Suspense and Tension in Hitchcock's 1960's Film Psycho

Suspense and Tension in Hitchcock's 1960's Film Psycho

The film 'Psycho' was produced in the 1960's by Alfred Hitchcock. It

was a groundbreaking film in the 1960's. It was called 'mother of the

modern horror movie'. The reasons for it to be such a landmark film

were that it dealt with serious issues such as adultery and matricide.

For the first time a toilet was shown being flushed in the film. Also

it was the first time a woman was shown in bra. The film "Psycho" was

highly promoted, Hitchcock wanted to manipulate his audience into fear

and loathing; this was achieved by choosing to make the film in black

and white rather than using colour to make the audience more

terrified.

The title of the film itself builds up tension and suspense. "Psycho",

means mad, insane, one who is mentally disturbed. The title of the

film is quite unusual; it has a powerful and deep meaning. The film

starts with an everyday situation. So the viewers feel safe and at

ease.

However, when the viewers see Marion running away with the large sum

of money the tension starts to build. As the "Psycho" is yet to be

introduced the money acts as a distraction to the viewers and makes

them focus on the money, as it is a large amount and is cash it helps

to distract the audience, but still starts to build tension.

As Marion escapes with the money, there are little parts where tension

is building very quickly. When she stops at traffic lights, her boss

stares at her in the eye the scene seem to freeze for a slight second.

This makes it seem much longer than it really is. The frustrated look

and sense of urgency in Marion tells the audience that she is doing

...

... middle of paper ...

...rion is escaping with the

money and the shower scene when she is stabbed. This makes the viewers

very tense.

In the film cameras were used to manipulate the viewers in unnerving

them and creating tension. There were long shots of the old and gothic

like house positioned at the top of the motel, which makes it look

evil. Also there were close ups of Norman Bates, straight after

showing the shots of the house this shows the viewers that Norman is

just as intimidating as the gothic house. The close up shots of money

mislead the viewers into thinking that the main story is about money.

In conclusion all the new techniques used in the film to make the

audience tense and suspense were very successful. The film 'Psycho'

was terrifying back in its days and even nowadays people do not know

what to expect from this film.