scene" it never shows a knife digging itself. However, a frame-by-frame analysis shows one shot in which the knife does appear to penetrate the skin, albeit only once.

According to Donald Spoto in The Dark Side of Genius, Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, noticed an inconsistency in one of the last screenings of Psycho before its release official: after Marion was supposedly dead, one could see her blink. According to Patricia Hitchcock, in the documentary "making of" by Laurent Bouzereau, Alma also mentions that Leigh's character seemed to take a breather. However, the final cut was edited and those inconsistencies were never seen by the public. Proper dilation for Marion's eyes after her death required contact lenses that the actress had to wear for six weeks to acclimatize to them and wear them on. filming, so Hitchcock decided to do without them. Perkins was not present during the filming of this scene because he was in New York preparing a play.

Leigh was so affected by the scene when she saw it that she wouldn't shower unless she absolutely had to; she locked all the bathroom doors and windows, and left the shower door open.

Leigh and Hitchcock discussed the meaning of the scene:

"Marion had decided to return to Phoenix, confess everything and take responsibility for its consequences, so entering the shower was as if he were entering baptismal waters. The water falling upon it purified the corruption of his mind, purging the evil of his soul. He was like a virgin again, quiet, in peace."

Film theorist and critic Robin Wood also explains how showering washes away "all his guilt." He also comments on the "alienation effect" resulting from taking down the "apparent center of the film," that woman with whom viewers had identified.

Censorship

Alfred Hitchcock, director of the film.

According to Alfred Hitchcock and his associates, censors tasked with enforcing the Production Code for the MPAA argued with Hitchcock because some of the censors insisted that one of Leigh's breasts was shown. Hitchcock, after a few days, kept the plans intact, and returned for approval. Surprisingly, each of the censors reversed his initial stance: those who had seen his chest now did not see it, and those who had not, now saw it. The film was approved after a shot showing Leigh's stunt double's buttocks was removed.Hitchcock said that if he was allowed to keep the shower scene, he would shoot a more romantic version of the opening, under the supervision of the censors.. As no one showed up on the day scheduled for the new take, the opening was left as it was.

Another area of concern for the censors was the scene where Marion flushes the toilet. Never in film or on television at that time had a toilet been shown directly. Also according to the extra content of the DVD version, some censors objected to the use of the word 'transvestite'. 3. 4; in the final scenes. This objection was withdrawn after screenwriter Joseph Stefano produced a dictionary, showing that the word did not conceal any sexual connotations, but simply described "a man who likes to wear women's clothing".

Internationally, Hitchcock was forced to make minor changes to the film, mostly within the shower scene. In particular, in Britain the scene of Norman washing the blood from his hands was criticized, and in Singapore, although the shower scene was left intact, the Arbogast murder and the taking of the mother's body were removed.

Promotion

Hitchcock did most of the promotion himself, forbidding Leigh and Perkins from interviewing for television, radio, or the press for fear of revealing the film's content. Even members of the press and critics they were not given private screenings, but instead got to see the film with the general public. This could possibly affect reviews of the film, but it helped preserve the film's content secret until its release.

The trailer for the film shows Hitchcock taking the viewer on a tour of the set, giving some plot details before stopping himself. The music featured in the trailer is the Bernard Herrmann theme used in the film, but also upbeat music in the style of a comedy. The trailer was made after finishing the production of the film. Because Janet Leigh was unavailable at the time, Hitchcock asked Vera Miles to wear a blonde wig and scream for the shower sequence, after which the title Psycho appears on the screen. instantly. The switch from Janet Leigh to Vera Miles for the trailer went largely unnoticed by the public for years, however close analysis of the scene clearly reveals that it is Vera Miles and not Janet Leigh in the shower during the trailer.

The most controversial measure used by Hitchcock was "no late admissions" for the film, which was unusual for the time. It was not the first time this had been seen, as Henri-Georges Clouzot had done the same for his film The Diabolical Women. Hitchcock thought that if people entered the cinema late and never saw Janet Leigh, they would feel cheated. At first the theater owners objected on the grounds that they would lose money, but after the first day the owners enjoyed long lines of people waiting to see the film.

