Pre-Order Psycho (1960) 60th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[darkrock17]

How so? You see no graphic content.

I know it got an "R" but I don't know when it got an "R". I would guess this occurred prior to the existence of "PG-13".

I see nothing in "Psycho" that warrants more than "PG-13" - and honestly, it barely warrants that rating...

The Shower Scene, everything about that is graphic, not gore graphic but graphic none the less though.

Psycho was given an R back in the 80's when the ratings changed with the addition of PG-13.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Shower Scene, everything about that is graphic, not gore graphic but graphic none the less though.

Not sure how you define "graphic". Hitchcock cut around the violence - you see a few quick slashes but nothing extreme.

No way the shower scene deserves an "R".

Psycho was given an R back in the 80's when the ratings changed with the addition of PG-13.

If "PG-13" existed when they re-rated "Psycho" and they gave it an "R" anyway, then the MPAA screwed up.

Or Uni pressured them for "R" because they wanted the movie to look "edgy" in the 1980s marketplace.

No way "Psycho" deserved an "R" then, and it doesn't deserve it now. It's "PG-13" all the way...

 

[darkrock17]

Not sure how you define "graphic". Hitchcock cut around the violence - you see a few quick slashes but nothing extreme.

No way the shower scene deserves an "R".



If "PG-13" existed when they re-rated "Psycho" and they gave it an "R" anyway, then the MPAA screwed up.

Or Uni pressured them for "R" because they wanted the movie to look "edgy" in the 1980s marketplace.

No way "Psycho" deserved an "R" then, and it doesn't deserve it now. It's "PG-13" all the way...

Last time I looked being attacked and stabbed in a tub would be pretty violent and graphic.

Psycho was given the R rating in 1984 for it's first VHS release.

 

[Henry Gondorff]

You'll bite...

View attachment 75441

We shall see what we shall see...

 

[Nelson Au]

So this is a region A release. And this is not part of a box set with the other Universal titles like the release in France discussed in that other thread.

Perhaps this means those titles are coming out too!

 

[Robert Crawford]

So this is a region A release. And this is not part of a box set with the other Universal titles like the release in France discussed in that other thread.

Perhaps this means those titles are coming out too!

This is a Blu-ray release. Also, it's still part of the 4K/UHD box coming with Vertigo, Rear Window and The Birds.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Robert, I had confused the release for France with the one you posted above.

 

[EricSchulz]

Psycho for as long as I've been watching it has been R. In this day and age it would still get that rating due to the violent content of the picture, the shower scene alone is enough for an R rating.

The Birds being PG-13 is due to all of the violence caused by the real stars of the film.

I think the "R" was given to the story content, which at the time WAS considered "edgy" and controversial. The Peeping Tom, the murders, the shower scene (while not explicitly violent sure implies a lot) and the cross-dressing were all pretty intense storylines sixty years ago.

 

[BobO'Link]

The price for the BR dropped to $15.49 in the overnight hours...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Last time I looked being attacked and stabbed in a tub would be pretty violent and graphic.

For it to be "graphic", you need to see more actual violence. The scene includes a few quick slashes but not much more.

As I said, I feel strongly that a 2020 re-rating would make it "PG-13", and I think MPAA erred when they called it "R" in 1984.

It's a "PG-13" movie with nothing to push it into "R"...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I think the "R" was given to the story content, which at the time WAS considered "edgy" and controversial. The Peeping Tom, the murders, the shower scene (while not explicitly violent sure implies a lot) and the cross-dressing were all pretty intense storylines sixty years ago.

But "Psycho" wasn't given an MPAA "R" in 1960. Those ratings didn't exist in 1960,

It got an "R" in 1984.

Cripes, it was edgy for Hitchcock to show a toilet onscreen in 1960. The standards of 1960 were not nearly the same as those in 1984...

 

[Garysb]

For those, like myself, interested in the original thread discussing the uncut Psycho, where it came from, and why it hasn't been released till now.

A PEEK AT PSYCHO UNCUT, THE THIRD SECRET, ETC.

Haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes. THE PSYCHO LEGACY BOX SET (from Germany) Okay color me dopey, but I bought this, knowing that it wasn't a new transfer for the original Psycho or the other films in the set. They are all older transfers, with the only difference being the...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[TravisR]

But "Psycho" wasn't given an MPAA "R" in 1960. Those ratings didn't exist in 1960,

It got an "R" in 1984.

Cripes, it was edgy for Hitchcock to show a toilet onscreen in 1960. The standards of 1960 were not nearly the same as those in 1984...

Toilet = XXX

 

[darkrock17]

Last time I looked being attacked and stabbed in a tub would be pretty violent and graphic.

For it to be "graphic", you need to see more actual violence. The scene includes a few quick slashes but not much more.

As I said, I feel strongly that a 2020 re-rating would make it "PG-13", and I think MPAA erred when they called it "R" in 1984.

It's a "PG-13" movie with nothing to push it into "R"...

Colin, I don't see how you don't consider the shower scene to be both violent and graphic?

Psycho would still receive an R rating today as it did back in 1984. The subject matter of the film is not meant for a PG-13 audience.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Colin, I don't see how you don't consider the shower scene to be both violent and graphic?

Psycho would still receive an R rating today as it did back in 1984. The subject matter of the film is not meant for a PG-13 audience.

The shower scene isn't graphic because you hardly see anything.

We get a couple of exceedingly brief flashes of the knife on skin and that's it.

And because the movie's black and white, there's no red blood. MPAA hates red blood, but we don't see that in "Psycho". Of course, the on-set blood wasn't even red!

There are numerous "PG-13" movies with a lot more violence than "Psycho".

You seem to confuse potentially "mature" themes with actual graphic content. They're not the same...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Toilet = XXX

Only if it hasn't been flushed.

 

[AlexNH]

From the Oct. 14, 1984, Deseret News

Would you believe "Psycho" has been rated R?

Those who remember Universal re-releasing the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film in 1968 may recall that it received an M rating, the equivalent at the time to what is now PG.

But apparently the current ratings board, upon reviewing it once more, feels the film deserves an R. Considering the gore in some PG-rated movies these days, and the relatively bloodless violence depicted in "Psycho," giving Hitchcock's classic an R seems slightly ludicrous.

So why is "Psycho" being re-rated at all you ask? Therein lies a tale.

Last year, Universal's Alfred Hitchcock series, which returned five of the most highly regarded films by
"The Master of Suspense" to theaters for the first time in more than a decade — including "Vertigo" and "Rear Window" — was an enormous success.

So, naturally, a sequel is in the works.

Universal is reportedly considering releasing other Hitchcock classics theatrically in a series package, as the studio has a total of 14 Hitch films in its vaults.

Hitchcock, of course, worked for most of the majors during his Hollywood tenure and rights to his films are owned by eight studios. But Universal retains rights to "Shadow of a Doubt," "Saboteur" and "The Birds," which have reportedly been unavailable theatrically for some years (though they frequently pop up on television), as well as "Psycho," "Marnie," "Frenzy," "Family Plot" and "Topaz." (And, naturally, the five purchased from Hitchcock's estate for last year's series — "Vertigo," "Rear Window," "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Rope" and "The Trouble With Harry.")

Though Universal has not yet formally announced another specific theatrical series reissue akin to last year's five-film retrospective, trade papers have reported that the studio is planning to release some of the films theatrically — and not just to repertory houses. That would seem to be substantiated by Universal's submitting three of its Hitchcock classics to the ratings board two weeks ago.

According to Variety's weekly listing or the most recently rated movies, "Saboteur," "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Psycho" were all submitted for ratings pending a theatrical reissue. As might be expected, "Saboteur" and "Shadow" both received PG's, but "Psycho" copped an R.

My personal experience with "Psycho," which I consider one of the best fright films ever made, dates back to its initial release, when I was 12. I remember the notice in the lobby that no one would be admitted during the film's final 15 minutes, and the audience was urged not to give away the chilling twist ending.

