When it comes to spoilers, we live in contradictory times: On the one hand, spoiler warnings are part of everyday life in articles, podcasts and videos – to a once unusual degree. On the other hand, there is a huge demand for spoiler advance reporting: When comics or novels are adapted into films, a significant portion of the audience wants to know months or even years in advance what might happen in the film.
Therefore, it would hardly be conceivable that a film like Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic “Psycho” would shock audiences today with its twists and turns across the board. If only fans of the book would whisper smugly that they knew exactly what was going on. Just like all the impatient people who watch the videos “This is what happens in the novel for the upcoming horror hit!” have viewed.
What’s even harder to imagine is that a director today would use the same methods as Hitchcock to maintain the twist of his film.. Because ‘Psycho’ is based on Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel of the same name – and to keep his audience guessing, Hitchcock had all copies in circulation bought up! Hitchcock thus deprived everyone who was interested of the opportunity to prepare for his next film by reading its story in advance.
How a book review influenced the direction of horror cinema
The anecdote that Hitchcock caused the ‘Psycho’ novel to sell out everywhere is not the only extraordinary step on the way from the book to the oft-copied and never equaled horror classic: We have a review to thank for the shock that gets under your skin Janet Leigh And Anthony Perkins came to be!
Because it was Hitchcock’s assistant Peggy Robertsonwho first became aware of “Psycho” – and that only because they are in the read a positive review from crime and thriller expert Anthony Boucher. Prompted by her, Robertson picked up the book and showed it to her boss, who was initially met with rejection of the material.
Paramount Pictures, the studio Hitchcock was working with at the time, had a department whose job it was to check current book releases for film suitability – and they had already classified ‘Psycho’ as unsuitable. Sounds like a Hollywood legend, but it’s Hollywood history! At least that’s how Hitchcock expert Stephen Rebello summarizes it in his standard behind-the-scenes work ‘Alfred Hitchcock And The Making Of Psycho’.
Entry ban for non-punctual people!
As is well known, Hitchcock eventually managed to convince Paramount to accept ‘Psycho’ – although he made enormous compromises in order to do so: The film had to be shot in black and white on a small budget of $800,000. In addition, the star director had to forego a large part of his usual fee – as a further cost-saving measure, he resorted to the crew of his TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”.
When ‘Psycho’ was finished despite all obstacles, the suspense master continued his anti-spoiler measures: he ordered cinemas to follow a strict admission policy for ‘Psycho’ – from the beginning of the film, no one was allowed into the theater. A nightmare for notoriously late moviegoers. A paradise for anyone who is regularly annoyed by people who stumble through the lines in the middle of a movie and groan in annoyance: “I thought the commercials were longer!”
And in case you’re wondering to what extent this anti-troublemaker method also serves as a measure to preserve the twists in ‘Psycho’: When Hitchcock’s horror milestone hit American cinemas in 1960, it was not yet frowned upon in cinemas for people to enter the theater whenever they wanted. For example, anyone who missed the first half hour of a film by ignoring the showtimes simply stayed put and could catch up at the beginning at the next showing.
It goes without saying that surprising twists lose much of their impact with such viewing behavior. But it took Hitchcock’s “forced education” so that audiences wouldn’t continue to spoil their moviegoing in this way.