Review Of The Alfred Hitchcock's Film "Psycho": Groundbreaking Film In The History Of American Film Industry

The horror film “Psycho” was a groundbreaking film in the history of the American film industry. The film faced controversy at first because it was so different from movies in the past. Horror films before this were very unrealistic. The film “Psycho” created more of a reality which captured so much attention. Moviegoers and film critics believed that it was overly violent and not expectable for viewers to see, but later on the movie “Psycho” was seen as a creative master piece.

In 1960 horror film changed for the better because of a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock called “Psycho”. Critics and moviegoers couldn’t except change’s, with his style of filming, and using relatable concepts it overcame it’s boundaries and became the most epic advancements in horror films. “Psycho” is viewed by tons of moviegoers who want to experience Hitchcock’s creative masterpiece for themselves.

After leaving theaters, moviegoers and critics judged, protested, and try to ban Hitchcock’s Psycho because they believe that the film shoed “simple starkness, grotesque violence, and ugly, twisted humanity” (Kendrick 3).

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Nevertheless, the main reason why the film was hated by so many people in the 1960s is because changed the traditional thought of what American society should see as a good film. James Kendrick also states that “Psycho represents as much as possible a film that could cut across the various divides that were separating the “mass audience” into smaller, specialized audiences, which is what made it so effective in fundamentally shattering conventional expectations” (Kendrick 5).

It is believed that “Hitchcock forced the viewer right into the middle of the violence as both the person suffering and the person inflicting the pain” (Kendrick 8) and no other films have tried this type of visual effect before Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. Hitchcock changed the horror film industry with his artistic abilities to arrange shots that added to the terror was ground breaking.

Before Hitchcock’s film “Psycho” was created directors relied on the characters, lighting, and their cameras. However, in “Hitchcock’s case, the dangers, the unknown, the violence that awaits. Hitchcock does this in a number of ways, through pre-arranging every shot for maximum effect.” (Simms 220). At this time films had characters centered in each shot creating a center of balance of the imagine the viewer is seeing. None the less Hitchcock broke the rules of filming by “his framing is to move his camera off center when gazing at a character in the middle of trouble, putting the view off balance” (Simms 220). This type of shot reaches into the moviegoers tricking them to feel awkwardness. An example of this is the shower scene where Marion is in the shower. Hitchcock films her ay center eye-level since he wants the moviegoers to feel relief and kind of an ecstasy allowing this scene to start off innocent. Marion uses the shower to “cleaning of her sins”. “When Mother is about to enter the room, the shot changes abruptly, becoming high, distant, and close simultaneously; threateningly. The shot seems to be taken through a telephoto lens, which distances the scene while compressing space, withdrawing it from our immediate gaze, and, along with the figure emerging from the door, begins to disturbs us deeply.” (Simms 221-222).

Another artistic stand that Hitchcock did to trick moviegoers into feeling uncomfortable is his “doubling work”. This type of filming that Hitchcock created scary symmetry to things showing his malevolence is not centered in just one character, actions, or place. There for Hitchcock shows “ubiquity and banality of evil is shared across the board.” (Simms 222). Examples of these images that are in the film “Psycho” is the use of mirrors. Hitchcock shows Marion talks to Norman in the motel office filming the mirror, preceding to the parlor scene and then happening the same place later in the movie with Sam and Norman confront each other. Hitchcock also uses symbolisms to create an disturbing feeling for the moviegoer Hitchcock creates a hobby for his character Norman who like to stuff dead birds. The birds in the motel office are all faced towards him ready to pounce causing no sense of relaxation of the dead animals. The shot then goes from these dead stuffed birds to paintings and a portrait of his mother. “The paintings hint at Norman’s deeply depressed sexuality and, although we have no idea at this point of the power his stuffed mother holds over him, there is a hint of the aggressiveness and violence to come in this composition, as the dead bird seems ready to pounce on Norman, as Mother pounces through Norman.” (Simms 233). Hitchcock also created characters that have realistic issues the moviegoers can relate to causing another reaction for moviegoers.

Horror films in the 1960’s did not have a realistic feeling to moviegoers, as where Hitchcock uses Psychology to create characters that have real mental problems that one can find in the real world. Anther one of Hitchcock’s great advancements to our horror movies we see today. In the film, Hitchcock displays psychology by using “Id, Ego, and Superego” also known as Instincts, Reality, and Morality. The Id displays in Marion Crane and Norman Bates. Marion’s struggle with her basic wants and desires. For example, Norman is the perfect example of the Id, Ego and Superego. His Id is portrayed by his “mother”, the raving lunatic who stabs and kills several victims because of Norman’s conflicted feelings and issues. Norman also displays Split personality disorder. Norman’s Ego is his conscious state when he isn’t being his “mother” also known as Id. He struggles to find the right balance between his Id and Superego which results in conflicted actions such as when he is hysterical to see blood on his “mother” and when he sees Marion’s body, he is terrified. This is the reaction of Norman’s Super ego, a part of himself that he still accepts and sees as “Norman”. His identity of “Norman” is essentially his Ego by struggling between his “Mother’s” mistakes and his own ideals which he voices to Marion. It can also be defined as a struggle between his Realistic and Narcissistic egos. He plays the role of the Super Ego to Marion when he speaks with her, reminding her of pitfalls and traps people fall into instead of doing their duty. Norman’s character shows distinct symptoms of all three Id, the Ego and the Super Ego which are at various times in the entire film. Norman is seen at the end of the movie as completely under the control of his “mother” which represents him embracing his Id completely. “This unique embodiment of horror recalls Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, a phenomenon that finds itself better suited to filmic representations rather than prose renditions.” (Bishop 507). Hitchcock took over the horror film industry and advanced it for the better.

All types of horror films today use the ground-breaking movie “Psycho” as their stepping stool. Zombie, Aliens, Ghost and more, all using the stylistic filming that Hitchcock used by creating a shock effect on their views, filming at different angles creating an uneasy feeling, and using psychology creating a fear of “ones sees one’s self” (Bishop 520) ultimately captures the audience. Even-though some viewers and critics responded negatively to “Psycho”, their appraisal changed once they had time to reassess the value of the film. Nearly forty years after the film's release, Psycho is still cited as “a masterpiece which has inspired many dozens of other films such as “Dressed to Kill” (1980) and “Fatal Attraction” (1987) (Nowell-Smith 491) and is used as "a yardstick by which other thrillers are measured" (Rebello 194). "The effect both in the short run, in establishing “Psycho” as the ultimate thriller, and the long run, in altering the cinema-going habits of the nation, is indisputable" (Clover 191). Hitchcock’s movie “Psycho” is truly a multi-layered film which has truly stood the test of time and remains one of the most shocking and eerie films in the history of cinema.

Works cited

1. Kendrick, James. (2000). "Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film." University of Texas Press.
2. Simms, Thomas. (2005). "Screening the Gothic." University of Texas Press.
3. Bishop, Kyle William. (2006). "American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture." McFarland.
4. Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey. (2003). "The Oxford History of World Cinema." Oxford University Press.
5. Rebello, Stephen. (1990). "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho." Dembner Books.
6. Clover, Carol J. (1992). "Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film." Princeton University Press.
7. Phillips, Gene D. (2004). "Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life." Macmillan.
8. Naremore, James. (2003). "More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts." University of California Press.
9. Spoto, Donald. (1999). "The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock." Da Capo Press.
10. Hitchcock, Alfred. (Director). (1960). "Psycho" [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.