“Psycho” was a 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. It is considered to be one of Hitchcock’s best films, one of the top 25 films ever made, and the first of the slasher movie genre. It is seen as a turning point in film history because of its uncommon plot structure, unconventional storytelling, and stylized photography and editing.

The film is based on a 1958 novel by Robert Bloch. Janet Leigh plays Marion Crane, a woman who has stolen $40,000 and is driving though the pouring rain. She stops to spend the night at the Bates Motel, which is run by Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins). During the famous “shower scene,” Crane is stabbed to death by Norman’s mother. This shocked audiences because Leigh was billed as the star of the movie, was set up as the protagonist of the film, and was killed off early. The rest of “Psycho” follows the investigation into Crane’s disappearance, and it is eventually discovered that the murderer was the mentally-ill Norman Bates, dressed up as his mother.

“Psycho” is often singled out as one of the best horror films ever made. Even though there’s little visual gore on screen, the “shower scene” is often described as one of the most frightening sequences in film history, in large part because of the soundtrack, which used screeching violins. Chocolate sauce was used as fake blood during the scene because it looked good on black-and-white film. The stabbing sound effect came from Hitchcock plunging a knife into a casaba melon. Since Hitchcock funded the making of the film himself, he earned a large share of the film’s profits. An odd fact about the movie is that “Psycho” was the first film to show a toilet being flushed onscreen.