PSYCHO (1960)

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” — Alfred Hitchcock

Born on this day 122 years ago was the filmmaker often referred to as the ‘master of suspense’, Alfred Hitchcock, whose body of work is among the most respected and recognizable in cinema history.

Completing over 50 films in a span of six and half decades, Hitchcock created many beloved and iconic films. Considering that today is Friday the 13th, let’s go with his infamous horror-thriller PSYCHO (1960) as our Must See Movie today.

Retrospectively, Hitchcock made PSYCHO at a very interesting time. For one, it was in the middle of his peak years as a filmmaker. Also, during a time that he was becoming highly recognizable to audiences, through his television show, and the popularity of his film cameos. French critics, who would become filmmakers themselves, declared HItchcock as a significant example of auteur theory, the idea that it is the director the “author” films as it emulates their style and voice. In Hitchcock’s case his films included many reoccurring elements, voyeuristic camera work, location being a significant part of the story, characters often needing to prove their innocence, climatic twists, cinematic editing, and expressive camera work and angles. Adding to the density of his acclaim as well as influence on future filmmakers was that his films became a pivotal media text for study in film schools that started forming in the 1960s.

However despite his popularity and acclaim, PSYCHO was not one that studios were interested in financing. Since the story was such a departure from his films leading up it, Hitchcock was not offered much of a budget. He struck a deal that he would finance the film himself, in return for it to be distributed. To keep costs down he used his crew from his TV show ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’. He kept his budget to $800K, but was still able to involve his frequent collaborators—composer Bernard Herrmann, editor George Tomasini and title designer Sail Bass—who all left a distinguished mark on the film, including one of the most famous scenes in cinema.

The very mention of PSYCHO conjures up the images and the music of the shower scene with Janet Leigh. The highly subjective sequence was design to be psychologically impactful utilizing 77 camera shots in less than four minutes in what Hitchcock referred to as as "transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience". The scene isn’t captured and edited for realism, but rather for subjectivity and emotion. Rather than just seeing the attack, we psychologically experience it. Hitchcock understand the cinematics of how people negotiated with the medium, and then effectively designed and executed the angles sequences to draw them into the landscape of the story. By financing the film himself, it is said that he made $15 million.

PSYCHO is available for streaming on Netflix and The Criterion Channel.