Intertextuality Analysis

After doing my own research I was then set an Intertextualiy task. I was asked to watch a clip from Psycho and then Analyze four films which also borrowed bits of psycho and incorporated it into their own films. These four films were; What Lies Beneath, Fatal Attraction, The Stepfather and Succubus.

The Stepfather

From watching the stepfather I saw that like Psycho's shower scene, there scene was also set in the bathroom and the suspense driven music was also present. Also a quick shot reverse shot sequence was used which had a fast editing pace. This is very similar to the shot reverse shot sequence which was in Psycho because it was also quickly pace. The second thing I noticed was the choice of murder weapon. Once again the killer used a knife but in the case of The Stepfather, the women in danger managed to use a knife shaped piece of glass to defend herself and murder the murderer. Finally the actor who die was in the bath and also the shower curtain was ripped off its rail. This also happened in Psycho.

What Lies Beneath

In What Lies Beneath the idea of the bathroom scene from Psycho is still present. The same white bath, the same shower hear and running water. However it has been changed a little bit, because the women is not murdered in the scene, she appears to already be dead.

Fatal Attraction

Fatal attraction also uses the bathroom as the main location and uses the knife as the murder weapon. What I realised about Fatal Attraction was that the mocked the same stabbing motion along with camera angle which was done in Psycho, and this was the only film out of the four which killed their victim in this way. However, she victim managed to knock the knife out of the murders hand which was completely different when compared with Psycho. Later on in the clip a man tries to tackle the murdering actor with the knife and he falls into the bath and rips the shower curtain. Again this is an example of Psycho.

 

The shot of the girl sliding down the wall after she has been killed has also been done in Fatal Attraction, the same way it has been done in Psycho.

Succubus ( Student Film)

Once again, they try to imitate  the shower scene from Psycho. From the beginning I noticed that they copied the camera shot of turning on the shower from Psycho. The killer in this scene also uses a knife as the murder weapon and when she begins to stab the man the camera begins to move rapidly like it does in Psycho.