Customer Reviews
She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you? - By: IWFIcon, 04 Sep 2008 
Psycho may well remain one of Hitchcock's most famous movies, nearly 50 years after it first hit our screens; it also remains one of his best. It's difficult to comprehend,in the 21st century, just how shocking it must have seemed at the time given that, after all, it's de rigueur these days to kill off major namesin movies & show horrific murders on the screen. But it's also true to say that for all the "anything goes" attitude that prevails with modern films, few have managed this kind of story as well as Hitchcock does here.
If anything this is two filmsin one. The first concerns Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who decides to steal $40,000 from her boss so that she & her lover can escape from drudgery. She takes offin her carin the direction of her lover & it must have seemed, to audiences at the time, that that was the gist of the story. Half wayin though, Crane hits upon the Bates Motel, & the rest is history. The second part of the movie is based upon her murder & the attempts to bring the murderer to justice.
Even though Janet Leigh was top-billed, this is every bit Anthony Perkins' movie. Perhaps as a result of Hitchcock's real-life liking for Perkins, Norman Bates is portrayed as something of a sympathetic character. He's never judgedin a harsh way & we feel a sympathy for him, at times, that we never feel for Marion Crane. The irony is, of course, that no sooner has she decided to "do the right thing" & return the money, the decision is taken out of her hands.
Everyone will remember the classic "shower" scene (which was the reason for Hitch filmingin black & white, saying that shooting that scenein colour would have been too horrific). It is certainly a superb sequence but it's not the only memorable section of the film. The second murder, of the private detective, is very effective & the scene where Marion's sister & lover search the house for clues, only to happen upon "Mrs Bates" is chillingly good as well.
Shot with his TV crew,in black & white & on a shoe-string budget, Psycho should,in theory, be nothing special. But everything comes together to make one of the most memorable moviesin cinema history. The atmosphere is soaked with fear & tension & Perkins' was so note perfect as Norman Bates that it overshadowed his career to an ultimately devastating effect. In the final analysis this is one of those rare occasions when the film really is as good as you remember it. Essential viewing for everyone, not just Hitchcock fans.
A Legendary Masterpiece! - By: Jake M, 28 May 2008 Without doubt, Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is one of the greatest films of all time, a compulsive horror that is nothing short of being a masterpiece.
If you haven't seen this black & white before, shame on you, but do be sure to buy this DVD because "Psycho" is one of those films that you must see before you die.
An amazing horror film!
MASTERPIECE - By: stuart, 09 Dec 2007 
"Television has brought murder back into the home - where it belongs." - Alfred Hitchcock
I am often asked what my favorite film of all time is. My reply is always the same: I do not have a favorite from all the genres. But from the thousands of films I have seen, I have not seen a film more horrifying nor terrifying as Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," the only movie that has ever truly scared mein my entire life. And so I can honestly say that "Psycho" is the scariest film I have ever seen, & is quite probably my favorite horror film of all time.
This is the movie that redefined the genre, & literally gave birth to psychological thrillers. By today's standards, "Psycho" may seem - at the most - tame. Audiences may not be scared by the plot anymore - a plot that was, at the time, unlike anything other, but nowadays quite normal. Gus Van Sant remade Hitchcock's classicin 1998 with both critics & audiences blowing it off. Modern audiences of today are used to slashers such as "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," etc., & so Van Sant's "Psycho" did nothing but disappoint them. But I guarantee that if you place modern audiencesin front of Hitchcock's "Psycho," they will come out of the film terrified to death (like I was when I first saw it).
Why is this? It is simply because modern audiences don't expect such creepiness & evilness to bein a 1960 film. Most modern audiences think that "Star Wars" (1977) was the start of motion picture history, that anything beforehand is stupid, cheery & not worth their time. They will go into Hitchcock's "Psycho" & expect a happy little picture, which is why they will come out pale with fear.
It all comes down to the fact thatin 1960, mainstream films did not have such subject matters as split personality disorder (seenin this year's "Identity"), figures with homicidal tendencies (like John Doein "Se7en"), or characters who are literally insane (like Hannibal Lector-type-criminals). "Psycho" set the course for these films. It blew audiences out of the water. They had never seen anything like it before. It is probably the only film that has ever really, truly scared me to death. I didn't want to take showers for weeks.
Hitchcock once said, "Cartoonists have the best casting system. If they don't like an actor, they just tear him up." I'm glad Hitchcock didn't try to tear up Anthony Perkins, who plays Norman Batesin "Psycho," as a shy, awkward fellow living off of a re-routed highway. He is perfectly cast & soundly directed by Hitchcock, coming off as a somewhat strange, implacable fellow. We aren't quite sure what to make of him.
Phoenix banker Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a poor creature living off of practically nothing. She wants to get married to Sam Loomis (John Gavin), but the costs of a wedding outweigh both their incomes. And so one night when her employer entrusts Marion with 40,000 dollars, she flees with the moneyin the back of her car to go find Sam. However, tired from a long drive, she stops at the Bates Motel for the night. She never leaves the motel, because Norman Bates' reclusive mother becomes jealous of Marion & kills her. Or does she?
