78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene
The screeching strings, the plunging knife, the slow zoom out from a lifeless eyeball: in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho changed film history forever with its taboo-shattering shower scene. With 78 camera set-ups and 52 edits over the course of 3 minutes, Psycho redefined screen violence, set the stage for decades of slasher films to come, and introduced a new element of danger to the moviegoing experience. Aided by a roster of filmmakers, critics, and fans--including Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Eli Roth, and Peter Bogdanovich--director Alexandre O. Philippe pulls back the curtain on the making and influence of this cinematic game changer, breaking it down frame by frame and unpacking Hitchcock's dense web of allusions and double meanings. The result is an enthralling piece of cinematic detective work that's nirvana for film buffs.
23 November 1887, Camberwell, London, England, UK
April 13, 1954 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
9 October 1943, Pennsylvania, USA
9 June 1890, West Derby, England, UK
25 May 1970, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
23 August 1929, Boise City, Oklahoma, USA
17 January 1977, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
7 May 1949, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
27 February 1932, Hampstead, London, England, UK
30 December 1913, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15 May 1905, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
5 January 1917, St. Joseph, Missouri, USA
22 October 1917, Tokyo, Japan
4 July 1924, Newark, New Jersey, USA
27 June 1975, Santa Monica, California, USA
21 April 1961, Coburg, Germany
4 December 1951, Santa Monica, California, USA
3 January 1905, Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, UK
11 June 1901, Blackpool, England, UK
17 April 1959, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK
November 09, 2017
Call it a primer in film criticism and analysis, as well as a testament to Alfred Hitchcock's mastery of form...
November 07, 2017
A fascinating look at the most fascinating moment in what is arguably the most fascinating movie in the Hitchcock catalog.
November 05, 2017
That a sequence depicting voyeurism should have drawn such myopic scrutiny is an irony not lost on the film-makers. The documentary's dedication reads: "To mother." Very droll.
December 10, 2017
Who doesn't remember where he was when Leigh shed black bra and slip, unwrapped a bar of complimentary Bates Motel soap, and washed away her sins? ... Unfortunately doc's scholarship feels sketchy, arbitrary.
October 13, 2017
Alexandre O. Philippe's close reading of the Psycho shower scene is as refreshingly fun and perceptive as his documentary's name (referring to Alfred Hitchcock's 78 camera setups and 52 edits over three violent minutes) is eggheaded and clinical.
December 29, 2017
78/52 is both a loving tribute to the work Hitchcock did as well as a sharp, enlightening lesson in what makes Psycho so special.
October 13, 2017
Essential viewing, even if you have to watch through your fingers.
November 09, 2017
Hitchcock's shower scene may never leave the pop culture of fear it helped create.
November 16, 2017
The calibre of interviewees and the level of their insights in Alexandre O. Philippe's film is on the distinctly variable side, closer to one of those I Love... nostalgia-fests that are used to pad out the television schedules than to something valuable.
October 19, 2017
Obsessive but accessible, the deepest dive imaginable into one of the most celebrated scenes in movie history, the documentary "78/52" looks at a brief three minutes of cinema the way it's never been looked at before.
October 13, 2017
78/52 is an orgy for movie obsessives. It makes you see the familiar with fresh eyes.
November 16, 2017
Philippe's geekiness is infectious. His passion for film shines through most when he invites some of his interviewees-like horror nerd Elijah Wood and his friends-to watch the film on camera and comment on its foreshadowing and subtle motifs.
