Psycho: A Classic

Psycho: A Classic

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock falls in the genre of psychological thrillers as it uses thriller conventions and the mind of Norman Bates for its story. The film uses many dark and gloomy shots to signify and accentuate it as a thriller or a horror movie. In the famous shower scene, it incorporates fast cuts and shadows to portray the villain and the victim. The use of darkness and shadows create a very moody atmosphere as to represent evil of some sort. Hitchcock pulled some inspiration from William Castle's works such as Macabre and 13 Ghosts. He pulls in the horror while keeping a more stoy based film. The film is based off of the novel Psycho by Robert Bloch. The movie was made with combined effort of many men most notably Alfred Hitchcock, Joseph Stephano, and John L. Russell. The movie is inspired by the graverobber, Ed Gein.

Alfred Hitchcock was a control freak. He controlled many aspects of making a movie and it had to be made from his vision. Psycho falls in that category but in every movie he is still open to some ideas of others. John L. Russell was the cinematographer and he has worked on many different monster/horror movies before Psycho so his knowledge of framing and conventions were already in place. The screenplay made by Joseph Stefano closely followed the original novel with of course some changes. Hitchcock's vision is very much present in Psycho. He brought a very unsettling atmosphere which complimented the story of what Psycho is. 

A fitting theme for the movie would be the lack of family. Since Norman Bates was so excluded from society, he only knew of his parents. When his father died, he only knew his mother. He becomes entranced by the thought of his mother. So much so, that he develops a second persona of his mother. Isolation can also be a theme seeing as Norman Bates was alone for most of his life and that he does not know how to react to society. The target audience are older teens that are attracted by the posters and the name of the movie. The movie itself allows the different genders to relate to several characteristics of the movie. The women can relate and build a relationship with the female lead while the men can keep themselves occupied with the violence and mystery.