Obscurity by Michelle C

"To make any thing very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary. When we know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes." - Edmund Burke

Burke writes that obscurity (shrouded in or hidden by darkness, or not clearly seen or easily distinguished) in fiction can be used to heighten our sense of terror and fear. This is certainly applicable to the famous shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.



In this scene, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) enjoys a leisurely shower and is lulled into a false sense of security. We cut to a shot of a black silohette entering the room and slowly approach from behind the shower curtain, unbeknowst to Marion Crane. The shadowed man rips back the shower curtain, and the extreme backlighting creates an effect where we are unable to discern his face but only his outline including the brandished knife. There is then a series of short cuts of Marion Crane screaming and shruggling, and of the man stabbing his knife in a downward motion. The viewer is never privy to his face or any distinguishable features. As Burke wrote: "all is dark, uncertain, confused, terrible and sublime".