Review of Psycho (2007) by Luke N — 03 Nov 2013

I do not know much about the horror film genre nor do I have that much interest in learning more about it. The reason being is that these films usually have such little versatility that "if you've seen one, you've seen them all" as Debbie Reynolds would say in Singin' in the Rain (1952). But I do know this much, the horror genre would not be what it is today without legendary director Alfred Hitchcock or his highly celebrated 1960 suspense/horror film Psycho. Its infamous shower scene has been acclaimed as one of the greatest scenes in cinema history, and is usually the first (and sometimes only) thing people talk about when having a conversation about this film. But as we all know, we can't call a movie great simply because of one scene, so let's take a look at what the rest of Psycho has to offer.

A young woman named Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is struggling to get married to her boyfriend Sam (John Gavin) because of their financial troubles. When a client at her job entrusts Marion with $40,000 in cash to purchase a house for their daughter, she steals the money and heads out of town to Phoenix to meet with Sam. While on the road, she purchases a new car in exchange for her old one, and then pulls up to an isolated lodging area called the Bates Motel to spend the night. This motel is run by a nervous young man named Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who lives with his "ailing" mother nearby. Without spoiling anything for those who haven't seen this film yet, let's just say that her stay at the Bates Motel is causing Sam, her sister Lila (Vera Miles), and detective Arbogast (Martin Balsam) to worry about her whereabouts.

As I've stated earlier, any hardcore film buff that has seen this flick should already be aware of the shower scene and its significance in film history. It has constantly been dissected by film historians, Hitchcock experts, and whatnot. It has been satirized many times in pop culture either with the musical score by Bernard Herrmann or the actual visuals and shots themselves or even both. But since that scene contains major spoilers and has already been dissected to death, I will not talk about the shower scene in this review. What I will talk about however is the rest of the film itself which may be even better than most people give it credit for.

For instance, how about the way the film's screenwriter Joseph Stefano handles the character of Marion Crane? Yes, the way the screenwriters develop the character of Norman Bates is also terrific, but more on him later. It's not every day you come across a film in which its main female character is willing to do anything including stealing money to pursue a happy lifestyle of her own. There's a very well directed scene by Hitchcock in which Marion is driving on her way to Phoenix and seemingly imagining what her colleagues at work might be saying while she is away. This particular scene works because we don't know for certain if it's simply all in her head or if it's really unfolding while she is out of town. Did anyone else besides me catch Marion smirking during this scene as if she enjoyed stealing the money?

So we have this twisted characteristic to the character of Marion, and then we also have Norman Bates himself. Norman's mother is so unusually dependent on him to the point that he has to live at home with her next to the motel. If this somehow wasn't surreal enough considering that he should be living a life of his own, he also begins to hate his own mother for what she's become. When we see Marion and Norman having dinner together at the motel, we can clearly see how much of a nervous wreck he has become on a daily basis. The way that Hitchcock and screenwriter Stefano handle the mystery behind Norman's ailing mother is really interesting since it arouses our suspicions that something may not be right in this motel after all.

Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins have never had more memorable roles than here, Vera Miles is completely convincing as Marion's impatient, non-quitting sister, and Martin Balsam plays detective Arbogast as if he were a real, credible detective. The film is loaded with suspense-filled sequences and many elements of mystery even after its most iconic scene has passed. The dialogue here is interesting because while the characters do say some awkward things towards one another, you get the sense that it was supposed to be awkward and are willing to go along with it as a result. Bernard Herrmann creates yet another strong and catchy musical score that joins the ranks of his previous work in other Hitchcock pictures such as Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959).

There's very little else that can be said about Psycho to those who have yet to see it without spoiling anything about the plot. It should be noted that Alfred Hitchcock decided to initiate a "no late admission" policy for the film since he believed that if anyone entered late, they would not be able to see enough of Janet Leigh and would feel ripped off. That just goes to show you just how passionate Hitchcock was about not just the quality of his work, but also the audience's satisfaction with seeing his work. What else do I need to say? It's freaking Psycho.