MovieChat Forums > What Lies Beneath (2000) Discussion > Many homages to Hitchcock's PSYCHO

Many homages to Hitchcock's PSYCHO

posted 9 years ago by ryderdvs
6 replies | jump to latest

What Lies Beneath / Psycho

- Bathtub scene - What Lies Beneath / Shower scene - Psycho

- The scene where Claire falls out of the tub, and pulls the shower curtain down with her, is almost identical to when Marion Crane falls out of the tub and pulls the shower curtain down with her.

- Norman Spencer / Norman Bates

- The music scores to both films are very similar

- Each film has a spooky house as a central set piece

- The dissolve of Madison's face in the snow at the end, is very similar to Norman's face dissolving into the face of his mother's corpse at the end of Psycho.

Also, I just realized that Clark Gregg of Marvel's The Avengers, and Iron Man wrote What Lies Beneath.

[–] funkiste 9 years ago

Yep, and there are plenty more Hitchcock references.

Claire watching the neighbours with binoculars and potentially witnessing a crime, is straight from Rear Window.

The close-up of Claire looking through the peephole in the fence is a shot-for-shot remake of Norman looking through the hole in the Bates Motel.

As you mentioned, the score in What Lies Beneath is very similar to that in Psycho.

Both the Psycho score and the What Lies Beneath score were used to very great effect in the first few episodes of American Horror Story.

[–] marty-130-840283 9 years ago

walking slow down the stairs, at the end (camera on her feet)

The scene where shes in the wrong car at the end (key doesn't fit) so she opens the door, it stays open for a sec, then she closes it and runs to the car with the boat.

The camera cuts show the side mirror, a silhouette inside the house, and the last shot where she slams the car door shot, she is running away with her back to the camera. Expert camera work.

[–] EJverh 9 years ago

I know and a way to go to maximize the suspense in the final act. The whole slow boiler of a thriller is practically Hitchcock invention

[–] jairam_nl 8 years ago

Nice to read this. So a lot of inspiration was taken from hitchcock, no wonder this movie is so great!

[–] gasivodo 8 years ago

YES! You're right..and?

[–] rockyjm 8 years ago

Also, the scene where Claire jumps into the water and has to be saved is very similar to a scene in Vertigo.