I can handle a sick old woman!

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2010)

50 years ago, Alfred Hitchcock released Psycho. Girl is having an affair with this guy, she runs away with $40,000 that she was supposed to bank for her employer. On the road heading for California to be with her lover, scared, guilt ridden and exhausted, she pulls into the secluded Bates Motel for a night of rest. There she meets the affable Norman Bates, girl takes shower and cinema got a jolt to the system.
What can you say about Psycho that hasn't been said before? Well nothing in truth, it's been dissected and discussed by all and sundry since its release in 1960. From critics to film makers and from the man in the street to the King Of Siam (probably), Psycho is known and largely admired by most in this day and age. However, the initial reaction to it on release was mixed, the words "gimmick movie" were even used in some quarters, while in others it was labelled as a stain on the great director's career. Made for roughly around $800,000 in just 30 days, and using his basic crew from his TV show, Hitchcock adapts the Robert Bloch pulp novel with cold hearted glee. Manipulating the audience as he lays out his American Nightmare, Hitch deals in fluid camera movements, jolting shock tactics, the "mother" of all twists and garners two incredible performances from Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins in the process. Not only that but he's also got Saul Bass helping on the visuals and Bernard Herrmann providing a terrifying stab string score that has long since gone down in the annals of greatness.
The proof is in the pudding, that the film is still today, 50 years on, regarded as belonging to the upper echelons of classic cinema, is its lasting legacy. An original and genre bending piece of genius film making from a master of his craft. If you haven't seen it then you should do so at your earliest opportunity, and one can only hope that the surprises the film has in store have by some miracle not been spoiled for you thus far. 10/10