The film was so successful that it was re-released in theaters in 1965. A year later, CBS bought the rights to its television run for $450,000. CBS was scheduled to televise the film on September 23, 1966, but three days earlier Valerie Percy, the daughter of Illinois Senate candidate Charles H. Percy, was murdered in the home of her parents, who were sleeping in another room, when she was stabbed a dozen times with a double-edged knife. In light of the assassination, CBS agreed to defer the film's airing, but due to the crash of Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967, CBS decided to further postpone the film's release. Paramount later included the film in its package "Portfolio I". The film was finally released on public television by Universal in 1970. Psycho was broadcast regularly for twenty years in this format.

Premiere

Officers

Country	Date
United States	16 June 1960
United KingdomUnited Kingdom	4 August 1960
Brazil	25 August 1960
JapanJapan	4 September 1960
Western Germany	7 October 1960
AustriaAustria	28 October 1960
Sweden Sweden	31 October 1960
France	2 November 1960
ItalyItaly	24 November 1960
FinlandFinland	2 December 1960
NetherlandsNetherlands	23 December 1960
PolandPoland	31 December 1960
Hong KongHong Kong	12 January 1961
Argentina	14 March 1961
SpainSpain	2 April 1961
DenmarkDenmark	1 May 1961
GreeceGreece	1 May 1961
Uruguay Uruguay	18 May 1961
HungaryHungary	9 March 1972

Festivals and/or Events

Country	Date	Festival/Evento/Other
SpainSpain	2 August 2014	Reestreno
FinlandFinland	27 February 2015	Reestreno
Norway Norway	28 September 1997	Reestreno
Portugal	1 May 1998	Restored version
United KingdomUnited Kingdom	31 July 1998	Reestreno
Russia Russia	5 September 1998	Reestreno
SwitzerlandSwitzerland	15 January 1999	Reestreno
GermanyGermany	13 August 1999	Video Premiere
France	20 October 1999	Reestreno
SpainSpain	11 July 2006	International Gay and Lesbian Film Exhibition in Barcelona
Czech RepublicCzech Republic	15 January 2009	Limited
Peru Peru	25 July 2013	Reestreno

Innovations

In his novel, Bloch uses an unusual structure: he repeatedly features likeable protagonists who disappear from the plot after being victims of extreme violence. This upsets the reader's expectations, transmitting anxiety and uncertainty. Hitchcock recognized the effect this approach could have on audiences, and uses it in his adaptation, when he kills off the character played by Janet Leigh in the first act finale. This bold expedient was a startling and bewildering turn of events in 1960.

The most original and influential part of the film is the "shower scene," which became an icon of popular culture, because it is often considered one of the scariest scenes ever filmed.. Part of its effectiveness is due to the use of astonishing editing techniques borrowed from Soviet montage and Bernard Herrmann's intense and imaginative musical score.

Psycho is widely considered the first film in the cinema of the slasher horror subgenre, and is a good example of the type of film that appeared in the 1960s after the erosion of the Hays Code.. It was unprecedented in its depiction of sexuality and violence, as can be seen in the opening scene, where Sam and Marion are shown as lovers sharing the same bed and she is in a bra and slip. By the standards of the day, showing a couple in the same bed was still taboo. Other taboos shown for the first time are the shower scene, where she is obviously naked, although the shots are quick and avoid the compromising parts, and when discovered, Norman is transvestite, wearing a wig and a dress. Also, at that time, the idea of seeing a toilet on screen was also not acceptable in movies and TV shows. Its box office success helped fuel the most graphic display of previously censored or omitted subjects.

Interpretation

The film often features shadows, mirrors, windows, and, to a lesser extent, water. The shadows are present from the first scene. The shadows of the stuffed birds loom over Marion as she eats, and Norman's mother is shown only through her silhouette until the end of the film. More subtly, the backlighting makes the rakes in the hardware store resemble claws above Lila's head.

