"She Wouldn't Even Harm A Fly"

I think what made this movie “scary” was a combination of multiple things; one being the music. The eery and suspenseful music lets the viewer know that something bad is about to happen, but the viewer isn’t exactly sure when.  I, myself, also find older horror movies scary. I think it is because that time period isn't familiar to me, and older horror movies aren’t like modern ones, which makes them seem even more unfamiliar. So I can see why the director deliberately made it black and white, and made it seem as if it's an older movie than it is.

One scene that was definitely made to seem scary was the scene in the very beginning where Marion got stabbed to death in the shower by who we think at the time to be Norman’s sick mother, but is actually Norman himself. At the time, getting stabbed to death was a very violent murder during that time period so I think that was used as a way of murder to make the audience at the time more uncomfortable and horrified.  Alfred Hitchcock, the director, also used suspenseful, eery, music throughout the movie – often times it was even replacing any audio from people screaming or talking.  I feel what made this not scary though was how the stabbing looked very fake. The entire murder seemed very cheesy but understand during the 1960s, when this movie was made, that that wasn’t the case.

I did think, however, the very last scene of Norman, showing his mother’s face very imposed, was scary and creepy. It definitely gave the audience chills but I like how it showed that to show the split personality.