Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Taxidermy

Book excerpt: There are numerous scholarly works on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Some of these works have explored its Gothic potentials. However, no detailed effort has yet been made to explore one of its major motifs – taxidermy. Taxidermy as an art of corporeal preservation has effectively been used in mainstream body horror films years after Psycho was released. Yet Psycho was one of the first films to explore its potentials in the Gothic genre at a time when it was relegated to a low form of art. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Taxidermy focuses on taxidermy as a cultural practice in both Victorian and modern times and how it has been employed both metaphorically and literally in Hitchcock's films, especially Psycho. It also situates Psycho as a crucial film in the filmic continuum of body horrors where death and docility share a troubled relationship.