Playing the Audience like an Organ

One can usually find interesting sources from the online syllabi of college film instructors. From a cinema history course taught by David Clearwater from the University of Lethbridge in Canada we find several audience reaction shots from a screening of Psycho during its original release in 1960. Read their faces from 45 years back in time. Their tension is palpable. I feel it's tremendously satisfying for us to be able to use the cinematic art to achieve something of a mass emotion. And with Psycho we most definitely achieved this. "It wasn't a message that stirred the audiences, nor was it a great performance or their enjoyment of the novel. They were aroused by pure film. "