After Living in Phoenix for 20 Years, I Find Hitchcock's Psycho Even More Fascinating

One fact I was unaware of while living in Phoenix is that Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho, is actually set against the backdrop of Phoenix.

When I think of Psycho, the first things that come to mind are the isolated motel, the shower scene, and Norman Bates.

I only thought of it as a story about a creepy motel in the middle of the desert, never considering its connection to Phoenix.

However, when I rewatched the film, the words "Phoenix, Arizona" appear right from the start.

The date and time are displayed as Friday, December 11, 1959, at 2:43 PM.

The camera slowly pans over the quiet, rural atmosphere of downtown Phoenix at that time, entering through a window of a building.

The person in that room is the protagonist, Marion Crane.

For someone living in Phoenix, it feels more like watching an old home video than a horror movie.

Today's Phoenix is a massive city, with tall buildings in downtown and cars filling the endlessly stretching freeways.

When considering the entire metro area, it has grown tremendously.

But the Phoenix of 1960 in the film is entirely different.

The buildings are shorter, and the mountains and barren land beyond the city feel much closer.

Comparing it to the Phoenix I see every day, I wonder if it's really the same city.

The story of the movie begins here. Marion is an ordinary office worker at a real estate company in Phoenix.

One day, she is instructed to deposit $40,000 in cash brought in by a client, but in a moment of impulse, Marion decides to leave Phoenix with the money.

In today's terms, that's quite a large sum. From that point on, the tone of the film completely changes.

Initially, it was a story about an ordinary office worker in Phoenix, but as she drives out of the city, her anxiety grows.

She feels as if the police are suspicious of her, and even seeing a car following her makes her nervous.

Then, on a rainy night, she accidentally ends up at the famous Bates Motel.

This is where the Psycho we know begins.

Interestingly, the film remains frightening even more than 60 years later.

Unlike modern horror films that are filled with blood or show monsters through computer graphics, it continues to create discomfort.

Especially the famous shower scene is still tense, even when you know the whole story.

When you hear the music, you understand why this film has remained significant in cinema history.

More than the protagonist fleeing with the money, I find myself drawn to the scenery outside the window.

"Is that Phoenix back then?"

It's fascinating to think that this city, where we can hardly imagine summer without air conditioning, once had such times.

We can catch a glimpse of Phoenix before the explosive population growth and the endless construction of homes, shopping centers, and freeways over the desert.

So, perhaps this is the joy of watching an old film.

For some, Psycho is a historic horror film, but for those living in Phoenix, it serves as a time machine to briefly glimpse the city just before 1960.

And watching the film from the beginning again, I wonder if the true protagonist of Psycho is not Marion, but perhaps the old Phoenix itself.