Psycho: the Shower Scene.

Psycho is undoubtably one of the most fundamentally disturbing films I've seen in a very long time, the age of it does not subtract from it's worth.

I believe this to be culpable of the fact that, throughout the movie, we feel something is amiss, however we are abysmally lacking information so to ascertain as to what exactly it was and so were unwittingly unsettled by it.

It is a structurally brilliant Thriller, with an established villain, however lacks a definite hero, many of the characters seem to take on this roll.

There are many iconic scenes in this film.

But primarily, let's discuss the famous shower scene.

The tension is initially built by having very few cuts, and mostly diegetic sound involved. There are no long shots, which makes you believe that you're not seeing everything, because you're limited to the small frame which you've been allowed to see, as depicted in the GIF I made below:

In the direct lead up to the zenith of the action, there is no non-diegetic sound, only the resounding sound of the shower, coupled by the downwards angle of the camera, making the female protagonist seem vulnerable, and not just physically naked. She is at the complete unprecedented mercy of what is about to happen to her:

Then, after a few seconds of the imminent approach of looming danger as only we can see behind her, it happens:

And along with the extreme close-ups and the silhouette shot of her estranged killer, the unhinged screeching of the violins I'm sure we can all subconsciously produce in our heads just looking at this scene, make it very a impactful scene indeed.

As she is being stabbed, we again see her from a high angle, portraying her absolute helplessness:

I must say, the character of Norman Bates is thoroughly interesting to me, if not very unnerving. I'm vey glad I got the opportunity to watch this film.

 - Islah