Cert 15 92mins Stars 4

Take a good long look behind cinema’s most famous shower curtain, with this revealing documentary.

Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece Psycho terrified the world in 1960 when Janet Leigh’s felon was stabbed to death in the Bates motel. The audience at the time had never experienced a movie moment like it.

Accompanied by its famous screeching score by Bernard Herrmann, the iconic and hugely influential shower scene lasts barely three minutes, yet is composed of a painstaking 78 camera set-ups edited together in a ferocious 52 editing cuts. 

With seven days of filming required to complete, it took twice as long as anticipated. This forensic examination deconstructs the astonishing technical expertise and planning involved and touches on writing, casting, acting, shooting, editing and sound effects involved.

Alongside much detailed research, interviewees such as Edward Scissorhands composer Danny Elfman and American Psycho writer, Bret Easton Ellis provide enthusiastic insight.

Cinema addicts, Hitchcock fans and film students will die for it.