The mirrors reflect Marion as she packs, her eyes as she looks in her car's rearview mirror, her face in the cop's sunglasses, and her hands as she counts the money in the dealership bathroom. A motel window serves as a mirror reflecting Marion and Norman together. The heavy downpour can be seen as a harbinger of the scene in the shower, and the fact that it suddenly stops raining can be symbolic of Marion's decision to return to Phoenix.

There are several references to birds throughout the film. Marion's last name is Crane (in Spanish grulla), and she is from Phoenix (in Spanish fénix). In one scene, Norman tells Marion that she eats like a bird, and in that same room there are stuffed birds that Norman keeps. The room Marion is staying in has pictures of birds on the wall. Norman's hobby is bird stuffing, and he comments that Marion eats like a bird. Brigitte Peucker suggests that Norman's fondness for stuffing birds literalizes the British slang "bird" (in Spanish pájaro ), used to refer to a desirable woman Robert Allan suggests that Norman's mother is his & # 34; stuffed bird & # 34; original, both in the sense of having kept her body and in the incestuous nature of Norman's emotional bond with her.

Psychoanalytic interpretation

Psycho has been called the "first psychoanalytic thriller". The sex and violence in the film are unlike anything seen in film history up to that time. "The shower scene is as feared as it is desired," wrote French film critic Serge Kaganski. "Hitchcock may scare his female viewers with his wit and is turning his male viewers into potential rapists as Janet Leigh has been approaching men ever since she appeared in a bra in the first scene.".

In his documentary "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" (2006), Slavoj Žižek points out that Norman Bates' mansion has three floors, in parallel with the three levels that Freud's psychoanalysis attributes to the human mind: the first would be the "Superego", in which Bates's mother lives; the ground floor would be the & # 34; I & # 34;, where Bates functions as an apparently normal human being and, finally, the basement to which Bates lowers the corpse of his mother, which would be the & # 34; It & # 34; or unconscious, as a symbol of the postulated connection between the Superego and the Id.

Reception

Initial reviews were quite mixed. The New York Times's Bosley Crowther wrote "There isn't an abundance of subtlety or the lately familiar Hitchcock fondness for big, colorful settings in this obviously low budget work'. one of those filler TV shows." Positive feedback pointed to "Anthony Perkins in the best performance of his career... Janet Leigh has never been better", "Beautiful performance" 34;, and "It is the first American film since Thirst for Evil (Touch of Evil, 1958) to be in the same creative range as the great European cinema". An example of this mixed opinion is the New York Herald Tribune, which stated "...It's hard to be amused by the forms madness can take...maintains your attention like a snake charmer".

Audiences loved the film, with huge lines stretching outside theaters, waiting to see the next showing. It was a box office success in Asia, Japan, China, France, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and all of South America. It was moderately successful in Australia for a brief period. It is one of Hitchcock's highest-grossing black-and-white films and helped make him a billionaire and Universal's third-largest shareholder.

In Britain it topped attendance records at the London Plaza Cinema, but almost all British critics complained, questioning Hitchcock's taste and judgment. Some of the reasons for this were criticism of Hitchcock for hiding the final product from him and his aversion to private previews, which forced them to do a hasty review. Thanks to the public response and Hitchcock's efforts to promote it, critics re-examined it, and the film was praised. Time magazine changed its opinion of "Hitchcock takes it too far" to reviews like "excellent" and "masterful", and led Bosley Crowther to put it on his 1960 Top Ten list.

Psycho was initially criticized for making other filmmakers more willing to show gore art. Three years later Blood Feast was released, which was considered the first "gore film". The critical and financial success of Psycho caused others to try to profit from this cinematographic style. Inspired by Psycho, Hammer Productions launched a series of suspense films, beginning with A Taste for Fear (1961), followed by Manic and Paranoid. (1963), Nightmare and Hysteria (1964), The Fanatic and the Nanny (1965), and Crescendo (1969).

