Hitchcock At His Best

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2005)

What can I say? What can anyone say? Psycho is the greatest horror/suspense film classic of all time. Mr. Hitchcock, the master of suspense, gave 1960 audiences, a film they would never forget. And the film started an industry of slasher films. I don't even know if the master knew the impact it would have in film history.
Most of you reading this have seen the film, know the plot, and the surprise ending. So I won't bore you all with going over all of it. What I want to do is go over some of my personal feelings about the film, and my reaction when I first saw it on video, in the 80's. I was only a teen, but enjoyed classic movies. Especially this one.
WARNING AGAIN-SPOILERS, for anyone out there that have not been lucky enough to see this masterpiece.
The shower scene. I remember seeing the figure beyond the curtain, slowly move in. I put myself in the mind frame of a 1960 audience. When that shower curtain was pulled aside, and the figure appeared, along with the screeching music, I was terrified, but could not take my eyes of the screen. How brilliant was Hitchcock? To have his leading lady, star of the film, stabbed to death in the first 40 minutes of the movie. This left us, not knowing what to expect next. Anything could happen now. And a piece of info I learned on the shower scene. With all the brilliant editing, it had always been said, that the knife NEVER touched Marion's flesh. As I studied the scene in slow motion and frame by frame viewing, I found something. There's a shot of the knife going into the stomach of Marion. As I went frame by frame, I found, not only does the knife touch her stomach, but the tip of the knife penetrates the flesh. You can only see this if you have a VCR or DVD player, that can go frame by frame. Try it sometime.
Arbogast- The murder of investigator, Arbogast, almost gave me a heart attack. I thought he'd creep into the house, maybe get some answers from Mrs. Bates, etc. But I guess I need not say what happens when he reaches the top of the stairs. My dad told me how he saw Psycho in the theater, when he was a teen in 1960. He said the Arbogast murder made him jump out of his seat, with his heart racing for the next five minutes. He says it was the biggest scare of any movie he's ever seen. I agree.
Lila and Norman- This time I thought I had it figured out. Lila would get to Mrs. Bates, and get some answers. Wrong. When Lila goes down to the fruit celler, and finds the dead Mrs. Bates, chills ran through me. But then when Norman appears, dressed as his mother, with the insane look in his eyes, I got more chills than the flu. It finally sunk in. It all came together. That's what makes the film even more frightening to watch now. To know what went on in that old house, overlooking the motel. The madness, the horror, the evil. That's what went on in that house, years before Marion Crane stopped for the night. Pure madness. Pure evil. Pure insanity.
Well, that's about it on my comments. The film is the greatest horror/suspense classic ever made. If you haven't seen it for a while, set aside a night, and watch it again. You'll enjoy it.
V.M.
"We all go a little mad, sometimes."

Norman Bates