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.
28 January 1981, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
22 November 1958, Los Angeles, California, USA
13 October 1918, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
April 13, 1954 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
5 May 1922, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
12 August 1883, West Pittston, Pennsylvania, USA
23 April 1910, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
15 January 1893, Cardiff, Wales, UK
30 September 1964, Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy
17 March 1910, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
19 January 1930, New Ulm, Minnesota, USA
17 November 1942, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
25 November 1896, Chicago, Illinois, USA
4 November 1919, The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
8 November 1914, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
27 June 1975, Santa Monica, California, USA
22 October 1917, Tokyo, Japan
25 December 1928, The Bronx, New York, USA
7 March 1964, Los Angeles, California, USA
2 March 1917, Santiago, Cuba
22 December 1907, Croydon, Surrey, England, UK
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 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
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.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.October 13, 2017
Essential viewing, even if you have to watch through your fingers.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 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.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.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.November 09, 2017
Hitchcock's shower scene may never leave the pop culture of fear it helped create.October 13, 2017
78/52 is an orgy for movie obsessives. It makes you see the familiar with fresh eyes.