10 Movies That Ripped Up The Rule Book

Alfred Hitchcock had been one of the biggest names in filmmaking for many years when he opted to usher in the 1960s with something a bit different from his usual fare.

Psycho clearly stood apart from the director's preceding films (North By Northwest, Vertigo and Rear Window) in a number of ways. For one, it was shot in black and white on a considerably smaller scale and lower budget; for another, its central protagonist was a woman, played by Janet Leigh.

Then, of course, there was the small matter of Leigh's character being violently murdered on screen barely halfway through.

To this day, audiences go in with an automatic assumption that the star of the movie will remain the focal point, and as such safe from harm, right up to the end. A dramatic, climactic demise is one thing, but for the star to be offed early on; even now it's rare, and whenever it does occur, such an act immediately evokes Psycho.

The iconic Psycho shower scene broke ground in other ways, too: not because any actual nudity or stab wounds are shown (although the editing seems to create that impression), but because immediately beforehand, we see a toilet being flushed for the first time in mainstream cinema.