Best Horror Movie of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2012)

I don't have much to say about Psycho because it's already so well known, and I'll probably ruin it for those who haven't seen it; so I'll keep this brief. Psycho is probably the greatest horror movie of all time. It broke new grounds in film violence with its famous shower scene, and launched the slasher genre. No more atomic age, bring on the psychopaths. Now, this movie isn't like The Exorcist or The Shining, where you'll have nightmares over it; but unlike those movies, this movie keeps you on edge constantly. The whole time, there's just this nervous energy, and you never know what to expect. Hitchcock always believed that there's no terror in the bang, just in the anticipation of it. There are these long scenes that just have you biting your nails the whole time. By the end of the movie, you'll be wondering what happened to your fingers. The movie doesn't rely on cheap horror movie gimmicks. It's not gory, it doesn't use jump scares; the horror lies in the dialogue, the performances, the cinematography, the lighting, the music, and the story. This isn't the scariest movie I've ever seen, but I still believe it's the greatest horror movie of all time. Why? Because it's the classiest the genre has to offer. Today, the horror genre is so dumbed down, and so unoriginal, that it's nice to look back and see that the horror genre can be done well, and respected for something other than blood and nudity. Psycho is one of the greatest, most suspenseful, most controversial films of all time, and I love it. Hitchcock really knows how to bring on the scares.