The nightmare was about a demonic possession. A long time ago, there was an evil in a small town and it was jealous of the girl and would never let her go, since the devil loved the girl. One night, the evil raped the girl and she became pregnant. After months the girl could not hide her baby, her father figured her secret out and clapped the girl in irons and locked her room door. But the evil put the gun to her father' temple and saved the girl. The father had a stroke and had been sleeping on the bed for three months and died. Time went on and the girl brought a child into the world. Naturally, people who were living in the village heard the story and they did not want to see neither the girl nor the baby since when the baby was born, plants dried in the field, fishes lost in the lake and people had prayed to the god for rain, but nothing changed in the village. People got so angry, dug a hole in front of the fountain, put her into the hole and threw stones at her face. The girl died soon after. The evil went off the deep end, took a revenge of the village and killed everyone except two sisters because the evil wanted them to take care of its baby...
本片根据史蒂芬·雷贝洛出版于1998年的同名纪实文学改编。
记录了希区柯克(安东尼·霍普金斯 Anthony Hopkins 饰)为《精神病患者》的拍摄所付出的种种努力。在电影的拍摄过程中,他与妻子阿尔玛(海伦·米伦 Helen Mirren 饰)的关系也变成了大家关注的焦点。
此后《精神病患者》成为了希区柯克经典代表作之一,该片讲述了女演员珍妮特·李(斯嘉丽·约翰逊 Scarlett Johansson)扮演的女秘书Marion,在卷走了老板的钱之后逃到一家偏僻的汽车旅馆,结果被由安东尼·珀金斯(詹姆斯·达西 James D’Arcy 饰)演的有精神分裂症的旅店老板Norman残忍杀死。她在片中惊恐尖叫的场景已经成为电影史上最让人难以忘记的画面之一,她也因此获得了当年金球奖和奥斯卡最佳女配角奖的提名。