“It is appropriate to open this trio of ‘violence to women' movies with one of the most controversial films of recent years. Celebrated in the formalist salivations of Pauline Kael, furiously denounced in Jump Cut, picketed by feminists in many cities, Brian De Palma's elaborate variation on Psycho has received little rational analysis. It can certainly be argued that the film exploits violence to women, and that it can be read (partly) in terms of the punishment of ‘free' female sexuality. Yet there is a whole other side: the analysis of male sexual insecurity, the systematic undercutting of all the film's patriarchal figures, the resurgence of De Palma's obsessive concern with castration, literal or symbolic (Sisters, Obsession, Blow Out). It seems a far more ‘difficult' film than anyone (including perhaps De Palma) has noticed.” --Robin Wood