Tight and Terrifying

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2001)

When Hitchcock tells a tale, he engages the mind of the audience. We don't need to see knives tearing into flesh, people being strangled on the screen, or gunshots ripping through a brain. And still, when we are finished, we are more uncomfortable than had we watched the actual murder. In Psycho, it's all about vulnerability. Janet Leigh is in a state of great agitation and needs to trust someone. Unfortunately it is the master taxidermist, Anthony Perkins. His Norman Bates, with his nervous tics, his analytical surmises, his understatement, are master-pieces of madness. This film is what every student should see. It is montage; it is tautness; it is the best kind of storytelling.
The things which were still with me a month after seeing this for the first time were as follows:
1. The house. That ominous house, peering down, Poe-like from the hill above the motel. How can architecture better capture threat.
2. The scene with the patrolman.
3. The conversation Norman when Marion first stops at the motel.
4. The shower scene. I can still hear the theramin (used again at the end), and the blood flowing down the shower drain.
5. The killing of Martin Balsam on the stairs (he also used this perspective in Vertigo and Topaz).
6. The "conversations" with Mother.
7. The naked light bulb swinging as the rocker turns around and Norman coming into the basement.
What a great director. He saw everything and knew how to fill every minute with suspense. A truly masterly film.