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<p align="center"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/psycho-poster.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2119" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/psycho-poster-185x300.jpg" alt="" width="185" height="300" /></a><a href="http://twentyfourframes.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/psycho-poster.jpg?w=309&amp;h=500">http://twentyfourframes.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/psycho-poster.jpg?w=309&amp;h=500</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left" align="center">And a link to the shower scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4</p>
<p style="text-align: left" align="center">Alfred Hitchcock’s <em>Psycho</em> (1960) is hailed as the first “modern” horror film (Schneider). This film is about a young woman, Marion living in Phoenix, wanting to marry and start a new life with her lover, Sam, in California. When she gets the money (by stealing), she drives to California while along the way, she pulls into The Bates Motel, which is managed by Norman. She is murdered in the infamous shower scene, by which we believe is Norman’s jealous mother, and is found by Norman, who gets rid of her body. The movie takes us through the proceedings and we find by his psychiatrist that Norman is a schizophrenic, and he committed the murder dressed as his mother. Psycho should be preserved not only for its gripping plot-line, but for its influential rule-breaking and horror genre-starting style.<!--more--></p>
The Cold War influenced an up-tight fearful society from 1945 to 1989. In 1960, Kennedy won the Democratic nomination, which as president, set in liberal ideology and changed the “mindset of the average Catholic voter” (Mirsky). Between the 1950’s and 1960’s came the civil rights movement. Segregation in schools was banned and was met with “fierce resistance” (Fiero). Revolts, “sit-ins,” protests and boycotts took place in an attempt for racial equality. Between 1950 and 1959, households with televisions rose from nine percent to eighty-six and became the “principal medium of mass communication and attitude formation in the US” (Shaw). During the decade of the 60’s, the film industry was reaching its lowest point. Many film productions were being made abroad to save money. During the sixties, baby boomers were becoming teenagers and young adults, which brought about a new way of thinking and change. An artistic movement in film known as the French New Wave brought awareness to international films through the late fifties and sixties. One film in particular would be Francois Truffaut’s “Les quatre cents coups” which broke rules of Hollywood’s cinema narrative structure that influenced other movies such as Psycho to break rules in the film industry.

Psycho was unlike other works of its time because many films and artworks dealt with the realities of war and political events, such as Mervyn LeRoy’s “Wake Me When It’s Over” about a WWII veteran, and Tay Garnett’s “The Night Fighters” about the German invasion of England. This film was different because the “star” was killed off in the first third of the movie. It is very unusual even today to find the main character die in movies, and if so it is usually not until the end. “…No one had seen a film like this before in terms of its shock value,” one reviewer says (Skatssoon). It is innovative because it is considered the first modern horror film, and was the first time a flushing toilet was shown on the screen. One unusual thing about the trailer is that it is about ten minutes long. Another unusual thing is Janet Leigh, who played Marion, was advertised in a poster wearing a bra and slip.

Though innovations for Technicolor films began in the early 1900’s and were perfected in the 1930’s, it was still typical to see black-and-white films during this time, which makes Psycho typical in this area. Being a “traditional film” it fits in with its type because it follows a story line. As contradicting as it sounds, it was typical because it was creative, as many other art forms were during this time. Psycho is typical because it was based off a novel by Robert Bloch. Many books were being turned into movies then, and still even today.

“When it first screened in 1960, some patrons reportedly passed out from fear and many were too scared to take a shower for days” (Skatssoon). Some reviewers of its time called Psycho “cheap and nasty,” tasteless and exploitive. Among the negative receptions, a reviewer of New York Times says it was an “obviously low-budget job” and warns to prepare for a “couple of grisly shocks.” The reviewer says it is too slowly-paced – “slow buildups to sudden shocks that are old-fashioned melodramatics.” He says the acting is “fair.”

After noticing how popular this film was among the public, he apologized for his negative review and put Psycho on his ten best list and called it a “bold psychological mystery picture”; “sensual,” and “sophisticated” (Kolker).

Today, one reviewer claims Psycho is the “epitome of its genre” and “unlike many recent films, has a complicated and gripping plot” (Crowley). “It is amazing what fear Hitchcock instills with just a shower, a knife, and a few pints of chocolate syrup (which is what he used for blood in this black and white film)” (Crowley). Hollywood insiders voted Hitchcock’s Psycho as the greatest thriller of all time.

Other than obvious casting changes, there are many differences between Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake and Hitchcock’s Psycho. The 1998 remake brings the movie more up-to-date with one of the characters trading in for a Volvo instead of a Ford, and replacing a quiet service station with a noisy dance hall. One of many additional cut-in scenes is one where it shows the characters’ eyeball dilate during death. Another expected difference is pricing; instead of a ten dollar a night hotel room, it is thirty-six (Van Sant obviously had to adjust for inflation). Van Sant’s budget was $20 million, while Hitchcock’s was $800,000. Another main difference is Hitchcock’s Psycho is in black and white, while van Sant’s is in color.

