Genius

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2010)

I recently watched this film having not seen it for a long time.
After being numbed by a lot of crap horror movies lately I was taken aback by the films genius. The first half of the movie, if you hadn't seen it before, you would think is about the stolen money, that Norman is going to steal the money from Marion and escape his 'trap'. This all changes when the woman we have spent a while getting to know is murdered in a memorable shower scene by a woman in black. Norman cleans up after 'mother' and dumps all her belongings including the money he didn't know was there in the swamp! So what next? This is the genius of Psycho. Janet Leigh was a big star at the time and to see her dispatched so coldly would have been a great shock and after all she was the main character wasn't she? Brilliant.
Anthony Perkins is outstanding as the nervous but friendly Norman Bates. There is no showmanship to his performance, it is ahead of its time. Janet Leigh is equally outstanding as the doomed Marion Crane and when she is killed you miss her for the rest of the film. The weak link is John Gavin, he is the old school of actor, very handsome and strong leading man type which in contrast to Tony Perkins modern approach shows badly. When they share a scene together you can see the difference in class between them but its a minor flaw.
Finally Bernard Herrmann wrote a wonderfully twisted and eerie score to accompany Hitchcocks sure direction. Its a work of genius. If you haven't seen it - get it on your list!