The Transformative Legacy of Psycho 60 Years On
Has there ever been a film that so greatly influenced and changed the course of a single genre as Psycho ?
With one swish of a shower curtain and a chorus of shrieking violins, Alfred Hitchcock’s bold and bloody take on the horror genre sent shockwaves through the film industry, and its impact on horror cinema is felt just as strongly today. The story of reclusive motel owner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) — whose mind is corrupted by the dark shadow of his dead mother, leading him to commit a spree of murders in her guise — was a shockingly transgressive film that killed off its leading lady at the end of the first act and pushed the industry’s strict censorship laws to their very limits.
When we think of we think of Psycho now, we think of that infamous shower scene that sees Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) murdered. It was a defining moment in horror that lasted just 45 seconds but changed cinema forever. And it stretched far and wide, triggering the rise of the slasher sub-genre that would reign supreme in the 1970s and ’80s through films like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
