Fear and Confusion in films Psycho and Carrie
In horror films, there is always one scene that opens up the perceived
realm of normality to that of fear and confusion. Directors and
authors alike use these scenes to show the change in the pace of the
film. In both the movie Psycho (1960) and Carrie (1976), shower scenes
are used to mark this epic turning point with sexuality, blood and
voyeurism; the most important ingredients to horror.
The idea of sneaking around and peering into forbidden places gives
just about everyone a thrill. Voyeurism is used strongly in both
Psycho and Carrie due to its ability to entice thrill in the viewer.
In Carrie, we start the scene by looking into a girls' high school
locker room; scantily clad or naked girls moving in slow-motion in
front of the camera give the thrill of both trespassing and the chance
of being caught. The camera gradually slides across the locker room
floor, slowly so as to allow us to look at the changing girls. We stop
at the last row and are slowly walked into the steamy row of showers
where we find a naked Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). In Psycho, after
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) leaves Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) to
her room, he goes back to his office for a reason we're not quite
clear about yet. He hesitates at the wall between his office and
Marion's room, glancing around for anyone who might be watching him.
The room's under-lighting gives both Norman and the stuffed birds
around him an evil and devious look. Finally he looks at the wall and
removes a painting, a painting depicting the Rape of Lucretia, and
reveals a
peephole into Marion's hotel room. He puts his ey...
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...th movies symbolizes a turning point in the movie, a point where
what we thought we knew is no longer relevant.
It is the combination of blood, voyeurism, and sexuality that marks
the scene which is the turning point in both Carrie and Psycho. The
thrill of spying, the peaceful passion of sexuality, and the shock of
blood all combine to form the prefect recipe for a climactic horror
scene as well as a great horror movie. Without these factors, horror
movies would not be what they are today; they would just be simple
murder mysteries. It is the idea of the unknown and the idea that we,
as the audience, are also vulnerable to whatever malice is occurring
onscreen that gives horror films the ability to scare, the ability to
make you shudder, and the ability to make that sense of security you
feel around you disappear.
Psycho is a suspense-horror film written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film was loosely adapted from Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel, Psycho. A majority of the movie was filmed in 1960 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Psycho is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Arizona who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client. She takes that money and drives off to California to meet her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) in order to start a new life. After a long drive, she pulls off the main highway and ends up taking refuge at an isolated motel owned and managed by a deranged Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, symbols, character and point of view are three literary aspects used in the film to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to build suspense in the film.
to the film. Psycho is a fifteen in England to buy on video these days
wait around until they are told what they have to do. There is a small
us enquiring such as who lives is in the house or is the house owned
Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the same image and retract the same audience responses as blatant actions and pictures.
And last but not least is the villain in these movies. Most of the killers in these films are portrayed as mentally deranged and/or has some type of facial or bodily deformation and who have been traumatized at an early age. Even though these characters terrorized and murder people they have taken on the persona of anti-heroes in pop culture. Characters like Halloween’s Michael Myers, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees have become the reason to go see these movies. However, over time,”their familiarity and the audience’s ability to identify and sympathize with them over the protagonist made these villains less threatening (Slasher Film (5))”.
"yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars" (Ginsberg 11). Like many authors of the modern literature movement, Allen Ginsberg explores the bomb's psychological affects on many Americans during the 1960s. Modern literature describes the chaos of the 1960s, caused by increasing societal problems and fear of the new atomic bomb. Writings such as The Basketball Diaries, "Howl" and Cat's Cradle express concepts of fear, power, governmental control, and death. Government uses society's fear of death and the end of the world to keep control and power over the people. The atomic bomb generates such universal fear and the corrupted government fails to respond to the chaotic behavior of society or the fears of the individuals. This fear that the government achieves not only maintains control, but also causes chaos and the false belief that the government is on the public's side. The chaotic environment is a result of people crying out for help and the conflicting lifestyles arise when people face the terror of death.
Alfred Hitchcock is known for his masters of works in the film industry. The film he is most famous for is Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock`s Psycho was critically acclaimed not only in the horror genre but within the entire film scene. It encompasses several key themes, which are portrayed through cinematic devices such as camera movement and sound, sound, lighting and costume and set design. The subject of madness becomes increasingly evident as the film progresses, centering on the peculiar character that is Norman Bates.
PSYCHO is a unique film because it is a black and white film in the
The movie Psycho, is one of the most influential movie in Cinema history to date. The director Alfred Hitchcock, wanted to test many of the conventions of movie making that was common at that time. Alfred Hitchcock movie broke many cultural taboos and challenged the censors. Alfred Hitchcock showed a whole bunch of at the time absurd scene, for example: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) dying naked while taking a shower, Norman Bates with split personality disorder, and the first ever flushing toilet shown in a movie. Because from the late 1920's to the late 1950's, movies were made usually go around the story, and usually with a lot dialogue. This movie gives the audience an experience that was much more emotional and intuitive. The viewers were caught up in a roller coaster of shock, surprise and suspense based on image, editing and sound.
Horror, crime and thriller movies are three entirely different genres, but they share some similarities. Crime movies typically focus on a hero and the pursuit of a criminal. In the end, the protagonist solves the crime. On the other hand, horror movies usually focus on the dark side of life. Evil spirits or supernatural powers often creates destruction, but the protagonist defeats them. The end of the film, however, suggests that such forces will likely come back. The horror films are designed to get frightened and give panic attacks to the viewers. Again, the thriller is a genre that revolves expectation and suspension. Marion Crane and Norman Bates crimes, guessing
In the article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey discusses the relationships amongst psychoanalysis (primarily Freudian theory), cinema (as she observed it in the mid 1970s), and the symbolism of the female body. Taking some of her statements and ideas slightly out of their context, it is interesting to compare her thoughts to the continuum of oral-print-image cultures.
The film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is a psychological thriller that was created in 1960. The main theme of this film revolves around psychological illnesses. The film focuses on the main character, Norman Bates, and his psychological problems which include a split personality, voyeurism, sadism, guilt and self-punishment, and anal fixation. Throughout the movie you can see Bates exhibit these traits at different points; however, some traits are not as clearly evident as others. This film takes an in-depth look at how someone who possesses a mental illness might behave or think.
Has anyone ever stopped and thought about why movie remakes exist? There is always a simple explanation to this conception, and it’s either that Hollywood directors are “lazy” or that Hollywood wants to destroy our childhood scares. For the most part, Hollywood isn’t literally attempting to become futile or destroy the integrity of films, but it’s much for the profit of recreating former popular movies. In addition to that, the revamp graphic quality allows for older movie plots to compete against their modern counterparts, but there still remains an issue. In order to reestablish an older horror film, a newer one has to take its place for the sake of pleasing the current technologically adept generation; however, alterations may completely
Psycho It was one of those long, dreary school days where I did not want to be in class, especially not my boring Fine Arts class. We were learning about films and their cinematography. My teacher started off the class by showing us the famous 1960 film “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock. When the black and white film came up on the screen, I thought that it was going to be tedious and hopelessly long, but I was wrong. Psycho is a great movie for any individual that enjoys horror films.