Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock truly is the master of suspense. This is by far the most suspenseful film I’ve ever seen, having me at the edge of my seat for nearly every scene. Watching this on Halloween made the experience even better. Psycho follows a woman named Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who is on the run for stealing $40,000 from her employer, so she can run off with her boyfriend (John Gavin). She makes a stop late at night at some place called the Bates Motel, where she meets Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who runs the motel with his mother. Soon, things unfold into something very unexpected, something that no one could have seen coming. Let me start off by saying I have no problems with this film. I believe Psycho is completely free of flaws. Obviously, the suspense was great. I absolutely love suspenseful movies, and Psycho has fantastic suspense. And the masterful iconic score added greatly. It made everything feel very chilling or dreadful, which was great. It has a very eerie tone, and you feel like you can sense when something big is going to happen, yet at the same time you have no idea what’s coming. It’s definitely something that can’t be explained properly. You just have to see the film for yourself and then I believe you will be able to truly understand what I’m talking about  And the story of this film was just phenomenal. The writing of the characters was done exceptionally well, but I also loved the eeriness of this movie. It’s fairly simple, but that doesn’t at all take away from its greatness. I’m glad that they didn’t try to make it super confusing and convoluted. It wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if it weren’t a simple story. This movie also had some top-notch acting as well. Especially from Anthony Perkins. His performance as Norman Bates was just amazing. All of the traits that Norman Bates has was perfectly portrayed by Anthony Perkins and I don’t believe he could have done a better job. Now the actual character of Norman Bates was one of the most layered and fascinating characters I’ve ever seen in a film. I also really enjoyed Janet Leigh’s portrayal of Marion Crane. After she steals the money, she is obviously extremely anxious and nervous. Well Janet Leigh really portrayed that anxiety and worry really well, and it added to some of the suspense. And speaking of suspense, I’d like to talk about the ever iconic shower scene, one of the scariest scenes in the film. Even then it wasn’t really all that scary, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t extremely thrilling. I can definitely see why it is iconic, and it definitely is one of my new favorite movie moments. Nowadays the general story of this film has been done over and over again with other films, but I believe that Psycho should always be recognized for what they did for the horror genre. It essentially redefined what horror was, and I give it loads of respect for that. I can’t wait to revisit this thrilling masterpiece soon. It really isn’t one I’ll ever forget. 5/5 (100%)