8 Horror Movies That Broke All The Rules
3. Killing The Protagonist Off - Psycho
It almost goes without saying that a film like this belongs on this list. Alfred Hitchcock made history by setting up a wonderfully taut and suspenseful narrative of a woman on the run, stealing $40,000 from her lecherous boss and making off into the distance before the police can catch her. Stopping at the ill-fated Bates Motel, however, turns out to be a bad decision, in which Marion gets offed in her shower by a mysterious, stabby figure.
Wait, what? We were invested, damnit! Psycho challenged the expectation of sticking with one character throughout the narrative by just straight up murdering her without a second thought. It stunned audiences of the time, and fast became one of the most widely known and parodied film scenes... well, ever; a testament to its lasting impression on the industry since first act deaths became a surprising commodity.
As a side note, Psycho also broke the rules of censoring at the time - being the first film to ever show a flushing toilet on screen and getting around gory violence bans by filming in black and white, even though colour was widely available. Chocolate sauce, anyone?