The still-shocking narrative twists barely halfway through Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho gave rise to the spoiler alert. The psychological thriller's infamous shower scene is still to this day one of the most infamous sequences in the history of cinema, both for it's narrative twists and the innovative filmmaking techniques that went into it. But the only way it could work is if audiences were kept in the dark until the moment arrived on-screen.
Director Alfred Hitchcock was already a well known and established public figure, even to the general public who weren't well tuned in to the cinema industry. Beginning in the silent era in his native Britain, Hitchcock was one of Hollywood's most prodigious and respected filmmakers. He had established his reputation as the "master of suspense" with hits such as Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, and Strangers on a Train. Hitchcock was at the height of his powers in 1960, releasing two of his most loved and influential films, Vertigo and North by Northwest, in 1958 and 1959, respectively. And he was a recognizable figure to swaths of Americans as the host of his own anthology tv series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a key figure in the golden age of television. Hitchcock was looking for his next project when his assistant sent Robert Bloch's novel Psycho, loosely inspired by the exploits of Wisconsin killer Ed Gein.
Paramount Pictures was dead set against Hitchcock directing the movie, claiming it was "repulsive" and would be impossible to film. Undeterred, Hitchcock financed the film himself, shooting at Universal Studios. To keep costs down he drafted the production crew from his TV series to work on the project.
The Scene That Spawned The Spoiler Alert
Even before production was underway, Hitchcock knew that keeping the film's secrets were the key to its success. He bought up as many copies of the novel as possible in order to keep the shocking twists under wraps. He knew he had something that cinema audiences had never seen before, and he was right. Psycho's shower scene brutally dispatched the films presumed protagonist Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, the only big name star attached to the picture. Shot from over seventy-seven angles on a specially constructed studio set, the sequence is a brilliant piece of both cinematic technique and shocking thriller storytelling, especially when Bernard Hermann's iconic screeching score was added in.
Leading up to the film's release, Hitchcock was determined to keep the film's twist a secret. He personally oversaw the promotion, forbidding his actors from doing the usual pre-release interviews. There would be no private screenings for critics. They'd have to see the film when it was released just like everyone else. Most controversially, Hitchcock insisted on a "no late admissions" policy from theater owners as well as general requests to audiences not to reveal what they had seen to audiences who hadn't yet experienced the film.
It didn't have a name yet, but Alfred Hitchcock had given birth to cinema's first spoiler alert. No small feat then or now. Psycho is one of the most iconic and influential motion pictures in history, spawned a contemporary tv series, and the became the definitive title of Alfred Hitchcock's sprawling and legendary filmography.