Twelve cabins, twelve vacancies.
Unhappy with her life working in a Phoenix Real Estate Office Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steels $40,000 from her boss and heads for her boyfriend Sam Loomis' (John Gavin) place in California. Tired from driving she falls asleep in her car and is woken up in the morning by a State Trooper. Right from the beginning she is acting suspicious. She stops and trades her car in for another. Again the Trooper is watching her and the car dealer notices she is acting funny. Back on the road she gets off the main highway. Caught in a storm she decides to stop for the night. At the Bates Motel.
This is where the story really begins.
Norman Bates has a quiet madness about him. He can go from charming child to intense psychopath in seconds. You see his eyes change before you. At first you’re off guard, just having sandwiches, milk, and quiet conversation the next you’re afraid to speak for saying the wrong thing. These subtle clues can be missed. And are until you realize who the psycho really is.
"Psycho" was released in 1960 and was, of course directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Made almost 60 years ago and still one of the most frightening stories ever. It’s not just a horror film. It’s a psychological horror film. And it comes from Alfred Hitchcock and writer Robert Bloch. Add to this a list of actors that are at the top of their class and “Psycho” is a movie you do not forget. Bernard Herrmann’s classic score actually sounds like knives slashing.
Hitchcock uses lots of techniques to portray fear in tangible ways. The starkness of the bathroom. The bleak house on the hill in need of paint and repair. The distance between the house and the road. The cool calculated way Norman cleans the room and removes all traces of Marion. A real person. Passively watching as car after car is swallowed by the swamp. All add to the feeling of unemotional detachment in the character of Norman Bates. Mother may not be herself today but Norman is not quite human.
Reportedly Janet Leigh was not bothered by the filming of the famous shower scene until she saw it on film. She later remarked that it made her realize how vulnerable a woman was in a shower. To the end of her life, she always took baths. As far as I'm concerned you are just as vulnerable wet and naked in a bathtub as in a shower. You are still stuck in a corner with no way out.
For a shot looking up into the water stream of the shower head, Sir Alfred Hitchcock had a six-foot-diameter shower head made up and blocked the central jets so that the water sprayed in a cone past the camera lens, without any water spraying directly at it. Bosco chocolate syrup was used for blood. It showed up better on camera. The sound that the knife makes penetrating the flesh is actually the sound of a knife stabbing a casaba melon. This was the first American movie (and possibly first fictional movie) ever to show a toilet flushing on-screen.
After this movie's release, Sir Alfred Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing "Diabolique" 1955, and now refused to shower after seeing this movie. Hitchcock sent a note back simply saying, "Send her to the dry cleaners."
The movie is based on a novel by Robert Bloch. Bloch's story was inspired by the true story of serial killer Ed Gein. Gein was also the inspiration for "Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile" 1974, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" 1974, and "The Silence of the Lambs" 1991.
Hitchcock has two cameos in the film. He is first seen standing outside the real estate office when Marion comes back to the office after her rendezvous with Sam. Next he is seen walking past Marion's car when she is stopped at the light before she drives out of the city.