After 40 years, it still scares! *SPOILERS*

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2000)

"Psycho" was indeed, Hitchcock's masterpiece. It combined drama, suspense and terror to create an atmosphere of pure dread. The music was top notch by Bernard Hermann and the cast was excellent, all giving fine performances.

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) embezzles $40,000 and runs away to meet up with her lover, Sam Loomis (John Gavin). While on her travels she stops at the Bates Motel and meets up with the shy, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who lives in a house right above the motel with his "mother". After rethinking what she has done, she ends up taking a shower and, well, you know what happens! A few days later, Marion's sister, Lila (Vera Miles) meets up with Sam and a private investigator (Martin Balsam) to determine what happened to Marion and the money, but not before suspecting Norman and his motel may have something to do with it.
From the beginning theme to the last view of Marion's car being pulled from the swamp, this movie is outstanding. Hitch really knew how to fool around with the audience and created some terrifying moments that still scare even after 40 years. The shower scene still scares me! Anthony Perkins was good here but not as good as in "Psycho II", and the supporting performances from Vera Miles and John Gavin were fine. They made a good investigative team. Miles was very determined to find out what happened to her sister, which made you feel sympathetic to her pleas. Janet Leigh, in the 40 minutes she is on screen, was excellent. Now I can understand where her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis gets her screaming from! "Psycho" was followed by 3 sequels and a remake which doesn't even come close at what this film did by scaring people.