“Psycho” The Movie

[Country Roads]

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was released 60 years ago today, and considered by many, including me, to be the greatest horror movie ever made. Scaring you to your soul without monsters or demons. At least, some think so.

Janet Leigh's body double shares five secrets about iconic shower scene

'Psycho' turns 60: Janet Leigh's body double shares five secrets about iconic shower scene

Alfred Hitchcock's "Psyhco" first premiered on June 16, 1960. In 2017, USA TODAY interviewed Janet Leigh's body double.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Rjbeach2003]

I was 13 when it was released. Went with friends in Tacoma. They wouldn't let you enter after it started. Doubt the shower scene would be kept a secret today.

 

[Conan]

They wouldn't let you enter after it started.

That was a first.
Before Psycho, people beyond a certain age will remember. You would go to the movies at any convenient time and sit through the movie(s), often a double feature, until the cycle came full circle. You would say, “this is where we came in;” then you’d get up and walk out.

Imagine seeing Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz that way.

 

[mrsstats]

I was 9 years old and saw it with my parents. Today that would be child abuse.

 

[sue1947]

My college roommate insisted the shower curtain be open because of that movie. I always closed it to let it dry out and prevent mold. It went back and forth for awhile before she explained how much that movie freaked her out.

 

[DaveNV]

That shower scene was scary as hell, wasn't it? Everyone remembers Janet Leigh getting stabbed repeatedly, and the horror of it all. Yet if you watch the movie now, you'll see they never showed her being stabbed, just the knife raised above the head of the killer. The screams you heard never happened - it was sound effects. Janet Leigh's face was all still shots during the presumed killing. And the blood running down the drain? It was chocolate syrup. In a black and white movie, who needs colored blood?

Brilliant moviemaking. Hitch was an amazing Director.

Dave

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

That shower scene was scary as hell, wasn't it? Everyone remembers Janet Leigh getting stabbed repeatedly, and the horror of it all. Yet if you watch the movie now, you'll see they never showed her being stabbed, just the knife raised above the head of the killer. The screams you heard never happened - it was sound effects. Janet Leigh's face was all still shots during the presumed killing. And the blood running down the drain? It was chocolate syrup. In a black and white movie, who needs colored blood?

Brilliant moviemaking. Hitch was an amazing Director.

Dave

While we were sharing an apartment, one of my college roommates, who became a professional writer, wrote the script for a movie that was produced and shot by some of his friends. They used chocolate syrup for blood also.

 

[Country Roads]

Very interesting gentlemen. Not one comment that here you have Marli Renfro, a Las Vegas showgirl and Playboy Bunny, naked and splattered with Hershey's chocolate syrup.

I do admire Sir Alfred Hitchcock's dry wit and sense of humor.

"Renfro's ring finger is slightly darker than normal, the result of a childhood accident in which the tip was cut off by a lawn mower and sewn back on. She remembers Hitchcock wanting a close-up of her hand: "I told him what happened, and he (joked), 'It didn't happen that way. You were picking your nose, sneezed and blew up your finger.' "

 

[MULTIZ321]

I did not see 'Psycho' when it was initially released and I refused to watch the movie when it was released on television. I saw it a few years later when it was re-released in movie theatres. Screams filled the theatre during 'the shower scenes' - an experience that could not be duplicated watching 'Psycho' on television at home. I'm glad I waited.

Richard

 

["Roger"]

I certainly remember the shower scene, but thought that the scene where Lila swings the chair containing Norman's "mother" around as every bit a scary. What a freight.

Totally classic movie.

 

[pedro47]

The Commander In Chief loved this film. She has watched this horror movie maybe forty (40) times LOL.

 

[Conan]

That was a first.
Before Psycho, people beyond a certain age will remember. You would go to the movies at any convenient time and sit through the movie(s), often a double feature, until the cycle came full circle. You would say, “this is where we came in;” then you’d get up and walk out.

Imagine seeing Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz that way.

Replying to myself. Watching “Clash By Night” on TCM just now (Fritz Lang directed). Barbara Stanwyck and her date are at the movies. She turns to him and says “this is where we came in” so they get up and leave.