The original low budget slasher film.

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2011)

It's 1960. Alfred Hitchcock had just seen huge success with North by Northwest, and he was considered a master of slow burning, suspense cinema. He could have had any budget he wanted, any cast he wanted - in fact he could have done anything he wanted.
So what did he do? He took a cheap TV crew, a virtually unknown cast and a script that a lot of people weren't keen on and he filmed it. He was the only one sure that it would work - so sure that he traded his standard paycheck for 60% of the net profits (earning him the equivalent of $150 million in today's money).
The result...? The original slasher film that instantly changed the concept of horrors, thrillers and villains. This might not be as complex as Vertigo, or as relevant as Rear Window, but this is the film that changed cinema and paved the way for the likes of The Exorcist, Scream and most other slashers, horrors and thrillers. Hitchcock created a piece of cinema history with this film, and you would be hard pressed to find any film maker since who hasn't at some point used Psycho for reference.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a lost woman. She wants to get away from everything - her job, her home, her boyfriend, her life. Her chance comes one afternoon when a rich tycoon leaves $40,000 in cash as a deposit for a house. Instead of taking the money to the bank, Marion steals it and goes on the run. After two days, she finds herself a little lost, but near a motel - The Bates Motel. She meets Norman Bates, a shy man who is looking after his invalid mother. She and Norman have a conversation, where she decides that she should go back home and face up to what she has done. However, that night, she is violently murdered by someone, and this coincides with an investigation into her disappearance - an investigation that leads to the best of Hitchcocks's climaxes.
What makes this film so good? Well, Hitchcock said it best himself "It wasn't a message that stirred the audiences, nor was it a great performance...they were aroused by pure film." This film exists only to terrify us, entertain us, move us, thrill us. There is no message, there is no moral lecture. This film is about one director's vision to take an audience on a roller-coaster ride of thrills and chills. And this film does that to perfection. Nearly all of Hitchcock's most memorable action is in this film (the infamous shower scene is just one), and they are handled so incredibly well that even now they can't cease to entertain. The direction is the winner here. The carefully planned shots, the black and white images, the lighting, the shadows - nothing here has been left to chance and everything has been thought out so, so well. Stanley Kubrick is often accredited with the 'Kubrick stare'. Yet it might well be that he took that idea from Hitchcock, who's final shot of Norman Bates is one of the most chilling and unforgettable shots in film.
Of course, whilst this film is brilliant almost exclusively because of Hitchcock's expert direction, we can't forget the cast. Janet Leigh was immortalised in her role as the ill-fated Marion Crane and she does a wonderful job as the woman who is essentially lost in her own life. Martin Balsam adds a touch of class with his portrayal of Arbogast, the private detective. And Vera Miles is strong and effective as Marion's worried sister.
But, this acting in this film is virtually owned by Anthony Perkins as the truly chilling Norman Bates, who is arguably the best villain in film. Every second that he is on screen, you know there is something wrong, you know that this sweet, innocent, shy man is hiding a terrible secret. You're afraid to know what it is, but Perkins uses the screen to tease, to make you want to know more about him even though you know it's horrific. Perkins was so good in the role that it actually typecast him and hindered the rest of his career.
Between Hitchcock's direction and Perkins acting, there is enough horror to last a lifetime. But added to the strong cast, the wonderful plot and the exceptional soundtrack by Bernard Herrman, and what we have here is something that is truly original, truly groundbreaking and remains a huge milestone in cinema.
This is pure cinema at its best. No lectures, no messages. Just action.