Psycho

Analysis - Psycho 

Psycho follows and sets guidelines to common horror films, notably the sequences of events focused on generating suspense in the audience, rather than the focus be set mainly towards the plot. Alfred Hitchcock found inspiration for the movie Psycho from the novel by Robert Bloch, as well as Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques (The Diabolical(s)). Interestingly, when Hitchcock decided to generate his movie, he quickly bought the rights to the novel and nearly every copy of the novel made in order to maintain the ending anonymous. In this sense, those who had heard news of the novel were ignorant as to plot, and would be “unprepared” for climatic moments. Additionally, Hitchcock wanted to separate himself from the common large-budget films and wished to conduct and experiment with Psycho. Hitchcock wanted to determine if a low budget, black and white film could be filmed in seemingly more efficient television filmmaking. No largely known actors were used in Psycho, not matching other films produced by Hitchcock, which included well-known actors.

            Aimed towards audiences that had probably not read the entirety of the novel, Hitchcock oriented Psycho in order to demonstrate that A-class movies could be achieved without necessarily the use of color or flamboyant amounts of investment. In order to attain such rating, Hitchcock manipulated the script in order to largely build suspense, introducing characters in a similar style technique of parallel action. Psycho primarily introduces the ill-fated Marion, lead actress, then the merciless villain, named Norman.

           Similar to many films produced by Hitchcock, themes within Psycho are not explicitly shown, often relying on underlying metaphors. Examples of such symbolism are the recurring imagery of stuffed birds and reflecting mirrors, which from a perspective reflecting the death and the eternal, as well as the awkward use of hands and eyes. Audiences could equally be interested in this imagery that includes the prerequisite elements for dark comedy. The film also identifies the themes of degeneracy and fraud, as well as individual’s vulnerability towards being corrupt.

            All these aspects where incorporated in the movie Psycho, which cost a measly $800,000 for the full production. The critics posted mixed reviews about the film, which introduced new elements into American filmmaking, such as unconventional voyeuristic scenes, as well as the first flushing toilet to ever be filmed for an American production.

            In these perspectives, Psycho was nearly an experiment directed by Hitchcock to identify what extent audiences would allow a film to remove aspects of glamour, and still be considered A-rated. This experiment proved to succeed, demonstrating that by removing excess flamboyancy, the plot is emphasized, the underlying messages can be evaluated, and the gore of the movie “appreciated.”