10 Horror Movie Performances That Proved EVERYONE Wrong

There is arguably no more iconic scene in the horror genre than the shower sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho, which sees Marion Crane stabbed to death in the shower by a terrifying unseen assailant.

But how close did the world come to not even seeing it?

Unbelievably, 'extremely', is the answer.

Executives at Paramount Pictures rejected the initial premise for a film based on Robert Bloch's novel, and even refused to provide legendary director Hitchcock with the necessary funding to commence filming Pyscho. Hitchcock literally bore the financial risk of the picture to get it made, in spite of heavy opposition from the studio.

The rest of course, is history. While contemporary reviews of the film at the time were mixed, Pyscho has gone on to become a immortal outing of the horror genre. Much of that praise rests on the shoulders of Anthony Perkins, who provides an incomparable performance as cross dressing, irreparably disturbed hotel owner Norman Bates.

The terrifying performance of Perkins has established Pyscho as an unquestionable staple of the horror genre in a film that could be argued to be the godfather of all subsequent slasher films. Ultimately, Hitchcock's direction and Perkin's indelible performance as Bates proved the Paramount executives and the whole world wrong.