The film is unique in many ways, and in my estimation remains without equal today. Perhaps most startling, however, is a trick Hitchcock devised that really put his audience off-guard. He made the entire first third of the movie a red herring, removing the film's star, Janet Leigh, with one of the most famous scenes in all of cinema — the shower murder in a room at the Bates Motel.

Like everyone else who saw the film, I refused to get behind a shower curtain for months, but I also saw the film's artistic value, which escaped me in most movies up to that time.

I took my wife to see it at an Army post in Germany in 1969, after its reissue, and I refused to tell her anything about it. She had heard about the shower scene, of course, but the rest was a complete surprise. When it was over, she said, "I'll never forgive you for that." She was kidding, of course, but she still refuses to let me take her to horror movies.

My next encounter with "Psycho" was 10 years later, when I took a friend to see it at the Utah Media Center, as part of the 1979 United States Film Festival. And an interesting thing happened. I had forgotten about most of it, except for the shower scene and the climax, and in fact I remembered it as quite a blood-ridden film, with several graphic killings. I was expecting something on par with "Halloween," which had come out a year earlier, or perhaps some of the subsequent, even gorier horror films.

Instead I got "Psycho," which, beyond its artistic merits, boasts only two killing scenes, and we never see that knife connect with skin. Hitchcock knew how to make us see the gore in our minds without showing it to us on the screen — an art that has long since escaped most modern filmmakers.

Now, of course, "Psycho" is available on videotape and is occasionally shown on television, and no doubt seems quite mild to today's young audiences.

Then, of course, there was "Psycho II" last year, which started out quite bloodless but caved in with a few gore scenes toward the end, earning its R.

But to rate the original "Psycho" R, unless Universal has thrown in something Hitchcock left out, seems once more to point up the discrepancies in the ratings system.

These are the same folks who gave PGs to "Conan the Destroyer," "Romancing the Stone" and "Cloak & Dagger," all much more gory than "Psycho."

Mind you, I'm not suggesting "Psycho" is a movie for young minds. I'm just saying, as I often say, that the ratings board is extremely inconsistent.

But that's a little like advising you that the sky is blue.

 

[darkrock17]

The shower scene isn't graphic because you hardly see anything.

We get a couple of exceedingly brief flashes of the knife on skin and that's it.

And because the movie's black and white, there's no red blood. MPAA hates red blood, but we don't see that in "Psycho". Of course, the on-set blood wasn't even red!

There are numerous "PG-13" movies with a lot more violence than "Psycho".

You seem to confuse potentially "mature" themes with actual graphic content. They're not the same...

You don't have to see anything for it to be graphic, the act of murder is graphic and violent enough.

Do you need someone to attack you the next time you shower in order to fully understand?

Human blood doesn't come in any other color, so that makes no sense that the MPAA would even say that.

Those PG-13 films don't come anywhere on Psycho's level. Violence doesn't have to be depicted on screen, done right referencing and mentioning it can be just effective.

 

[TravisR]

You don't have to see anything for it to be graphic, the act of murder is graphic and violent enough.

Do you need someone to attack you the next time you shower in order to fully understand?

Human blood doesn't come in any other color, so that makes no sense that the MPAA would even say that.

Those PG-13 films don't come anywhere on Psycho's level. Violence doesn't have to be depicted on screen, done right referencing and mentioning it can be just effective.

Blood or graphic violence gets an R rating today, not bloodless violence. They kill mountains of people in comic book movies but there's no blood so unless it's something deliberately R rated like Deadpool or Joker, they get a PG-13. Psycho would absolutely get a PG-13 if Universal bothered to resubmit it to the MPAA.

 

[haineshisway]

And at long last we have the truth, for all those who were going on about the Legion of Decency, etc. The uncut Psycho WAS the theatrical release in 1960 with those few extra seconds - we all remembered correctly. The re-release and home video versions were ALL edited. So, I'm glad that those of us who have been remembering this correctly all these years have finally been vindicated. No more arguing about it, and thanks to Universal for so clearly stating it. I'll get this right away even though I have the German Blu-ray.