78/52

There is perhaps no other scene as seminal in the history of cinema as the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho. No matter how many times it has been cited, imitated, or parodied, when viewed today, it still retains its power. 78/52 is a precise deconstruction of the scene right down to the smallest detail. The title refers to the number of camera settings and cuts involved in the three-minute scene. Hitchcock spent an entire week on it. Stories of the hectoliters of chocolate sauce that appeared as blood in the black-and-white film or about Marli Renfro as Janet Leigh's body double have become legendary. Director Alexandre O. Philippe is most interested in the impact the scene has had on the development of global pop culture, as it has left an impression on several generations of filmmakers and audiences, starting with Guillermo del Toro and Gus Van Sant, who, in 1998, recreated the entire scene in color, and ending with a younger generation of Psychofans like Elijah Wood.