''A boy's best friend is his mother.''A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.
Anthony Perkins: Norman Bates
Janet Leigh: Mario...( read more)n CraneThroughout his life, illustrious director Alfred Hitchcock thrilled and captivated audiences everywhere, but never before or since as well as he did with the psychological chiller, Psycho. Introducing the cinematic world to an eccentric loner named Norman Bates.
Fifty years later even in an age of fading, worn out sensibilities, graphic horror and the likes of psychological Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho; Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho remains, even after repeated viewings, truly frightening and intrinsically disturbing.
For Psycho unlike a cheap blood-and-gore routine, actually has a philosophy of life to go along with all its horrors and dramatics. In the world of film and sin, such as Marion's stealing her employers client's money; will always be followed by repercussions in Karmic cosmic ways.
The long conversation between Norman and Marion over dinner probes some pretty serious psychological depths and ideologies. "We're all caught in our private traps," says Norman, and the movie illustrates how first Marion, then Norman, becomes trapped. What is most shocking about Norman is how pitiable he results in being; especially when compared with the villains of alternative horror movies.Psycho also undeniably has one of the most famous scenes in the history of cinema, the genius and illusion soaked sequence, yes you've guessed it...''The Shower Scene''.
The shower in question is in the Bates motel, run by Norman Bates, and his mysterious mother. Even in modern times, if someone looks strange, many still make comparisons to the hermit like Norman Bates.
If someone has a clingy or moaning, temper induced mother, many a Norman Bates reference is implied. Psycho has become tattooed and injected into modern culture thus becoming a glowing household name of sorts.
Why?...because the film was and still is a milestone of unmeasured significance, not just of splatter and gore, but of cinematic effects and technique. Psycho is, all at the same time, smooth, mesmerizing yet frightfully terrifying. It is a textbook example of how to captivate an audience, and then shock them right up until and during it's climax.''A hobby should pass the time, not fill it.''
Psycho in effect was essentially a totally new way of writing a plot, and manipulating threads of a story. The supposed lead heroine is killed early on in a bizarre shocking twist of fate and events, a replacement protagonist suffers a similar twist of fate, and all the audience are then left with are the utterly desperate and confused Lila Crane(sister) and Sam Loomis(boyfriend), who have only their fears and assumptions to propel them to the damning answers they seek. We the audience connect to them if only for a glimmer of a moment, because we know that Norman's mother murdered Marion Crane.....or so Hitchcock leads us to believe.
Psycho only runs for around an hour and a half, but that is all that is required for one of the greatest psychological horror/thrillers to be born. Not one scene is wasted on being a space to fill in, every scene serves a purpose, remains powerful, and in effect, extremely economical.
Even though Psycho was made on a relatively low budget, having Hitchcock behind the camera makes for lots of subtly effective shots, images, motifs, etc. He orchestrates two frightening death scenes, a suspenseful beginning that fools you into thinking that Marion is the protagonist, and a quietly chilling conclusion. Bernard Herrmann's score really is as good as everyone says; and not only the shrieking violins during the famous shower scene or title sequence. In particular the scene where Marion is debating whether to steal the money; thus the music mirrors her indecisiveness.
Pace is startlingly quick when required, yet at times also slow and hypnotic when emotion and fear need to be emphasized.
The long scene as Norman Bates cleans up the murder scene serves as a haunting reminder to what just occurred, letting us the audience soak it up like a sponge.
The script is well conceived and written obviously, with some flourishing dialogue that even overshadows some wooden acting from John Gavin.
Cinematography is brilliant, with great use of lighting and shadows. And, of course, the directing is just simply cutting edge, even for today. Anthony Perkins does a perfectly chilling job as the psychotic Norman Bates, and Martin Balsam is a completely natural private eye. Famously, to complement these ground-breaking plot twists, are the chilling and perfectly executed murder scenes.Two things overall in Psycho as mentioned prior. One is that harsh, driving Bernard Herrmann score which fits the mood of the film so well. The other is Hitchcock's direction and his use of black-and-white photography to convey a threatening mood. He said that he used black-and-white to make the film less gory, in fact, it seems far more eerie and frightening than a colour version ever could.
