Comments on: Trivia: Hitchcock Used Chocolate Syrup as Fake Blood

By: Ali S.

Ali S. — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:46:49 +0000

I had always guessed they used a mixture of corn syrup and raspberry jam/juice.

By: k

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:34:50 +0000

I thought everyone knew that o_O

By: Nicholas Dollak

Nicholas Dollak — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:30:19 +0000

Another bit of "Psycho" trivia: Although the slow pull-back from Janet Leigh's open eye after her murder creeped out many viewers, at least one proto-nerd (a doctor) wrote a letter to Hitchcock in which he pointed out a problem with her pupils. Pupils dilate at death, and hers were shrunken to pinpoints under the bright studio lights. The doctor suggested that in the future Hitch apply belladonna drops to the eyes of his "victims," to dilate the pupils. The director took his advice, probably most noticably in "Frenzy."

By: Nicholas Dollak

Nicholas Dollak — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:21:37 +0000

Two reasons for the chocolate syrup "blood": One, although MPAA ratings didn't exist yet, and Technicolor red "blood" had appeared in movies before (An example of a kid-appropriate film to do this would be the delightful 1940 "Thief of Bagdad," which contains a brief shot of a guy with his cheek slashed open in a sword fight), the context and quantity of blood would have pushed "Psycho" onto the Censorship Board's black-list had it been red. Two, some B/W film stocks don't translate certain colors well. Fake blood thinned in water into a pale pink, nearly invisible on film; chocolate syrup provided better contrast.

By: Bobby the K

Bobby the K — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:52:34 +0000

I read this years ago.
Hitchcock also had someone stab different kinds of melons until he heard the sound he wanted and went with that one.

By: Tempscire

Tempscire — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:39:25 +0000

And yet there's people out there who swear they saw red blood for that scene.

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:17:52 +0000

In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the chocolate river Augustus Gloop falls into is made from the blood of other gluttonous predecessors.

By: Pudifoot

Pudifoot — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:54:22 +0000

A strange note is that in It's A Wonderful Life, in the scene at the soda fountain where George works, they used blood as fake chocolate syrup.

By: Skipweasel

Skipweasel — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:46:12 +0000

Such a shame I can't use fake blood as chocolate.