Fear and Confusion in films Psycho and Carrie

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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.

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