The Scariest Scene in Horror Movie History Belongs to This 97% RT Classic (& It's Only 2 Minutes Long)

Horror is a very difficult territory for filmmakers because one wrong move can tarnish an entire movie. If a director decides to tone down the scares, they risk boring the audience with an excessively complicated plot being incorrectly labeled as a psychological thriller. On the flip side, if a team decides to ramp up the horror, they also risk leaning into parody territory.

However, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is a perfect example of a horror film because it offers a perfect blend of plot development and scares. Even those who have never seen this film will be familiar with its plot, especially its iconic shower scene. What's even more surprising is that this incredible film almost didn't make it off the drawing board.

The Shower Scene Is a Perfectly Crafted Moment

Psycho introduces the audience to a downtrodden secretary named Marion Crane. After stealing $40,000 from her boss, Crane is on the run and hopes to start a new life with her secret lover, Sam Loomis. However, a heavy rainstorm forces her to seek refuge in the ramshackle Bates Motel. Here, she meets Norman Bates, a seemingly distressed young man who is heavily influenced by his mother. But, as time goes on, Crane learns that Bates is connected to his mother on a much deeper level than she could ever realize, leading his Mother personality to become increasingly jealous of Marion.

Since it debuted in 1960, Psycho has stood at the forefront of the horror genre. Fans still quote some of its most iconic lines, and the archetype of Norman Bates has been replicated a dozen times in other flicks like Split and Misery. However, the most famous aspect of this film is the shower scene where Norman is overtaken by his Mother counterpart and stabs Marion. Not only is this a key turning point in the film, but it is also shot in a fashion that makes it seem so much more horrifying than it actually is.

This sequence makes use of a plethora of close-up and contradictory shots, ensuring that the audience cannot identify the shadowy figure until the very last moment. Prominent film scholar Philip J. Skerry states that there are 60 separate shots in this 2-minute movie scene, proving just how fast the camera moves through this moment. Not to mention, the audience doesn't actually see Norman stab Marion, proving just how effective this juxtaposed scene actually is.

As expected, this scene took a lot of planning and effort. Firstly, the scene had to be delayed twice, and also because the weather was just too cold. The next obstacle the team faced was capturing a shot of the shower head. Admittedly, this sounds quite easy, but the crew actually used a long camera lens so that it could be placed far enough away from the show so that it wouldn't get wet. The holes in the head were then blocked so that the water could spray around the camera and not directly on the lens. Of course, one of the scene's biggest problems was shooting Janet Leigh without showing too much of her naked body. Although many suspected that the actress used a body double, Leigh later confessed that she was present in every scene and Alfred Hitchcock stood by her side throughout the 60 shots. Obviously, the actress felt a tad uncomfortable about being nude in front of different crew members, so the wardrobe department had to come up with some unusual ways to protect her modesty. The team used an array of covering, moleskin, and bodystockings to cover Leigh's intimate parts while still giving the impression that she was in the shower.

For the small minority of people who have never seen this shower scene, they are probably familiar with the striking soundtrack that accompanies it. The piercing violins and cellos were composed by Bernard Herrmann in a piece aptly called "The Murder." However, Hitchcock originally wanted this scene to be without music, possibly so that audiences could hear Leigh's blood-curdling screams even louder. Yet, Herrmann insisted that his work be used in the shower scene and also argued that music should be used when Leigh is inside the motel. Thus, it's fair to say that Herrmann's music helps to make this deeply scary moment even more haunting.

Psycho Almost Didn’t Make It to the Big Screen

t's weird to think of a world without Psycho, but a lot of fans will be shocked to hear that it almost didn't get made. After acquiring the rights to Robert Bloch's 1959 novel, Hitchcock proposed the adaptation to Paramount Pictures, which quickly rejected it. Yet, the filmmaker wasn't going to give up that easily and asked his assistant, Peggy Robertson, to buy all the copies of Bloch's book so that readers wouldn't be able to spoil the plot's twists and turns. Eventually, Paramount gave Psycho the green light but refused to offer Hitchcock his usual budget.

So, with a lack of funds and resources, Hitchcock had to think on his feet. He decided to shoot the film entirely in black and white to cut costs, but as expected, this came with its own set of challenges. Most notably, the props department had to use Hershey's chocolate syrup as a replacement for fake blood because the dark syrup would show up better on camera. In another attempt to save cash, Hitchcock recruited a lot of the same crew members who worked on his TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents and offered to fund the movie himself if Paramount agreed to distribute it. But even with a full crew, Paramount repeatedly pushed Hitchcock to the side and told him that the studio didn't have enough soundstages for the film.

Paramount also didn't appreciate the film's mature themes, particularly regarding Norman Bates' obsession with the occult and pornography. So, it was up to amateur screenwriter Joseph Stefano to rework the script for mass audiences. Admittedly, Psycho is a pretty faithful adaptation of its source material, but Stefano did an excellent job of expanding Marion's story even further. While the woman only appears in two chapters, the team decided to make her the center of this horror flick. But, even though Stefano worked hard to make Psycho a little less gory than the novel, this film was still very controversial for its time period.

In the opening scene, the audience spots Sam and Marion in bed, which would have been quite shocking back in 1960, because the Production Code Standards at the time did not appreciate seeing an unmarried couple in bed together. In addition, the themes of gender nonconformity and cross-dressing were particularly off-putting to contemporary audiences, and these concepts were only made more taboo with the rumors circulating about Anthony Perkins' sexuality.

Decades Later, This Hitchcock Classic Is Still an Influential Hit

The shower scene, as well as Psycho itself, has been mimicked countless times throughout popular culture. However, the difference is that a lot of TV shows and movies do not mock this film, but rather pay tribute to it. Thus, it's fair to say that although this film is incredibly low-budget, it still manages to make fans' blood run cold. Since the first film was released, there have been multiple sequels, including Psycho III, which was directed by Anthony Perkins.

These sequels focus a lot more on Norman and how he is trying to lead a normal life after years in a mental institution. As expected, these films were praised for their ingenuity, but many critics claimed that they could not match up to the original.