"He wouldn't even harm a fly..."

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2018)

Often referred to as the most famous and influential horror film of all time, Psycho broke down all barriers of comfort and escape when going to the pictures. With people fainting and screaming uncontrollably in their seats at the time of release, the film is still as unsettling and nerve-wrecking as it was 50 years ago, and has cemented Alfred Hitchcock as the true master of suspense.
Adapted from the significantly less successful novel from Robert Bloch, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a young attractive woman who has stolen $40,000 from the bank where she works, in order to runaway with her already-married lover. After driving all night in pouring rain, she stops at the Bates motel off the freeway for a night-in, and meets the nervous, bumbling Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who is quite taken with her upon first sight. In one of the most staggering sequences in film history, she is stabbed to death while taking a shower, and as she is reported missing and people begin looking for her, the truth of Norman Bates and his 'motel' will be revealed.
Never before had the main character been brutally murdered only halfway through - let alone an attractive leading lady - and never before had such a brutal antagonist been so normal, relatable and above all, human. Beautifully shot in black and white and carried by an unforgettable score from the late Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock in all his genius draws us in with a twisted concoction of sex, murder and madness, never letting us forget even to this day that real horror may be right around the corner. All the performances are top-notch, particularly that of Perkins who as cinema's most unlikely serial killer stumbles through the film with every breath of confidence stripped from him by his overbearing invalid mother.