Sam Raimi explains his love for Alfred Hitchcock and ‘Psycho’
Horror filmmakers are some of cinema’s most inspired. Replicating genre contributors and paying tribute to the auteurs who came before them has been in horror’s definitive blueprint for decades. One acclaimed horror director who exerts this theory is Sam Raimi, loved by horror fans for his entertaining and gory cult classic The Evil Dead. With his esteemed record, Raimi has never been shy to express adoration for the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
Raimi mentions Hitchcock’s masterpiece, the influential slasher Psycho, in his discussion about his favourite films during a feature with Rotten Tomatoes. Released in 1960, Hitchcock utilised this film to depart from his previous work, North by Northwest, opting for a lower budget and a black-and-white visual style. Psycho also presented darker subject matter compared to Hitchock’s previous effort, narrating the chilling story of a hotel worker who embarks on a killing spree under the personality of his overbearing mother.
Psycho is a masterclass in suspense and atmosphere as tools for generating audience fear, trademarks of ’60s horror, are elevated by Hitchcock’s skill as a director. “I’ve always been a fan of Hitchcock, and I love his shorthand,” Raimi shares, who still appreciates Psycho’s strengths despite him prioritising excessive gore in his own horror works. “He’s a masterful storyteller, and one of the reasons, to me, is how well he understands the language of film and how little he has to do to communicate an idea.”
The classic slasher film proves Raimi’s citation of Hitchcock as a director who appreciates cinematic language, evident in the infamous stairway fall sequence, which sees one of Norman Bates’ victims tumble down backwards after being struck with a knife. The scene’s impressive camerawork, showcasing various angles to examine the setting, accentuates the onscreen movement, framing the victim in the centre of the shot and following him as he falls, attaching the audience to the action as though it were happening to them. This example of camera movement complements the plot events and heightens the audience’s experience, showcasing how Hitchcock recognises and utilises the film’s properties to dignify it as a medium.
Raimi also acknowledges the dynamic Hitchcock constructs between his work and his audience, as supported by his attentive direction. “Also, I love his great respect for the audience. He knows he can give them so little and that they can put together so much,” the Drag Me To Hell director shares. “I’m very impressed with that. And his great, brilliant sense of humour. I love how funny he is.”
This latter part refers to Hitchcock’s trademark move of appearing in his films in small yet fun cameos. This signature feature began when an actor who was supposed to play the bit part of a telephone operator in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog didn’t show up to set, so Hitchcock filled in. Since this moment, the director gave his fans the challenge of spotting his brief appearances in every watch, usually carrying an instrument.
“He must have been the funniest actor in Hollywood in the late ’50s and early ’60s,” Raimi states as his appreciation for this detail. “When I see his cameos and his most incredibly, hysterically droll performances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, there’s nobody I can think of who would have been funnier.” The director’s Psycho cameo comes in at 06:59 of the runtime, in which he appears at an office window wearing a Stetson cowboy hat as Janet Leigh, who plays Marion Crane, comes through the door.
Psycho remains a historical landmark in filmmaking, setting a new standard of accepted depictions of graphic violence and psychological portrayals. Contemporary horror filmmakers, such as Raimi, look to the project as a definitive standard of genre filmmaking thanks to its harmony of a compelling and thrilling narrative executed against the stylised visual direction.
