Psycho
How does this film relate to horror and the tropes and memes it has developed over time?
This is a trailer for the film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock which was released in 1960. It is essentially a psychological film but with slasher elements. It is a film that started the phase of slasher film an in a way the first slasher film made because of the murdering and stabbing element of it, however it is a psychological film as it involves a lot of suspense and has the mentally ill murderer. The idea of a mad man having two personas seems to have derived from the film Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the 1920s where a doctor has a split personality and believe that everyone has a good and bad side. In Psycho the motel owner has a split personality as he not only acts like himself but he also dresses up like his deceased mother. At the end of the film we find out that he actually believes that he is his mother as we hear him speaking in his head with an old women's voice (his mother). The Shower scene is most iconic scene in the film, as at the time no-one had ever seen something like that before and not only could the see the knife and the blood going down the drain hole but they could also hear the sound effects and the music played this then added to the suspense and scared the audience even more. . The knife is an important piece and trope with in the horror genre, i think that it has become a convention because of Psycho and it has in turn inspired future horror films. And has become the most popular weapon of choice. The music is such as iconic piece and has still well known today because it is so dramatic and chilling. Jack the Ripper can also be linked to this film, is the newspaper articles violent and graphic details were given about what had happened to the victims this then gave people a taste for the slasher genre. Here is a newspaper article from August 10th 1888 from the London Times about a Jack the Ripper murder. It is in very graphic detail which you would not find in todays newspapers, It wants to get readers interested fascinated by this event.
Above is another snippet from a newspaper article which is even more detailed than the first. In this time this is really the only source of media, and so this i in a way there 'films' or 'books' which they can get there 'Kicks' from. This the start of slasher films and has inspired future films such as 'Saw'. Alfred Hitchcock takes this idea of jack the ripper and 1920 films, shakes them up and takes ideas from them to make it original and artistic.
How does this trailer show conventions of horror trailers?
The clips in this trailer are not in order and The build up to the dramatic scenes are shown, not actually the important part of the scenes. The shots of the tall and creepy house in the dark is a typical trope of horror films and horror stories. Throughout the trailer eerie and scary music is used to build suspense. The fact that there are clips set in the rain gives the impression of a dark and scary story. There are a lot of close ups used, the most iconic probably being the close up the male chewing something and turning his head as this gives of a 'weird' impression of him as the shadowing and lighting used has made him look quite scary and psychotic. Another trope of horror trailers is where there is dialogue voice overs and this is used frequently in this trailer
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