Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: - Some Go More Mad Than Others

When speaking of slasher films most fans are quick to name off their share of Halloweens, Friday the 13ths, A Nightmare on Elm Streets etc. I've noticed lately that one of the grandfathers of the horror sub-genre has gone widely ignored by younger fans. The film in question is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and you'd be a fool to underestimate the effect it's had on cinema, or to assume that (because it's an old black and white movie) that it's not effective today. Give it a chance and you'll find that it's absolutely terrifying, and still belongs in any respectable horror film collection.

"She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes."

Marion Crane is a beautiful young lady living in Phoenix Arizona. Her life isn't perfect, but with her charming boyfriend, caring sister, and steady job things aren't so bad. That is, until she decides to run off with $40,000 belonging to a client of her employer. With little idea of where to go, or what to do she sets off for lands unknown fretting about the crime she's committed.

Where she ends up is at the run-down Bates' Motel, home to Norman Bates and his temper-mental mother. Marion decides to rent out a room, but mother won't have it at all. Long story short Marion ends up dead on the bathroom floor, and with no other options Norman stuffs the girl in the car and pushes it into the nearby swamp, along with her money.

Marion's disappearance doesn't sit well with her sister Lila back in Phoenix, and this eventually leads her to team up with Marion's secret boyfriend to find her. With the help of a private detective they discover that she did stop at the eerie motel, but Norman's not exactly eager to answer their questions. This leads them to seek out Norman's reclusive mother. The only problem? Mrs. Bates has supposedly been dead for ten years. Who is that sitting in front of the windowsill then?

"She might have fooled me, but she didn't fool my mother."

The cinematography in this film is amazing. Psycho is a true display of Hitchcock's talent as a director. The guy has the ability to make anything look truly evil - a frantic windshield wiper, or even a shower head. Nothing's safe when Hitchcock is at the helm. Furthermore the film makes you use your imagination quite a bit. The fact that we never actually see a knife stab into someone is playing it a bit safe, but not when your mind is allowed to run wild and at the same time is tricked into making you think you saw something you didn't actually see.

Even by today's standards the film's cinematography gets top honors. Hitchcock was a master at choosing scenery and designing sets - the film is extremely aesthetic. Norman's looming house atop the hill, the Bates' Motel itself, and all of the outdoor sets (especially at night) have a rather surreal feel to them. The scene in the movie with Norman rolling the car into the swamp feels like a dream, and I can't help but feel that was Hitchcock's intented nature for that segment of the film. Besides that, the film makes use of a lot of interesting camera angles and drawn out sequences which focus on only one thing at a time. These make the film even more memorable.

If Psycho has one weak link at all then it's definitely the pacing. It feels like after the first third of the film the movie goes into a bit of a dry spell, focusing on the Marion Crane's sister's investigation. The problem is that after the terrific first section of the movie the pacing sterilizes the creepy atmosphere quite a bit, until later on that is. The finale is easily the best part of the movie though.

The absolutely most remarkable aspect of the film is it's soundtrack. The squealing violins make for one of the most recognizable audio samples in horror history. The rest of the film is fit with songs that, trademarkedly go from quiet to loud to make the atmosphere more tense. The music alone is enough to make your ordinary viewer jump, and it makes it that much more intense that the audio usually cuts in just a half second after the carnage has begun on screen. Spooky stuff I must say.

Performances aren't too bad, but some of the characters are just uninteresting (through no fault of the actors though). The showcase is Anthony Perkins who plays the distraught, creepy, and contemplative Norman Bates. I swear, the guy can go from gentle awkward to excessively creepy at the drop of a hat. Perkins has a smile that can mean one million different things all at once, and as far as I'm concerned he's really what made Psycho such a classic film. How anyone could think Vince Vaughn would make a good Norman Bates after this amazing performance from Anthony Perkins is beyond me.

Final Recommendation
Psycho is pretty much the quintessential slasher film, and in this case, it's something that anyone with even a mild interest in horror films can enjoy. The great cinematography, paired with a very creepy story and of course, Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates makes for an all-star production. They sure don't make 'em like they used to.