For what it is, Psycho pretty much is a perfect film.

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2005)

It's very disappointing that Anthony Perkins was type-casted due to this performance. I think he proves here that he could play any type of character. With Bates alone you get more than one personality, and he plays them all up well. One of the best scenes in the movie is the dinner with Bates and Marion. It's a really well-developed sequence. And it shows Bates from both sides of the spectrum. A lonesome nice guy with a bit of sadness, then out pops a slight hint of perhaps madness or insanity.
Watching this movie over and over, it still doesn't get boring to me. The build-up of Leigh's character being washed from existence doesn't become boring to me after multiple viewings. It's a Hitchcock movie. His style of filming leaves so much beauty to look at before the horror begins here. I found myself wandering all over the sets while re-watching this. And I think the first 45 minutes gives you a perfect introduction to Marion. At first you think she is going to get away with her spir of the moment crime, then you learn that the good in her knows what she did was wrong, and that she wants to go back and make the best she can of her mistake. Sadly, she never gets to, and one of the most iconic death scenes in horror history is born. And that character that became so solid in your minds that you are just so certain is the lead heroine, is gone. Watching it now and still knowing of the scene in the shower still gives me disbelief that that's how it went down.
Richard Band owes a lot of gratitude to the movie's film score. When I watch Re-Animator, the opening of Psycho immediately comes to mind.
I'm no expert on film, and I like some real bad crap and no brainer films. But I look at this film as a flawless masterpiece.