Review of Psycho (1960) by Brandon W — 03 Aug 2012

Alfred Hitchcock's final black and white film, the noiresque 1960 horror thriller Psycho was such a game changer in both the world of film making and even how movies were shown it's almost impossible to try and view the movie objectively. The movie turned heads upon its release for featuring the murderous psychopath of the tale as the central character and exploring no matter how oddly and out of date by today's psychological standards what motivated his actions and led him down his horrifying path. But it also turned heads in the movie industry for being the first mainstream Hollywood film to feature heavy use of unreliable narration to fool the viewers and having a pretty beloved and well received twist ending. But debatably Psycho's biggest contribution to movies, in spite of becoming a pop culture staple, is how it changed the way movies were screened in theaters. Hitchcock famously upon the movies release imposed a rule with collaboration from Paramount Pictures that Psycho would air at movie theaters, which at the time played movies on repeat all day in which an audience member could wander in at any point and leave when they were caught up to their spot, at a set time frame after which no one would be admitted until the next showing. This was not the first movie with a plot twist, not even the first Hitchcock movie but he decided due to the intense nature of the plot and the reveal the movie was best appreciated from start to finish and the ideas caught on ever since. But apart from revolutionizing movie show times, where does Psycho stand in today's pantheon of classic movies? Another great that's essential viewing, or overrated tripe that served its purpose at the time and that's about it? Let's take a little mad look.

At the beginning of the film the story focuses on Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) a secretary living in Phoenix who steals 40,000 dollars from one of her Bosses' clients in order to help out her beleaguered boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) who is suffering from having to pay alimony to his ex-wife. Marion skips town in a hurry, attracting the attention of a Highway Patrolman when she sleeps in her car overnight and acts in an agitated state once confronted, and after switching cars at a dealer to throw off her track is forced to stop on an excessively rainy night at the Bates Motel. The Motel is tucked away near what used to be the state highway and now rarely sees customers though it is still run with the utmost cleanliness and professionalism by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) a lonely young man, interested in taxidermy, who runs the hotel and cares for his invalid mother. She is convinced after talking with Norman that night to return the money to Phoenix the very next morning but unfortunately fate has other plans.

Psycho hasn't aged perfectly, hell it wasn't perfect to begin with but it's a damn near perfect movie for what it is. True the ending though not improbable is explained in an oddly dated sounding way and the action scenes are pretty hoakie in one or two cases even laughably so but Hitchcock accomplishes here what he's always set out to do, create a taut thriller with believable and relatable characters. Again a few times where we see action unfold aside, not a shot in this film is wasted and every one is damn near perfect. Norman Bates spends half the movie shrouded in darkness, his luminous eyes glowing eerily from the shadows and the shower scene is a rare instance where Hitchcock decided to show us a bit of the old ultra violence and despite it being really obvious Norman's not actually stabbing Marion is still one of the most hair raising things he's ever written. And that's what this movie does best, raise the hair on the back of your neck it's good at being an intense little picture. The characters as stated are relatable and fully developed, the first hour or so of the movie until the murder being particularly fluid and compelling story telling and the acting is fantastic but what this movie does best is create this tense and eerie feeling that even and perhaps especially in subsequent viewings when you know what's going to happen you still feel a sense of dread wash over you. I particularly like the setting of the Bates Motel, an empty and creepy forgotten place that adds to the feelings of vulnerability and fear for the characters in the many scenes that take place there. But for all its perfect execution, it still has that great cast to sell it including Janet Leigh who creates a complex and morally ambiguous (well wrong but still likeable) heroine whose plight we really relate too and want to succeed. But of course the real star here is Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, the star making fan fucking tastic performance that everyone playing a serial killer since has tried to emulate. It's Perkins performance that elevates Psycho past its shortcomings, with one of the most natural and perfectly embodied performances in cinema history, one Perkins could sadly never top.

Everything featuring a scene stealing serial killers whose motivations we explore owes a little something to Psycho, from Hannibal Lecter to Dexter Morgan (Dexter's soundtrack is also remarkably similar to Psycho's nerve wracking one) as this made stories about murderers respectable and artsy. I don't think it has the most mind blowing of plot twists but I totally see why Hitchcock demanded audiences see it beginning to end as the movie takes Chekhov's Gun to heart. Nearly everything brought up in the first half of the movie centered on Marion and than Norman is brought back later in the film and viewing the movie out of order would also ruin the disturbing atmosphere. Psycho is very much a masterpiece from start to finish so it seems fitting it was the first movie that required you to view it that way.