Movies can have lasting effects

It's funny how some things stick with you.

When Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" came out in 1960 with its famous shower scene, there were quite a few people who didn't take showers for months after that.

I was too young to see "Psycho" in its original release, but I know of one Brian DePalma film that still affects my behavior nearly 30 years after I saw it.



"Dressed to Kill" was released in 1980, and I have never looked at elevators the same way since. In the early part of the movie, Angie Dickinson has an illicit affair. When leaving the man's apartment, she learns that she has probably gotten an STD from him and also that she left her wedding ring in the apartment.

She takes the elevator back up to his floor, and when the door opens and she starts to get out, the killer slashes her throat with a straight razor and murders her.

It's quite a scary scene, and ever since then, whenever I am getting into an elevator or coming out of one -- particularly when I am alone -- I always look around before I take a step. Just making sure there's no killer with a straight razor waiting for me.

Silly?

Probably, but I'm still alive.