Psycho is deemed as such a powerful film that it is often used as a benchmark in the timeline for the history of horror filmmaking. The horror filmmaking timeline is often split into two parts: before June 16, 1960 (when Psycho was released) and after Psycho was released [2]. There are many aspects of the making and airing of Psycho that make it a truly unique horror.

Before Psycho, all horror films had the same fundamental characteristics in terms the plot’s sequence of events, the censorship of content and filming techniques. The villain was always someone or something whose horrid physical appearance was only matched by his/her evil role in the movie. However, Psycho broke all these rules.

But what really propelled Alfred Hitchcock to deviate from his usual genres of film making and step into the realm of horror movies? The 1950s and 1960s lead to several changes in the entertainment industry. These changes were due to several factors such as the spread of televisions into households along with widespread color production [1], growing up of drive-in teen audiences [2], the end of the World War and the period of sexual liberation [2].These factors together nearly led to the demise of the horror film genre as it was known. Hitchcock’s Psycho initiated a change in tide of the horror movie genre which somewhat revived it.

There were a few other attempts at revolutionizing the horror genre that were short-lived. For example, science fiction horror was attempted due to the fear of aliens after the first recorded sighting of a flying saucer in 1947. However, audiences quickly began to perceive these mutant monsters as silly and lame. Once again the genre was approaching extinction [3]. To add insult to injury, studios had become preoccupied with dealing with the challenges posed by the television and were putting their resources into producing television shows rather than movies [1].

The end of World War II fifteen years prior to Psycho, had left people with a sense of fear that a war could happen again. Horror film makers therefore took advantage of this period to display themes of war in their horror movies. However, after about a decade, the post war societal stability was interrupted by fleeting changes in social norms. For example, the period of sexual liberation meant that topics such as homosexuality were now more openly discussed and movies began to portray these changes as well. Psycho was the first horror film that contained references to ‘abnormal’ sexual orientations through the cross-dressing of Norman Bates and his very subtle oedipal attraction for his mother.

The main audience of horror films in the years leading up to the 60s mainly consisted of teenagers in drive-in theaters. However, as these teens grew up and became more mature they became unmoved by unrealistic characters wearing horrid costumes and were craving horror that was more realistic and relevant to their daily lives. They desired plot lines that could be logically explained and fully rationalized.

Prior to Psycho, thrillers never attempted to explain their villains or monsters. They were simply portrayed as evil or cursed. Psycho, as well as many other Hitchcock films before it, attempted to psychoanalyze its villains as was seen in the last scene of Psycho. Some insight into why Alfred Hitchcock chose to do this can be found in his TV interviews of that time. One such example can be found in his appearance on the Dick Cavett show on ABC. In that interview, Hitchcock tells a story of when his father sent him at 5 years old to the local chief of police with a note requesting that the police lock Alfred in a cell for 5 minutes for what the father regarded as a ‘minor misdemeanor’. Hitchcock admitted that ever since then he has had a fear of police. He later acknowledges his knowledge of the Freudian theory in the same interview by saying that “if you can trace the origin of your fear, it will disappear” [4]. Although, he says this with a lighthearted tone, the Freudian concept is seen in many of Hitchcock’s movies where the neurotic symptoms are interpreted as symbolic reactions to a psychological shock and the memory of the shock and its associated feelings are so distressing that the conscious mind tries to banish them as a defense mechanism [5]. Actually, Hitchcock was the first director to use psychoanalysis, based on the Freudian theory, as a plot device, where a psychiatrist or psychologist would solve a mystery instead of the more traditional detective [5].  This was one major way in which Psycho revolutionized horror/thriller genre because ever since ‘Psycho’, it has never been enough to merely present a villain without some sort of explanation for their psychology.

The originality of Psycho as well as the perfect timing of its core themes resulted in it being regarded as the film that changed horror forever.