FilmReviews: Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

"We all get a little mad sometimes..."
-Norman Bates

Just finished watching Alfred Hitchcock's horror movie masterpiece Psycho.The film was released September 8th,1960 in the US.And from what i heard,this was Hitchcock's last black & white film.The movie is of course directed by master filmmaker,Alfred Hitchcock (Dial M for Murder) and stars Anthony Perkins,Janet Leigh,Vera Miles,John Gavin,Martin Balsam,John McIntire and Simon Oakland.The film's plot is about Marion Crane,a thirty-something secretary who steals $40,000 from her employer's client and subsequently encounters a  young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.



I have to admit,this is the first ever Aflred Hitchcock film i've ever seen and i really loved it for it's twisted plot and masterful direction.The plot was great for it's terrifying and shocking climax and also,for the twist near the film's climax.Anyway,i wanna talk about the performances...Janet Leigh was good (Even though this is the first movie i've seen from her),specially during the ever-iconic shower scene.She screams as if she's really terrified,and in the film's iconic scene,she was  really great.I loved the way she screamed as her flesh was being slashed with a knife.Moving on to Anthony Perkins',i loved his acting as in most of his scenes in the film's first act,he was acting innocent,but as the film progresses until it reaches the climax,his acting just gets better and better as we find him suspicious and horrifying,thus,he's a maniacal killer who's disturbed.One of the little things i loved in the film was the score handled by Bernard Herrmann (Who also scored 1976's Taxi Driver),it was just scary and horrifying and fitted the film perfectly and sets you in the right mood for a horror/mystery/thriller movie.The cinematography/camera work in this film was very fine,or great.The entire film was well-shot and revolutionary.Specially the shower scene.It was shot artfully and passionately with love for film.With the big help of Alfred Hitchcock's amazing direction that includes a great plot with a twisted twist,spectacular performances from the actors/actresses and great amounts of terror,Psycho truly is a great,classic and terrifying film that had become the landmark film for the horror genre.This film is really an essential watch for any movie lover.Anyway,previously i thought that Stanley Kubrick's The Shining was the best horror movie i've ever seen but after seeing this wonderfully scary film,i was wrong. Though i'm not saying that The Shining is a bad horror film,of course it's great it's directed by Stanley Kubrick.But still,this has to be the best horror film i've ever seen.Psycho is great even though it didn't have a handful of gore.


Psycho gets a maniacal 8.8 over 10 stars


*Psycho is available on DVD distributed by Magnavision Home Video alongside selected Hitchcock titles incl. Vertigo,The Birds,etc...

In case you want to check it out,here's the infamously terrifying shower scene from
the film:



*Video courtesy of Movieclips.com