Review of Psycho (2007) by Jackson M — 12 Aug 2014

Pretty much everything about Psycho hits the right jangling nerve. The first chapter, up until Janet Leigh makes the fatal mistake of checking into the Bates Motel almost lulls you into a false sense of security and there are few films that even today would toy with the emotions of the viewer and wrong foot them so successfully as Hitchcock managed to here.

Of course it is that shower scene that we're all waiting for and it it still a shocking moment. Followed up by that fantastic shot of Janet Leigh's eye, frozen in death on the bathroom floor. So memorable is that scene that it is easy to overlook the second on-screen murder, that of Martin Balsam's character Abrogast, which I feel is almost as shocking with the murderer's point of view shot as he falls backwards down the stairs.

I'm not a huge fan of Hitchcock generally. I find many of his tricks and traits a little contrived. But I have to admit, when he hits the button, he really goes for it and proves what a fine director he was.

I love the scene where John Gavin is trying to distract Anthony Perkins and keep him talking in the hotel office. The way in which Perkins shows his increasing agitation with the tiniest of hand movements is brilliantly played and framed to perfection.

Bernard Herrmann's marvellous score underpins everything so well and is rightly held up as a masterpiece in its own right. The fantastic shower curtain shredding crescendo is so much a part of the film and movie lore that the film is now unimaginable without it.

There are certainly gorier movies and scarier movies than Psycho but where this one succeeds is in the sheer style, confidence and accomplishment of its execution which is simply masterful.