Psycho (1960) Film Image Analyses

Within this scene we see Norman running into the basement an enclosed creepy location with a knife in his hand, dressed up and imitating his mother. Low key lighting and dark shadows create an eerie atmosphere and represent the mise-en-scene well. The shadow of Norman creates a silhouette to add menace.  The use of the knife as a weapon is a phallic symbol and represents the power Norman wishes to have over women. The location of this shot is within the cellar underneath the house. This evokes the conventional horror theme of isolation and being trapped adding to the disturbing atmosphere of this particular scene. The point of view shot places us in the position of Lila Crane so we are able to experience what she is seeing and feeling. We are able to see historical context incorporated and this is particularly captured in this shot as we see Norman cross-dressing and representing characteristics of the serial killer Ed Gein who also carried out similar acts to this. This still is accompanied by loud, screeching, parallel music and is rather unpleasant to listen to. This has been used in order to add to the shock of Norman and the menace he is showing. A final important point to address in this still is that this would have been an early model of a transvestite. Once again this would have been very shocking at the time of the film so adding to the weirdness and also giving it an edge.