Don't believe the hype.

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2004)

Psycho
Lets assume for just one minute that Alfred Hitchcock's movie Psycho is not an American classic and that, hypothetically, it was so boring it could put an insomniac to sleep. Would I have a lynching mob outside of my door with burning torches in hand? Well, I think that I'll take that chance with this review and challenge the opinion of many before me.
The movie Psycho was hyped as a masterpiece, an American classic from the mind of the `Master of Suspense' Alfred Hitchcock. But to me Alfred Hitchcock was the master of losing my attention. The movie starts out slow, painfully slow. The acting was fine, it was nothing Oscar worthy, but it did the trick. Nothing in the story stands out in the first forty-five minutes or so which I think was meant to build suspense. The first part of a story is the crucial time to grab the audience's attention so that it can hold it for the rest of the tale, any attempt to grab their focus later is too late. The dialogue and action is very low energy and uninteresting, it was nothing worth wasting your time watching.
To be fair, the frame of mind before you watch the 1960's movie Psycho is important. One must realize that at the time of the movie's release, the public hadn't been desensitized by excessive violence in the media yet, and that the standard for what was suspenseful was very different then. But this movie is dull in any decade.
There was something interesting about the character Norman Bates. Something about his funny little quirks and his dark and tangled depth that was hypnotizing to watch. Whenever his character appeared, my eyes were drawn to the screen. And the plot twists involving Norman were commendable at the least,
But one character is not able to keep an entire movie afloat. And you can't give a movie a title of `classic' just because it totes clever writing. I'm not naive to think that just because I don't like Psycho doesn't make bad, but I soul searched very hard and still couldn't see what all the hype was about. To me, a classic is something that transcends time and is entertaining and good no matter what year it is. Psycho just doesn't measure up to classic' status.