Forerunner of slasher flicks

Rating: Null/10 (10 November 2001)

Minor spoliers.
I disgree with many Hitchcock fans in that I prefer his "obvious" creepy films such as this one and "The Birds" more than more sublte (and far less effective, and subsequently duller) works like "Vertigo". What a film such as "Vertigo" lacks that "Psycho" has is edginess. This is demonstrated adroitly in the "parlor" discussion between Norman and Marion which is penetrating and smart.
It would seem hackneyed to comment on the "shower scene", but the reason it is so demotic is because of its brillance. By exploiting the vulnerablity that is simply being in the shower he brings horror close to home. The shot from inside the shower where we see the blurry image appear on the other side of the curtain, is ominously fufilling.
Oh yeah--Janet Leigh is unbelievably sexy (pardon for a moment while I digress to my fellow males--ain't black bras great!). It's too bad that she had to leave at the film's middle, but then of course this movie would have never been what it is, huh?