Psycho (1960)

The 1960 film, Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, is a classic slasher movie with many twists and turns. Littered with sexual visuals and an idea that women are less human or less than men. This film contains the five key principles: the killer, the weapon, the “horrible place”, the final girl, and the shock factor. All together, creates one truly horrific plot.

The first principle in Psycho, the killer, happens to be Norman Bates (or the “Mother” as it is shown towards the end of the movie that they are the same person). After the death of his father, Norman began to depend on his mother’s love and undivided attention. However, when his mother found a new lover, Norman felt that he was being replaced and the overwhelming jealousy lead him to poison his own mother and her lover. Since this was his first murder, he became so consumed with guilt that he stole his mother’s corpse and tried to preserve it as best as he could. To keep up with the illusion that his she was still alive, he began to walk around in her clothes and wore a wig, creating a split of his personality to be Norman but his mother as well. Norman Bates fits the typical slasher killer profile because of him being male that is dealing with his own psychotic issues.

A second principle is the weapon that is being used to harm others, which in Norman’s case, he uses a knife. His tendency to stab his victims can be seen as phallic symbolism. Which means, that his knife represents his penis. In one part of the film, Norman is looking through a peep hole to Marion’s room where she is seen naked. He then proceeds to go into her room and “penetrates” (stabs) her over and over again. The audience can see the murder as an extension of Norman’s desire.

The third principle of the slasher film is the location, which is often referred to as the “horrible place”. Hitchcock represents this “horrible place” where Norman’s heinous murders had happened, in the Bates Motel. This is also where his mother’s corpse still lies, and where all the murders that are done by Norman happen.

The final girl is another principle in many slasher films. Some would say in Psycho, Lila Crane is portrayed as the final girl because she is the last one that remains alive in the film. However, some critics would argue that she should not be considered the final girl because in the end of the film, Sam is seen as the hero who comes to save Lila before she is murdered by Bates. Another argument against Lila being the “final girl” is that the final girl tends to veer off from the cultural norm of the time period. In this movie, she is seen as another helpless girl who needs the rescue of a male figure. To counter these arguments, the final girl is known to last long enough for help to arrive or she has to become the killer herself and Lila Crane did in fact survive the brutality of Norman.

Last but not least, is the shock factor. The shock comes with the drawn out murders of characters who do not play a significant role, however, are significant to the movie. These murders tend to be very gruesome and violent, and the audience tends to be left sitting lost in ambiguity, wondering how the movie is going to end and what they just witnessed. Psycho, with a tremendous open ending, leaves the audience open to ideas.

These five key principles tie together the slasher films and provide a truly horrific and chilling cinematic experience. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho shows many horrifying twists and turns and has the audience leaving the movie theater awestruck.