"Psycho" (1960)

I like this film. I think it's good. I felt that as a horror, it’s not so scary, but as a mystery it’s quite gripping. It follows the story of a woman named Marion Crane who steals a large some of money from her employer and stays at a remote motel where she meets the owner, Norman Bates. They exchange pleasant conversation and Norman explains his love of stuffing birds. (Hitchcock liked birds, I reckon). That night however, Marion is brutally murdered – cue the infamous shower scene – and the remainder of the film is her respective friends and relatives getting to the bottom of her murder. It is considered to be Alfred Hitchcock’s best masterpiece.

In terms of film techniques, the shower scene is impressive. It’s interesting how amidst all the stabbing, you never actually see any blood because it’s done through a montage of shots. Equally, we only get a quick shot of the stabber’s shadow as they hold up the knife. There is actually no violence as such in this scene; it’s all implied through intercutting, meaning it’s left to your imagination which is very clever and much stronger than simply putting something in front of you like a lot of horror films do nowadays. Relying on someone’s imagination is a lot stronger and so much more effective, as sometimes a person’s imagination (myself included!) can run away with them and exaggerate a situation. Once the deed is done, we are given a close-up shot of Marion’s lifeless eye, which I think is effective. Even more so due to the silence now as the music has faded away except for the water still gushing from the showerhead. The shot zooms out gradually from her eye until we see the whole face lying on the floor of the bathroom. I think Hitchcock said the idea behind this was to emphasis what a waste of life it was that someone could just kill her so needlessly. What I think is remarkable is the fact the actress, Janet Leigh, had to keep her eyes open without blinking the whole time the camera was zooming out, which is a pretty hard thing to do.

The theme tune, too, has become very iconic. The low-pitched staccatos are recognisable to everyone at this stage as ‘Psycho!’ and the high-pitched staccatos of the violin in the shower scene have been used again and again, even for comic purposes (such as the episode of Friends when a knife fell on Chandler’s toe!). There’s a huge amount of tension created. It really adds so much to the shower scene, and any other scene for that matter. It’s what helped make it the success that it is. It’s so funny when it comes on randomly on my iPod...it makes whatever task I happen to be doing (no matter how innocent) suddenly seem so ominous!!

There’s something really sweet about Norman. Anthony Perkins plays him excellently. I think he was my favourite character of the film. To be honest, I felt kind of sorry for him. Marion hears him shouting with his mother in the house just up the hill from the motel, and sees the mother’s shadow in the window. She seems like a less than delightful person to be living with. We are given the sense that he’s quite isolated and that no one really comes to the motel anymore, so he only has her for company. This is why he’s so delighted to have Marion arrive at the motel so he can have someone else to talk to. Janet Leigh plays Marion excellently too. She received best supporting actress for her role.

 

The exterior of Norman’s mother’s house has become quite iconic as many ‘horror houses’ in cartoons or what have you, are designed in a similar way. The design of the house is instantly recognisable to anyone all over the world even those who haven’t seen any of the Psycho films.

The fact that the film is in black and white doesn’t take from it at all. I’ve found some people these days don’t particularly like watching black and white movies but this being my first; it didn’t bother me at all. If anything, I would nearly say it actually adds to it.

Psycho has always been classified as horror, but personally, I didn’t find it scary at all. Of course, when it first came out it was a roaring success and everyone found it terrifying. It was new and different, apparently making the show of violence more acceptable. I think it has got a compelling-enough plotline to bring you back again. I’ve always found it more of a detective-mystery than a horror. I felt that the only actually horrifying scene in it, really, is the shower scene. But to be fair, the concept of that is horrifying. What makes this a great watch is the huge twist that comes your way! I don’t want to say anything about it in case there are readers here who don’t know it, because it is brilliant. As far as I know, even to this day nothing has been done quite like it.

I really enjoyed this the first time I watched it, and I liked it the next time I watched it too. I think it is a film I would definitely recommend.

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