Historical and Institutional Influences

Hitchcock was unable to get backing from any studio for Psycho. It was so radical (not to mention violent) for the time that no studio would pick it up and  thought they could market and make money from it. Combined with his disgust for the studio system (but love of the sound stage itself), Hitchcock had to produce and direct the film himself, ans use the crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents to cheaply produce the film and eventually he gave the rights to Paramount to distribute it.

Psycho was made in the wake of the the dissolution of the Hayes  Production Code. As a result, the film is a prime example of the kinds of film that appeared in the 1960's: it addresses all the taboos and  conformity of the previous generation. For example, the film has unprecedented sexual themes, violence, and partial nudity (relatively), something that would have never been accepted during the 1950's and never before seen in cinema.  Marion and her lover are seen in their underwear in the very beginning of the film, and bras are a frequent sight throughout the film. The shower scene was extremely violent for its time. Hitchcock himself stated he couldn't shoot he film in color because it would be too gory.  In fact, Psycho was the first film that  ever showed a toilet flushing on screen! Psycho is known as one of the greater suspense horrors of all time. "So fruitful was he that a single film could spawn an entire genre, as Psycho helped create the modern horror film." It started a new genre (the splatter movie) that would later lead to the infamous  slasher genre, which to this day has remained one of the more popular horror genres of all time.