Psycho (5/5 stars)

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2006)

Synopsis: Every so often a movie will shatter an audience's preconceived notions and expectations; "Psycho" is that kind of film. The key to "Psycho" is that it came out nearly 50 years ago and while viewing the film one should keep this in mind. Most of the surprises and tricks we take for granted today were at one point something totally new and different. Writers so often steal and copy ideas from others that everything becomes predictable--in fact, that is the major problem with today's horror flick: the viewer knows exactly what is going to happen. However, "Psycho" is sort of a first cause, it's a film that stole nothing yet inspired everything. Of course, to watch the "Psycho" in this day and age isn't nearly as exciting as it would have been back in 1960. But as I stated, in order to truly appreciate Hitchcock's genius one has to put himself back in a theatre during "Psycho's" release.
The film begins with a young woman, Marion Crane (Leigh). She seems like a respectable girl, but she soon falls to temptation and steals forty thousand dollars from her employer. After this she immediately leaves town and heads towards California. Before she reaches her destination she must first take a night's rest at a roadside motel, the Bates Motel, and here begins our descent into the darkness. At the dilapidated motel, Marion meets the owner, Norman Bates (played brilliantly by Anthony Perkins), and they even have a nice dinner together. Hitchcock has set up the perfect thriller; he dupes us into believing this film is now going to somehow center on Marion and Norman, and in a way it does, but not in the way we anticipate. Hitch starts this film as a classic "cat and mouse" game: girl steal money, cops try to get money back. But all of our expectations are shattered as Marion is brutally stabbed to death while she is taking a shower in her motel room. We even discover that the perpetrator is Norman's crazy mother.
Marion may be dead, but her crime is well enough alive. A private investigator (Martin Balsam) (hired by Marion's sister and boyfriend)is on her tail, and traces her to the Bates motel. He too meets and untimely death, and once again we are astounded. Hitchcock not only killed his main character, but now he has killed a cop. We are held in complete suspense; we know that Hitch is not afraid to kill anyone, and that means anything can happen. This is the kind of remarkable and groundbreaking stuff I was talking about. No other director before Hitchcock was as brazen as to knock off the female lead (and certainly not while she was naked in the shower). Could you imagine seeing this for the first time?
Soon enough Marion's sister (Vera Miles) and boyfriend (John Gavin) decide to go find her themselves. They want to convince Marion to turn herself in so she may receive a lesser penalty for her crime. Right before the private investigator was murdered by Momma Bates, he told them that he had traced Marion to the Bates Motel, and thus the two of them head off to the hellhole. Shortly after this point the film ends, and what an end it is! Hitchcock has set us up for one of the most suspenseful, disturbing, and surprising conclusions in cinematic history. I can only imagine how incredible this experience would have been back in 1960, but alas, "Psycho's" ending is hardly a secret anymore and some of its more shocking moments are not nearly as jaw-dropping in this modern age. However, that doesn't change the fact that "Psycho" spawned the modern horror genre and gave us some of Hitchcock's best cinematography.
We have been exposed to almost fifty years of copycats since "Psycho" and because of this I think we have forgotten just how amazing the original was. It is like living in Arizona: one sees the sun so often he forgets how glorious it was when he first moved there. So yes, "Pyscho" may seem a bit dated, but that isn't the films fault; that is our fault--we have seen to many duplicates. I will also admit that "Pyscho" doesn't really have much of a message (well, unless one counts the film's brief mention of how people create "traps" for themselves). However, this movie's goal is not to preach, but to scare and surprise, and I believe it succeeds wonderfully in this area (so long as we can imagine ourselves in a 1960's theatre). "Pyscho" is not only a part of American culture, but a milestone in American film-making, and probably Hitchcock's greatest achievement. For all these reasons and them some, I give "Psycho": 5 out of 5 stars.