Similarities between these two works are that they both have scored string orchestra music in the background. Both of these films do not show nudity - none more than a bra &amp; panty and bare-butt shot. The names of the characters are kept the same as well as lines (for the most part). Both of these movies have mixed reviews. Some reviewers say the remake is a “blatant rip-off” and a “degraded copy,” and agree van Sant has made two mistakes – to “remake a landmark of cinematic history,” and to follow it almost exactly, shot by shot and line by line (Verevis). Others say the remake does not resemble closely enough to the original, but is still a great film with wonderful acting. Hitchcock’s Psycho, also having mixed reviews, some critics thought the film to be “cheap and nasty,” while others say “It's seen as one of, if not the most significant film within the horror genre of all time” (Skatssoon). Another similarity, van Sant’s movie also had a reviewer reconsider his negative reception.

What I personally find amazing about this film other than the plot-line is the fact that the approximately three-minute shower scene took seven days to shoot. What I like about this movie is the suspense created by the violins. I appreciate that we never actually see the knife going through Marion (that stuff makes me cringe). The mention of birds by Normal Bates, along with the taxidermy in the motel office, is one thing I do like, as I am a fan of birds, as Hitchcock was. One thing I do not like about the movie is how slow it is. It takes a long time to get through one scene but it is still interesting to watch. Other than that, I believe this movie is great and I love that is in black and white which gives it a mysterious tone and I love how the story takes us through the solving of the mysteries as the story unfolds when the psychiatrist is explaining what happened. One thing I found interesting is in Norman’s house, on the record player is Beethoven’s Eroica, which was my topic for Time Capsule Proposal Three.

Psycho broke rules and norms of the film industry. It also created new rules. Until this time, audiences would show up at theatres any time during the movie without checking listings. Alfred Hitchcock demanded that no one would be admitted into the theater after the film has started showing – he required everyone to watch the movie from the very beginning. Though owners were scared audiences wouldn’t return after being turned away after the start of the showing, for the first time audiences waited and lined up to watch a movie. Hitchcock pushed as far as he could to get as much sex and violence as allowed through censorship at the time. Many websites I came across listed Psycho as one of the greatest of it’s time.

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<p align="center">Works Cited</p>
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Crowley, Matt. "Psycho." <em>Teen Ink</em> 16.1 (2004): 34. <em>MAS Ultra - School Edition</em>. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

This article has brief views of a few different movies, including Psycho. I used this for today’s reception of the film.

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Kolker, Robert Phillip. <em>Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: a casebook</em>. Oxford University Press, 2004. eBook.

This book is a collection of essays over Psycho from its inception, reception, music, and more. I used this for its initial reception.

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Leitch, Thomas M. "101 Ways To Tell Hitchcock's Psycho From Gus Van Sant's." <em>Literature Film Quarterly</em> 28.4 (2000): 269. <em>Academic Search Complete</em>. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.

This is an article discussing the differences between Hitchcock’s Psycho and its remake by Gus Van Sant. I used this article for comparing and contrasting.

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Mirsky, Mark Jay. "Kennedy On The Mount Of Olives." <em>Massachusetts</em><em> Review</em> 45.1 (2004): 160-177. <em>World History Collection</em>. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

This is an article about Kennedy’s impact. I used it for the historical context paragraph.

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Schneider, Steven. "Manufacturing horror in (Alfred) Hitchcock's Psycho." <em>CineAction</em> 50 (1999): 70-5. <em>Literature</em><em> Resource Center</em>. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.

This is an article about Hitchcock and the horror scenes in his work Psycho. I used it for a description.

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Shaw, Tony. "Television News And Cold War Propaganda (Book)." <em>Cold War History</em> 2.1 (2001): 174. <em>MasterFILE Premier</em>. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

This is a review of the book “U.S. Television News and <strong>Cold</strong><strong> </strong><strong>War</strong> Propaganda, 1947-1960.” I used it for a statistic about television during the Cold War for historical context.

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Skatssoon, Judy. "Audiences Went Crazy For Hitchcock's Psycho." <em>Advertiser, The (Adelaide)</em> (2010): 44. <em>Newspaper Source</em>. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.

This is an article about critics of Psycho. I used this for reception then and today.

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Verevis., Constantine. "Psycho (Redux)." <em>Metro</em> 121/122 (2000): 144. <em>MasterFILE Premier</em>. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
<p style="text-align: left" align="center">This article is a review of van Sant’s Psycho. I used it for it’s reception.</p>