10 Most shocking movie scenes

TAKING a shower has never quite been the same.

Around 47 minutes into Psycho, on-the-run secretary Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, takes a dip in the bathroom in a dingy motel.

It proves to be a terrible mistake as she’s brutally stabbed by a shadowy female intruder.

Stunned audiences watched as Leigh, a top Hollywood star, was killed off only halfway into master moviemaker Alfred Hitchcock’s low-budget thriller.

The sequence lasts less than a minute but the impact of it was enormous. It’s now regarded as one of the most iconic scenes in movie history.

And despite only being 45 seconds long, the 57-year-old shower scene is the subject of a documentary called 78-52 which is out on November 3.

The title refers to the 78 camera set-ups and 52 cuts made by Hitchcock for the scene.

For those who aren’t movie directors, this is a huge number in such a short space of time, but it reflects the amount of care Hitchcock put into what he knew was the centrepiece of the movie.

With his eye for detail, Hitchcock worked for days to perfect the scene.

He wanted to have the camera look at the showerhead and have water stream around it on all sides.

There was no way to do it without soaking the camera, so he had technicians build a huge showerhead.

The blood we see gurgling down the drain is actually syrup, which looks more realistic on black and white film than fake blood.

Hitchcock originally wanted the scene to be entirely silent, but composer Bernard Herrmann scored it anyway.

His short, shrieking violins were almost as unsettling as the images of Marion Crane’s demise – and the director was so pleased with the sound, he doubled Herrmann’s salary to £25,000.

Hitchcock later said: “A third of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.”

The horrible sound of the knife is also evident – which was achieved by recording a melon being stabbed.

Hitchcock deliberately kept the budget of the movie low as he believed Psycho would be a flop.

However, it was an enormous hit – and made around £12 million.

Now, we take a look at some of the other most shocking scenes in movie history. Beware – there are spoilers, as well as shocks, ahead.