Awards

Psycho was nominated for four Oscars: "Best Actress", "Best Director", "Best Black and White Cinematography", "Best Art Direction-Set or Decoration". won no Oscars, although Leigh was able to win a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, and Perkins was also nominated for the Silver Globe for Best Actor. Joe Stefano was nominated for two major writers' awards: one the "Edgar Allan Poe" and the other the "Writers Guild of America" Awards, winning the former. Hitchcock was nominated for the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, by the Directors Guild of America. In 1992, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Leigh stated: "No other murder mystery in movie history has inspired such commercialization." Anything related to the Bates Motel, be it stills, high-value lobby cards, and posters are available for purchase. In 1992, Psycho was adapted into three comic books by the Innove Corporation. The film has appeared on a number of lists on websites, television channels, magazines, and books, including the following:

• The shower scene was featured as #4 on the Bravo Network list "100 Scariest Movie Moments".
• The shower scene appeared as #4 on the Premiere list of "The 25 most shocking moments in film history."
• Entertainment Weekly included it in the book entitled "The 100 Best Films of All Times" at #11.

Sequels and remakes

The film spawned three sequels:

• Psychosis II (1983)

Sequel to the original set 22 years after the first part; the film is directed by Richard Franklin and written by Tom Holland

• Psychosis III (1986)

Third installment of the saga located years after the second; the film is directed by Anthony Perkins who also plays Norman Bates

• Psychosis IV (1990) (TV)

The latter was a television production written by original screenplay author Joseph Stefano. Anthony Perkins played the Norman Bates character in all the movies and directed the third part.

The voice of the Mother was provided by Virginia Gregg except in Psycho IV, where she is performed by Olivia Hussey. Vera Miles also played Lila Crane in Psycho II, where she appears as Lila Loomis. Many critics have considered that all these productions are inferior to the original film Hitchcock did not participate in the creation of any of these sequels, since he died before they were made.

Other versions are:

• Bates Motel (1987). Here, Alex West (Bud Cort), a patient at the psychiatric institution where Norman was held, takes over the motel. Anthony Perkins refused to interpret Norman in this version, so Norman's cameo was interpreted by Kurt Paul.

• A Conversation with Norman (2005). Directed by Jonathan M. Parisen, it's a film inspired by Psychosis. Released in New York three days from the 45th anniversary of the premiere Psychosis (1960). Christopher Englese played Norman, Grace Orosz to Marion and Tom Loggins to Sam.

New versions:

• Psycho (Psicosis) (1998), directed by Gus Van Sant, is an adaptation in color and with different actors, but it was too similar to the original, even in the movement of the camera and in its edition, which made it obtain two Razzie Awards, one by worse director (Gus Van Sant) and another by worse sequel or remake. Anne Heche played the role of Marion Crane, and did not win the Razzie Prize or the Saturn Prize to those who had been sung. Vince Vaughn interprets Norman Bates.

• In 2010, Radio Nacional de España, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the original film, released a radio version Psychosis recorded live, starring Nancho Novo as Norman Bates and Red Rain as Marion Crane.

In 2013 the film Hitchcock based on the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello was released, which deals with the filming of this film.

On March 18, 2013, the series Bates Motel was released on the American chain A&E Networks. Developed by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin and Anthony Cipriano, the series is inspired by the Robert Bloch novel and the Alfred Hitchcock film. It narrates the life of Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) before the events shown in the Hitchcock film, but it takes place in another city during the XXI. Following the death of her husband, Norma purchases a hotel located in the seaside town of White Pine Bay so that she and Norman can start a new life.

Pop Culture

Original house of the movie. Today is a tourist attraction of Universal Studies in Los Angeles.

Psycho has become one of the most recognizable films in movie history and is arguably Hitchcock's best-known film. The iconic shower scene is frequently parodied, honored, and referenced in popular culture, along with violin sound effects. The Simpsons, in particular, has parodied the film numerous times, while Principal Skinner's relationship with his mother is reminiscent of Norman Bates's with his.

Psycho is (up to a point) one of the most referenced films in cinema. Examples of these references can be found in the films High Anxiety (1977), the horror classic Halloween (1978), Fade to Black (1980), Dressed to Kill (1980), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) and Finding Nemo (2003). Psychosis is also referenced in the television series That '70s Show, Fear Factor Hysteria!, Scream Queens, Pretty Little Liars, and in the comic/series Runaways. The American band Dream Theater uses the main theme as an introduction to their concerts "1313".