10. Psycho (1960)
Thought to be a pretty dodgy little picture in its time, Psycho was reappraised after heavy attendance at the box office. A lot of critics would say it paved the way for acceptable standards of violence and sexuality in cinema. The controversial scene is of course when Marion (Janet Leigh) gets slashed to bits in the shower. I doubt that audiences had ever seen such explicit violence before. You can practically hear the knife penetrating her skin. Marion is also set up to be a heroine in the film, or at least an integral part of the film and she is dispatched of so brutally, so early in the film. But I guess having ripped someone off to the tune of $40,000 she was doomed to suffer horribly like errant females do in the movies.
Clare Simpson
Contributor
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
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Clare