Trailer for The Fantastic Doc 78/52 Meticulously Breaks Down Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO Shower Scene
If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock's classic psychological horror thriller Psycho, 78/52 is a must watch documentary! I had a chance to see it early this year at the Sundance Film Festival and I loved it! The doc is completely focused on the iconic shower scene in the film and it meticulously breaks it down in ways you never thought of before. It's so freakin' fascinating. I'll never watch Psycho the same way again after watching this film. Here's what I said in my review:
What you may not know, though, is that one of the main reasons behind why Hitchcock wanted to make Psycho was because of that shower scene in which Janet Leigh's Marion Crane is murdered. He was so obsessed with it that he spent seven days shooting it, and it was only three minutes long. That three minutes of had to be perfect, though. It had to be exactly what he wanted it to be, and it had to get his message across loud and clear. This one scene isn't just the most important scene in the film but it was one of the most important scenes in the history of filmmaking.
78/52 is a fantastic and fascinating documentary that breaks down and analyzes every little detail of that legendary shower scene, what it all means, and why Hitchcock did what he did when he was shooting it. It's wonderfully insightful and gives the audience plenty of food for thought. Movie fans will definitely love discussing it.
Some of the people interviewed for the doc include Marli Renfro, who was Liegh's body double in the film, director Guillermo del Toro, editor Walter Murch, Jamie Lee Curtis, Osgood Perkins, Hitchcock's granddaughter Tere Carrubba, American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis, and Elijah Wood. There are also interviews with Hitchcock himself talking about the scene and what he was looking to accomplish.
And in case you're wondering, the title of the film, 78/52, refers to the number of set-ups and cuts used by Hitchcock to create the three-minute sequence. Check out the trailer!
78/52 opens in theaters and will be available on VOD October 13th.