Psycho (1960)

Classification Issues

• Violence
  • A woman is repeatedly stabbed whilst showering, and there is strong impact and bloody injury detail. A man is also stabbed, and blood is visible across his face.
  Threat and horror
  • There are several sequences of strong and sustained threat. In one scene, a man begins to climb a staircase and is suddenly attacked by another character holding a knife.
• Additional issues
  • There are some moderate verbal sex references as well as some disturbing images, including a corpse sitting in a chair.

Cinema classification

Psycho was first submitted to the BBFC for classification in June 1960. 

The infamous and groundbreaking ‘shower scene’, in which Janet Leigh’s character meets her untimely end, was of most concern for Examiners at the time. 

The cuts list that the BBFC returned to the distributor instructed them to “drastically reduce shots and sounds of girl being stabbed in shower”, including “all shots of her breasts or navel”.

The distributor made the cuts as directed, and the BBFC classified the resubmitted version X – meaning no admission to viewers aged under 16 – later that month.

Public feedback

The BBFC received a number of letters of complaint from members of the public following the release of Psycho in UK cinemas.

One correspondent wrote to “deplore the passing of a depraved and utterly foul film” and requested that it be “banned immediately”. Another expressed the view that “no words are sufficient to explain the feelings of nausea, fear, and utter disgust that I, and many others, must have felt on being subjected to such horribly perverted so called entertainment”.

The BBFC responded to the public feedback, with one such letter noting that “horror films of this kind are admittedly unpleasant but in the opinion of our Examiners it was not so unpleasant as to make it necessary for us to refuse a certificate”.

Video classification

Psycho was classified 15 uncut on video in 1986, and it remains at that category still.