Psycho is an American Thriller, adapted from the 1959 novel by Robert Bloch, directed in 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. It is considered one of the best thriller films ever created and is highly regarded even 50 years later.
The pivotal scene in the film was the shower scene, where the main character Marion Crane is killed off in an extremely dramatic stabbing. This scene broke boundaries in this film genre as it was the first time any director had dared to have a murder on screen, even a non-graphic one such as this. The scene runs for 3 minutes, includes 50 cuts and 77 camera angles. The fast cuts and dramatic close ups make the scene seem more violent and controlled than a wider shot would have done. The way that Hitchcock had the camera taking on almost a point of view shot in the killers perspective made the scene even more dramatic as it took all control away from the lead character that the audience has come to understand and sympatise with.
The infamous music in this scene composed by Bernard Herrmann was a compilation of screeching violins, violas and cellos and became one of the most famous pieces of music in the history of film. In the original scene developments Hitchcock had planned for the sequence to run in silence with no background sound at all but, after much persuasion from Herrmann, he agreed to give it a go and concluded that it intensified the scene vastly. The jolting rhythm and high impact instruments made the scene seem faster and added to the drama.
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