It's easy to take Psycho for granted now, it has been imitated so many times in so many ways by far lesser talents. Indeed, it's one negative is that it inspired so many pale imitations, including its own three sequels and a very bad remake. Yet even so, Psycho remains a one and only original carbon print. Its iconic status can't be denied or criticized; Psycho redefined the concepts of what a Hitchcock film was and what a horror film could be.''You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.''
Psycho Reviews and Ratings
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December 25, 2009''A boy's best friend is his mother.''
A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.
Anthony Perkins: Norman Bates
Janet Leigh: Mario...( read more) -
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December 20, 2009Totally brilliant thriller by Hitchcock with Perkins as the menacing and sinister Norman Bates.
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December 17, 2009Clearly one of the best cinematic experiences one could hope for. Iconic, classic, vintage, mighty.
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December 16, 2009I love Alfred Hitchcock! This is a great Black and White horror with the classic shower scene. Even though colour was around in the 50s, he kept with black and white which is great because it just sets the scene. Anthony Perkins is brilliant in his portrayal of a mentally ill man...( read more)
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December 10, 2009Classic. Many movies tried to follow in its foot steps, and failed. The first of its kind.
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December 10, 2009My all time favorite movie.....everything about it works from the black and white to the quiet undercover crazy killer. Anthony Perkins was the best pick for this movie, although all the rest of the Psycho movies sucked this one knocked it out the park. If more horror movies th...( read more)
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December 2, 2009This is a great thriller by director Alfred Hitchcock. A classic in slasher/thriller cinema. Many movies later took from this film. Basically about a woman hiding out at a motel after stealing some money. But little does she realize that the owner of the motel is not all there i...( read more)
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December 1, 2009One of the BEST movies ever. The one movie that no one wanted to take a shower, even Director Hitchcock didn't take showers.
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December 1, 2009i can hear the screeching sound effects as the knife plunges into the shower curtain (evil laugh)
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December 1, 2009One of the best horror films, ever made. Perkins is so hot as the psycho!
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December 1, 2009This is one of the best movies of all time!~And I LOVE toasted cheese sandwiches!
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December 1, 2009Another movie that freaked me out. Who other than me didn't want to have a shower for quite some time?? lol. :)
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December 1, 2009Such a classic film! Fantastic! I remember I watched this in Eng. Media Arts in High School.
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November 24, 2009good & suspenseful which caused several loud screams from me... Anthony Perkins was fantastic... Great thriller by Alfred Hitchcock...
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November 22, 2009Undoubtedly, the best movie i have ever seen. The best climax ever.. 10 on 10 for Hitchcock's amazing PSYCHO
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November 17, 2009Watched this recently.......more than just a "shower scene".... A must see!
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November 15, 2009Classic, chilling and disturbing! One of the greatest horror movie I've ever seen.
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November 14, 2009This was really good! It was incredibly suspensful and wonderfully directed. True classic. Much better than the horror/thrillers one sees nowadays. Definitely recommended.
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November 12, 2009Not bad but overrated like Hitchcock's other films, The psychological part of the film is pretty shallow & the white/black symbolism is a bit too obvious but overall the film works but If you want a great psychological horror film from those days go watch Michael Powell's Peeping...( read more)
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November 11, 2009Saw in October, I am scared by this film like many of you but perhaps not by the scenes you might think! Have on VHS.
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November 10, 2009Anthony Perkins portrayal of Norman Bates, the Multipal personality nutjob who dresses as his mother is none other than the greatest villain performance I have ever seen.
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November 8, 2009The movie didn't scare me, but I get why it would have been really scary in the 1960s. It was unique how the person you think is the main character gets killed early on in the movie. The last scene with the murderer smiling at the camera was quite creepy, and the movie had a good...( read more)
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November 7, 2009it was ok but it was old and black and white and long and not scary but ok i guess
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November 7, 2009The rest of Hitchcock's work is average but this film made Alfred Hitchcock the master of suspense.
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