10 "Gory" Movie Moments (That Didn't Show As Much As You Think)
3. The Shower Scene (Psycho - 1960)
It’s the most iconic murder ever to occur onscreen. The scene’s horror comes from many factors: the sense of voyeurism; the unexpected offing of the film’s top star (Janet Leigh); the invasion of an intimate space (the shower); and the invasion of the nude female body.
The shower scene is 45 seconds long and contains within it 52 cuts. These frequent cuts disguise the fact that we never see the blade of the knife pierce the flesh of Marli Renfro (Janet Leigh’s body double). Instead, we see the killer bring down the knife over and over, and we see Marion (Janet Leigh) react to each instance. The quickness of the cuts disorientates the viewer, leaving us only to catch the glimmer of a blade against flesh, or the first drops of blood in the bath.
From this we infer a far more brutal slaying than we are ever shown. As the blood drains down the plughole, which fades to become Marion’s dead eye, we are left with the horror that in the world of Psycho nowhere and no-one is safe.