Film Review: Psycho (1960)

My first film review and I thought I would on one of my favourite films and an all time classic; Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Like all my other reviews this will contain SPOILERS so I advice you to only read on if you have seen the film.

This film stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane who steals $40,000 from the realtors office she works for in hopes of giving it to her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) because he is massively in debt and does not want to marry when he can barely afford it. Marion flees out of town and ends up staying a night at the Bates Motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a troubled man with a domineering mother. That is the first half of the story, the second half stars Marion’s sister Lila Crane (Vera Miles) who searches for her and also introduces the character Milton Arbogast (Jon McIntire) a private detective.

I really liked this story; it is simple but effective and really gets the audience involved with it. It also has a lot of suspense, for example when Marion is on the run there is a cop who stalks her and you just don’t know his the cop suspects her or not. (MASSIVE SPOILER) This film also contains the famous shower in which Marion is killed by Norman Bates and it is one of the best film scenes I have ever seen. The camera work and the acting by Janet Leigh is so convincing, this was a time when bloody violence and nudity was frowned upon but they do an amazing job making it as realistic as possible. That is another thing I really liked about the film; the brilliant camera work, they do a lot of excellent close up shots on the faces of the characters and there is a great scene where Arbogast is falling down the stars and like the shower scene they really convince you it is happening.

Every single character’s performance in this film is perfection but the highlight of them all is Anthony Perkins for his portrayal as Norman Bates. He makes the character seem as polite and shy as possible while at the same time really disturbed, especially during the conversation he has with Marion and he explains his hobby about taxidermy. The music is also great in this as well, the one that plays during the shower scene has become iconic and the fast paced one that plays when Marion is on the run really suits the moment.

Overall this is one of the most iconic films ever created and one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest. Even though this film was not the first slasher film it is certainly started off a new craze for it that began in the 1980s. I really do not have anything bad to say about this film because it is a fine example of cinema at its best.

SCORE: 10/10