One of the most thrilling titles ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2015)

I suppose it's quite peculiar that I only saw 'Psycho' after seeing around a dozen other Hitchcock titles, given that it's his best- known film. As I pressed 'play', I made the mistake of assuming that it'd just be a seminal slasher film, lacking the complexity of other Hitchcock titles such as 'Rebecca' and 'Vertigo'. I'm glad to say that I was wrong. The score was perfect, and I'm not just talking about the piercing shrieks of the legendary shower scene. It remains amongst the most iconic in cinema, and is just as foreboding as John Williams' score for 'Jaws'. Another winning feature of Hitchcock's horror is the excellent acting. I hadn't heard much about Anthony Perkins prior to watching 'Psycho', and so I was sceptical as to how he could portray a villain as iconic as Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader. His acting talents shine from the first scene in which he appears, though, and Perkins delivers a truly outstanding performance as the crazed motel manager, Norman Bates. The performances of Janet Leigh, Vera Miles and the other actors in 'Psycho' are just as good as Perkins'.
The twists and plot developments delivered in the film are similarly brilliant. After the shower scene, I wasn't sure that the film could surprise me or really offer me much, but I was – once again – surprised. The level of danger perceived in 'Psycho' is much greater than that in many other Hitchcock titles, and I never thought that a 55-year-old film could grip me like this did. The brilliant director's other titles were certainly thrilling, but the threats facing actors such as James Stewart, Joan Fontaine and Tippi Hedren seemed either relatively minor ('Rear Window'; 'Rebecca'), more intriguing than dangerous ('Vertigo'; 'Suspicion'), or even comical ('The Birds'). 'Psycho' could not be dismissed in this manner, and I found the plight of Vera Miles and Janet Leigh just as intense as Jodie Foster's in 'The Silence of the Lambs', if not more so. At points, Alfred Hitchcock's iconic horror was creepier than 'Rosemary's Baby' and more shocking than 'The Exorcist', and the director accomplishes this without delving into the supernatural or paranormal. I'd go so far as to say that this title is one of the greatest films ever produced, and it certainly ranks as my favourite Hitchcock title at the moment. Upon watching 'Psycho', you'll realise how even acclaimed thrillers such as 'Se7en' and 'Misery' pale into passivity.