SXSW 2017

78/52

2017 • Documentary • 91 minutes • 2,816 ratings • 641 reviews

Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe

Starring Guillermo del Toro, Peter Bogdanovich, Karyn Kusama, Bret Easton Ellis and Eli Roth

The most famous murder scene in movie history comprises 78 camera settings and 52 cuts: the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. 78/52 tells the story of the man behind the curtain and his greatest obsession.

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Reviews

  • ★★★½ review by jay on Letterboxd

    it took alfred hitchcock 52 cuts to create the iconic shower scene but it took tobey mcguire 156 takes to catch the lunch tray in spider-man (2002) whos the real hero of cinema

  • ★★★½ review by Caitlin on Letterboxd

    this was Good and the director was there which was Cool and he did a q&a afterwards and that was Nice but enough is enough. I must speak my truth. I would like to know what business Norman Bates had being that hot

  • ★★★★ review by Allison M. on Letterboxd

    Pretty good documentary that explores the "shower scene" in Hitchcock's Psycho within the context of his films and others'.

    There were a ton of things I hadn't thought of before, including the fight scene in Raging Bull was staged like the shower scene in Psycho.

    Really, you have people from Peter Bogdanovitch to Elijah Wood talking about the scene as well as the editor from the Psycho remake.

    Overall, a great film for anyone remotely interested in Hitchcock or Psycho.

    Vegan POV: a non meat eater describes how they stabbed a raw steak as well as melons combining both to create the sound effects for the shower scene. The non meat eater said it made him feel nauseous to talk about.

  • ★★★½ review by <Todd> on Letterboxd

    "Mom is going to be the death of us all."

    This is a documentary about the film Psycho, with special emphasis on the iconic shower scene and all of the work that went into its creation. An all star cast of directors, editors, actors and critics give their insight and interpretations of the film. There are a lot of great edits of repeating patterns in the film.

    I honestly don't know if this is a good depth of information because I didn't know a ton about the film Pscyho. I feel like a learned a lot but also really enjoyed hearing what a number of people in the industry think about Psycho.

    Artistically, the film is a pretty standard talking head style documentary. Also, 78/52 is all in black and white which I kind of find lame. This is a recommend for people interested in Psycho, Hitchcock, or general film analysis.

  • ★★★½ review by Matt Singer on Letterboxd

    Prepare to be drowned in Psycho minutia. Full review at ScreenCrush.

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