One of the things that I like most about the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is the last shot – the camera slowly spinning and pulling away from Marion Crane's open, lifeless eye. It's extremely unsettling. It's a great way to cap that sequence off.
When characters die in movies, they often close their eyes or we don't see their eyes. Or, someone will do the decent and respectable thing by closing their eyes rather quickly. Here, Hitchcock lingers on her eye, as it stares off into nothing, seeing nothing. Her eye doesn't move or twitch. He makes us actually, kind of, confront death. It's so uncomfortable sitting there, being forced to look at this blank eye. It doesn't feel as though it's a movie death, as it would if she had closed her eyes or if her eyes remained hidden from, and unacknowledged by, the camera. It adds a sense and feeling of realism to the scene.
It also adds to the shock of it. She doesn't get the time to breathe her last few breaths and, sort of, peacefully go. No, she's attacked, has her last few moments and just collapses – splat – onto the floor. It's violent and sudden and brutal.
I don't think the scene would work as well without this shot. It's creepy and unsettling and uncomfortable.
