Film

The screeching strings, the plunging knife, the slow zoom out on a lifeless eyeball. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho changed film history with its taboo-shattering shower scene. With 78 camera setups and 52 edits over the course of three minutes, Psycho redefined screen violence, introducing a new element of danger to the moviegoing experience. Aided by a roster of filmmakers, critics, and fans—including Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Eli Roth, and Peter Bogdanovich—director Alexandre O. Philippe pulls back the curtain on this watershed sequence, breaking it down frame by frame and unpacking Hitchcock’s dense web of allusions and double meanings. The result is an enthralling piece of cinematic detective work that’s nirvana for film buffs.

Q&A with Janet Leigh's body double Marli Renfro