Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.[8] Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film North by Northwest, as it was filmed on a small budget in black-and-white by the crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Initially, the film divided critics due to its controversial subject matter, but audience interest and outstanding box-office returns prompted a major critical re-evaluation. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Hitchcock and Best Supporting Actress for Leigh. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films,[N 2] and is arguably his most famous and influential work.[9] It has been hailed as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars who praise its slick direction, tense atmosphere, impressive camerawork, memorable score and iconic performances. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films,[10] and has been considered to be one of the earliest examples of the slasher film genre. Easily one of the greatest films ever made. From a purely objective standpoint, this is probably the best horror film ever. Everything about this movie is near perfection. The acting, especially by Anthony Hopkins as Norman, is astonishingly good. Even today, the feelings of terror and dread are still as effective as in the 1960s. Hitchcock is an absolute master at creating tension. The fact that people have personalities similar to what this film shows is truly scary. The score used in this film is iconic. The only slight negative is when the psychiatrist explains everything at the end of the movie, I don't think that needed to be as detailed as it was. It could have been more effective if it had been left to the audience's interpretation rather than having it directly explained to you. That negative is more of a nitpick than anything else, as the rest of this movie is a masterpiece. This is probably the closest to a perfect film we will ever see. each scene in Psycho is a work of art