A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.

In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.

Drama is life with the dull bits left out. There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. I believe in putting the horror in the minds of the audience, and not necessarily on the screen. The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.

When you can look forward, and the road is clear ahead, and now you are going to create something - that's as happy as I'd want to be.

It has been rumored that "Psycho" is so terrifying that it will scare some people speechless. Some of my men hopefully sent their wives to a screening. The women emerged badly shaken but still vigorously vocal.

I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle.

Some of our most exquisite murders have been domestic, performed with tenderness in simple, homey places like the kitchen table.