The Conventional Psychotic Character

The first recognised psychotic character was Alfred Hitchcock's character Norman bates from his film Psycho. He was originally based on a real character who impersonates his 'dead mother' due to his split personality. This idea has been used greatly in future films from this as he lets this character take over in situations he cannot control. Most psychotic characters have a hint of Norman.

The Shining is another greatly remembered psychotic thriller films and has been claimed to be one of the best films ever made. Due to alcohol and writers block the character 'Jack Torrence' slowly changes from a caretaker in a hotel to become a neurotic character who attempts to kill his son 'Danny' through the dark spirit. The famous picture of Jack Nicholson, the actor of Jack, shows the psychotic side through desperation and anger.

The Uninvited, a newer horror film in comparison also contains the mentally disturbed character, Anna. After her mother died in a fire, Anna was admitted to a mental hospital, and was released 10 months later having no recollection of the incident. She then has dreams once she's been released with 3 children and the strong belief that her mothers killer is the carer and her fathers new girlfriend constantly reoccur. Strange occurrences mount and the ending has a very big twist to the film, she is the killer all along without realising it. This character is different to the typical middle aged man so it make the film even less conventional yet works just as well showing that we don't necessarily need to stick within the conventional boundaries.

From doing this research, I have found that the psychotic character can vary widely, even though most films tend to show them as behaving and acting perfectly normal at the beginning of the film then the audience sees the change usually just before halfway when the character starts doing things that make them seem psychotic ending with them finally doing something irreversible or evidently paying for their behaviour as another character realises what they have become. Within a trailer however, the chronological order is the same however only the smaller more obvious points are shown so not too much is given away therefore making the audience want to see more.