Some thoughts on Psycho

I wrote the following in response to this article, and thought it was worth publishing as more than just a comment. Sorry about the lack of attention; if I ever remember my brilliant theory about Persona, I'll write it down and post it here next time, like I should have before. My bad.

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In the history of film, Psycho is always spoken of as a turning point in the horror genre. It was, in two ways: one, it humanized the antagonist; and two, it manipulated the audience into shocking scream moments (e.g. the shower scene). This isn't really inherently good or bad — nor are the horror films that preceded it — but significantly informs the genre ever since.

Looking back, it's a little unbelievable to me that this shot wasn't in color.

It has gone two ways, for each of Psycho's innovations: a string of films that humanize the antagonist in order to lead the audience to investigate the darkness in themselves (maybe Silence of the Lambs) and slasher films and scream fests that abandon the effort to be good films to the effort to be scary, to the detriment of the genre (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). That is not to say films must be wholly one or the other (Silence of the Lambs certainly has its screams), but they do tend to one or the other. This film (from the review; it looks too bad to see) looks to fall in the middle, with a tendency towards the scream, if not the gore.

A more interesting genre is following from the humanization of the antagonist, towards a juxtaposition of the antagonist as an antihero. Interview with the Vampire is the earliest that comes to mind (though obviously the Anne Rice book came prior), a clear break with previous vampire movies (Nosferatu (both), Vampyr, Dracula*, et al), borne out in those that followed (Underworld (all), Van Helsing, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Twilight). These movies and shows may have a lot less respect than those that went before, but I think that is due more to a failure in the coexistence of money and art. In terms of narrative space, there's a lot more possibility that a mere evil being that must be killed. Honestly, the plot of Nosferatu or Vampyr is too simple and dull for the more demanding audience of today (not that they are not great films).

When the tendency of the humanization of the antagonist leads to proper antiheroes, who are no longer quite antagonists, and fall outside the realm of horror, we find all variety of ingenious cinema. House, Mad Men, The Hurt Locker, The Social Network – most of cinema today owes a debt to Psycho. For better and worse.

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* Despite writing about it, I don't think I've ever seen Dracula. I'm sure I'll rectify that sooner or later; in the mean time, I'm reasonably sure the assertion holds.