Analyzing ‘Psycho’ - Shower Scene!

Afreen Shahid 13T

HOW DOES HITCHCOCK CREATE SUSPENSE & HORROR?

By the use of different camera angles e.g. the close up zoom on the camera

curtain which depicts the dark figure holding the knife. This fills the scene with

suspense and tension as Marion is not aware of what is behind her and the use of

zoom also highlights the fact that something horrendous is about to occur.

There is another close up on her hand and a downward tilt which shows her

hand slowly falling. This symbolizes her last moment alive as the intruder stabs

her to death and this yet again raises suspension as we don’t know who the

murderer is.

Hitchcock also uses sound to portray the events happening in the scene for

example when she is taking a shower, there is no music but you can hear the

water from the shower and this may symbolize purification which may show she

is washing her sins away.

SUSPENSE & HORROR #2

When the intruder faces Marion, the music is suddenly high pitched

and very frantic, capturing the pain of Marion being stabbed

continuously by the intruder. Explicitly, we see Marion being stabbed

on the body but there are also some shots showing the killer

attempting to stab her.

Editing is very important in this scene because the audience should

know what exactly is going on at every moment for example when

Marion is being attacked, there were short cuts to her reaction and to

her killers and this yet again makes the scene more horrific to watch.

ROLE OF THE AUDIENCEOnly some scenes in which the camera shot is a point of view. This allows

the audience to be in Marion’s mind. One of these shots was in the shower

scene and it was an eye level shot of the actual intruder attacking her. This

emphasizes the fact that the audience are forced to be put into Marion’s

place and it actually feels like the intruder is attacking you which makes it

even more scarier.

There is some subjective treatment and this makes the audience fee more

involved as they can only see what Marion Crane can see at times.

However, there are also ordinary shots which is objective treatment due to

the fact that the camera is placed on Marion herself to depict her emotions of

being attacked which were fear and anger.

THE DEATH OF MARION CRANE

There is a big impact of killing Marion Crane in the first forty five

minutes of the film because it keeps the audience wondering what

would happen next without the actual leading lady in the film.

It also shows that there is more of a story behind the death and this

makes the film more interesting as it raises suspicion because the

murder still has to be solved by somebody.

This doesn’t really happen in other horror films I have seen for

example in the film ‘Saw’, there is always a survivor at the end who is

usually portrayed as the main actor. Without a main actor, the film

would seem pretty empty as the plot mainly revolves around them.