I have seen Psycho more times than I remember, but yesterday I had the pleasure of watching it in a theatre for the very first time. There aren't many movies in general that regularly return to theatres for over six decades and very few of those are horror films. That a single scene in Psycho created an entire genre of horror movies would be enough to secure its place in history but that barely scratches the surface of what makes it so fascinating.
The shower scene is of course one of the most, if not the most, iconic scenes in the history of film. And it is powerful all on its own without any context. But what is most chilling about that scene is that Marion's conversation with Norman leads her to change course, make the right choice. And so the shower represents a cleansing in a deeper sense and it is just then that she is stabbed to death. Norman both helps her find the right path and makes her pay the ultimate cost for choosing the wrong one.
These sort of fractures and divisions are all over the movie and, more importantly and more impressively, in the mind of the viewer. For example, we find ourselves hoping the victim's car will submerge completely as we, at this point, sympathize with Norman. And in a very economical section of dialogue where California Charlie greets Marion and talks about the first customer of the day being trouble, Hitchcock makes us feel some comic relief and the fear Marion is experiencing in the same moment. You don't just fear what is coming in the movie, but you become uncertain of your own ideas of what is right or wrong. And yet in the very next moment we go on so sure of ourselves, setting our own “private trap”: we watch Marion's sister hoping to find Norman's mother, we feel a danger she can't anticipate, only for Hitchcock have another surprise for us.
Also, in a move that was quite daring, the lead actress is killed off before the film is even halfway through. We have been seeing things through one character's eyes and now find ourselves seeing it through another character's eyes and we have a whole different story to follow. We find how quickly we transfer allegiances without even thinking. This is complex filmmaking.
Bernard Herrmann, whose first film score was for Citizen Kane and final film score Taxi driver, delivered the perfect score as usual, creating tension right from the opening credits. And his music for the shower scene feels as harsh and cold as the blade we see on screen.
And Hitchcock's choice to film it in black and white adds an eerie feel and emphasizes the contrasts.
We haven't done anything as gruesome as Norman Bates but as Psycho reveals how divided we can become within our own minds, how we put trust where it doesn't belong, how we relate to dangerous minds, it does make Psycho a classic and as terrifying as film can get.
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