The essays presented in this book focus on Psycho, both the novel by Robert Bloch (1950) and the film by Alfred Hitchcock (1960). Therefore, the different approaches range from film studies to literary criticism. Norman Bates has become an icon of the late twentieth century horror genre, and the movie set the basis for later cinematic developments. Over 50 years after the release of the book and the movie it inspired, new readings, revisions and adaptations of the domestic tragedy of Norman Bates and his mother are still being produced, as recently as Sacha Gervasi's Hitchock in 2012.Now the curtains (either on the stage or in the bathroom) are about to open and a most peculiar house - with its silhouette and endorsement of doom - is waiting up on the hill. No cameras or pencils are allowed; you're invited to a ritual that only your eyes will view and your imagination will embody. Leave all hope behind and enter at your own risk. The Bates' terrifying rollercoaster welcomes you. Nothing is over here ... at least not until it overcomes you.