Norman Bates
On the most notable early slasher film, Psycho (1960), Norman Bates is one of the most famous “monsters” in the aforementioned genre. Robin Wood in an essay regarding the movie discusses the importance of the infamous shower scene, saying how it “undermines our... sense of security” and how the water “wash[es] away her guilt.” Norman is depicted in the end as mentally unstable, saying that his mother lives in him and whenever he is attracted to a woman, “mother” kills her and put the blame on “Mother” for the deaths, including to Marion in the shower. It’s almost a trope found also in titular character in Donnie Darko (2001).
Wood, Robin. “PSYCHO.” Interview to Mark Ulriksen, 1989, web.tiscali.it/andrebalza/essay.html.