Hitchcock masterfully weaves the suspense & horrorin "Psycho," so much so that we simply do not know what to think until everything unravels towards the end. The infamous shower scene remains one of the most impressive & wonderful segmentsin all motion picture history, ranking up there with the unveiling of Harry Limein "The Third Man," the revelation by Darth Vaderin "Star Wars," & one of my personal favorites, the partin "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" when Neal Page & Del Griffith wake upin bed entangled with each other. ("Those aren't pillows!")
I think that the anticipation of fear, or the insinuation of something sinister lurking behind a shadowed doorway, is much scarier than blood & guts. Freddy Krueger does not scare some people. Modern horror films tell us what we are supposed to fear, whereas films such as "Psycho" leave the images up to us. Not every person may leave a Jason Voorhees movie scared. Everyone will leave "Psycho" scared. Because as our mind tries to place a face on the fear, our mind incorporates our very fears into the image.
Alfred Hitchcock is undoutedly one of the greatest & most influential film directorsin the history of motion pictures. He can create suspense like no other & he can make even the simplest story the most nail-biting, terrifying picture of all time. I recently purchased a DVD with four of Hitchcock's early British films from the thirties, including "The 39 Steps" & "The Lady Vanishes." Hitchcock's sense of solid suspense can be felt evenin those early films. He is, quite simply, the master of suspense. Is it no wonder he has gained the exact reputation as mentioned?
Some films land on greatness & don't always deserve their reputation quite so much as everyone seems to think so. "Psycho" is not such a film. Here is a movie that bent & broke every set rule of film making for the time, & changed the course of horror films for the better. The nineties have shown a return to the classic horror/mystery/thriller mix of Hitchcock & Agatha Christie. Here is the granddaddy of them all. Here is the best horror film ever made.
5/5 stars.
we're all caught in our private traps... - By: H. Serkan SILAHSOR, 20 Oct 2007 "We're all caughtin our private traps, we scratch & claw at the air, at each other, but for all of it, we never budge an inch".
Yes, "Psycho" is missing the vibrancy of "North by Northwest", vividity of "Vertigo", ambiguity of "The Birds", & claustrophobia of "Rear Window", but it is a unique moviein its very own league. With Hitchcock's sharp eye with little details, genius camera angles, & keen sense of generating suspense & tension, "Psycho" is multi-layered & richly-textured film, Master's last great picture.
The film starts out very slowly. During the first hour, Hitchcock focuses on a single specific event & takes the viewer somewhat familiar point mostly seenin classic film noirs: a confused woman, being stuckin an impasse with a lover bogged downin financial woes, steals money off her employer. Things becomes to go awry en route California (where her lover lives), while she encounters some "MacGuffins" such as a mysterious patrolman & suspicious used-car salesman, both are the harbingers of incipient tension & terror. Her edgy trip endsin a sleazy motel off the main highwayin a rainy night. Hitchcock startles the viewer while central female antagonist dies half-way through the film, & takes us another sinister place where the real secret is revealed. From this point, Anthony Perkins lead the show as twitchy motel keeper with peculiar idiosyncrasies. This is the role of his life, as everybody is waiting horrified whenever this schizoid time bomb will go off.
From the very beginning, Hitchcock imbues the film with a heavy atmosphere of impending doom. Blood-chilling strings of composer Bernard Herrmann adds greatly to the overall moodiness. Today's horror/thrillers depend too much on graphic violence, where blood, gore, decapitations, & dismembered bodies galore. Not overly violent & with almost no blood & gore, the unshakable effectiveness "Psycho" mutters up comes from what is implied, but not shown. He always used to make the audience use their imagination. This is the greatness of Hitchcock.
Now for the downside, I found the second half of the film somewhat forced. Private eye Arbogast's insatiable obsession with Norman & his ill mother is totally unconvincing. Lila's (Marion's sister) intuition about something bad had happenedin the motel is groundless. Sam & Lila's visit to the motel & their sureness about Marion's stayin room number 1 is totally implausible. Also, the secret of the film is predictable half-way through, as soon as all the pieces are putin proper places. But, neither of these weak points undermine the cleverness & effectiveness of this great piece of cinema. "Psycho" is definitely a classic & deserves to be called so.
Special edition? More like a joke edition! - By: R. Green, 12 Aug 2007 
To call this 2 disc set a 'special edition' is to insult all those film lovers who revere this film as one of the greatest movies ever made. The first disc contains a poor quality, worn print of the feature presentedin an unfamiliar format & an even poorer quality trailer. The second disc contains extracts only from Hitchcocks American Film Institute Life Acheivment Award ceremony & a couple of short interviews. The 2nd disc runs all of 49 minutes! It's shocking that this appears to be the best that Universal can give us as a 'special edition'. What a joke!
