A true 'classic'

Rating: 10/10 (1 May 2019)

One of the greatest films ever made, by one of the greatest directors in movie history.......
Janet Leigh stars as Marion Crane, who embezzles $40,000 from her employer and goes on the run. When she becomes tired whilst driving in the rain at night, she pulls into the 'Bates Motel' and meets Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins. Unfortunately, Marion's stay isn't as relaxing as she'd hoped and she is murdered whilst taking a shower.
There are so many things about this film that make it a genuine classic, from the direction to the brilliant cast and acting.
'Psycho' was so influential to future horror/slasher movies in so many ways, but what Hitchcock did so well was to make Norman Bates so opposite to the usual depiction of murderers in movies, he's not the typical unattractive loners who have difficulty in communicating with anyone, on the contrary, Anthony Perkins is a handsome guy who is very charming in this film, and Hitchcock makes him almost likeable, sensitive and makes the audience quite sympathetic towards him. When we first meet him he is so sweet-tempered and mild, and during a conversation with Marion we learn that he is under the control of a harsh, disciplinarian mother and is almost traumatised by her to the point that, despite being a grown man, he is almost child-like and this is made clearer by a line he says to Marion, 'A boy's best friend is his mother'. We even hear 'Mother' belittling Norman and shouting at him, seemingly jealous of any attractive female guests, and we then get that famous shower scene of 'mother' killing Marion.
The shower scene is still as effective as it was in the '60s when the film was released, especially with Bernard Herrmann's chilling score.
The way Hitchcock builds the suspense in this film, and how he overturns our expectations is unparalleled. The violence in 'Psycho' by today's standards is actually pretty tame and most of it is, in reality, down to the sound effects and the viewers' imagination. And this is what Hitchcock always insisted on, that any 'horror', and the 'scares' comes from the suggestion of violence. It's the way the audience's brains fill in the gaps of the things we don't actually see, that's what's scary, cause no matter what any film-maker can show, it can never be as scary as what our imaginations can come up with.
This movie didn't just have a surprise twist ending, or violent murder scenes, it told its story in a very unique way. Killing off the leading lady so early in the film, the sparse amount of characters, the remote location, the build-up of the tension all these were completely new to audiences at the time, and even today we don't see this done so often, and certainly not done as well as Hitchcock did it.
Nearly 60 years on from its first release, 'Psycho' remains incredibly influential and still very thrilling and scary.
A true 'classic' in every sense.