Intertextuality

Intertextuality

Intertexuality refers to the visual references between two films where one film has ‘borrowed’ aspects from the other which audience members may be able to recognise.

Psycho is a very famous thriller and the opening sequence creates a lot of meaning and sets a pace of the film by introducing the sequence by a wide shot of the city to present its location, this gives us an idea of were it is set and hints at us some of the context perhaps. It is more commonly known for its famous and thrilling scene in where the woman is brutally murdered in the bath and this scene has been recreated many times.

What lies beneath:

In 2001 'what lies beneath' was released and it had borrowed few aspects from 'psycho', in a scene, we see a man take the woman to the bathroom and this location for a murder was not just a coincidence it was purposely used, the audience will notice the similar pattern through the use of certain props for example the shower head being turned on as the woman lays dead was a particular similarity.

Fatal attraction:

The film 'fatal attraction was released in 1987 and it also has many borrowed aspects of the film, one scene consists of an outbreak in the bathroom were two men are picture fighting and being violent, the fact that it is located in the bathroom has now become a thriller convention as its famous debut in psycho proved to be popular amongst the audience who will associate the scene with that film.

The stepfather:

Another Similar film or recreation of psycho was 'the stepfather', were a father is seen chasing a woman up the stairs into the bathroom with a knife in his hands however although murder is the case the father turns out to be stabbed by a broken mirror piece by the woman. This is a abstract and popular decision as it most definitely created tension and suspense.

Succubus:

 'Succabus' was an extremely low budget student film which managed to successfully recreate the psycho plot by again reversing roles by making the woman the aggressive actor and the male the victim, this is an interesting twist as it creates a thrill.