A behind-the-scenes account of the creation of Psycho, including the difficulties Hitchcock experienced in overcoming studio politics, censorship and collaborators. Financing the film himself, Hitchcock had no major stars, no exotic locations and no top screenwriters. Rebello draws upon Hitchcock's private files, and in-depth interviews with the stars, writers and technical crew, to give a unique and unparalleled view of the master at work. Starting from the gruesome crimes that inspired the novel on which the film is based, he takes us through the novel’s adaptation into a screenplay and the film’s preproduction, shooting, postproduction, and ultimate reception. Rebello’s technique is as painstaking and thorough as Hitchcock’s. He includes an incredible amount of detail and in doing so reveals what mattered the most to Hitchcock in the process of making his movies which is one of the reasons this book is widely used on film studies courses.

According to Tony Perkins — the original Norman Bates — this scholarly yet super-readable volume is "marvelously researched and irresistible ... required reading not only for Psycho-philes, but also for anyone interested in the backstage world of movie creation."

Stephen Rebello