Psycho

Psycho 

Plot Summary 

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane (Leigh) is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam (Gavin) in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman Bates (Perkins) who seems to be dominated by his mother. 

The Shower Scene

The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho' which Marion is killed is considered one of the most stunning and horrifying scenes of all time. It is this scene that makes Psycho worthy of inclusion on a list of top phobia-inducing films. Legions of fans claim that for many years following their first viewing of this film, they refused to take showers. It is difficult to prove the truth of this claim, but shower phobia is a legitimately documented phobia, and if any film moment could induce it, this would be the one.

The shower scene has long been studied in film classes as a preeminent example of masterful editing. The scene is highly unique, as the camera becomes the knife. It has been claimed that the knife never actually pierces the skin, but this is technically untrue. In three frames, the knife penetrates the skin just below the navel about ¼ of an inch. Regardless, the decision to shoot the scene in close-up from the point of view of the knife itself both limited the gore and made the scene much more personal to the audience than most on-screen attacks.