Psycho movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S PSYCHO A CLASSIC HORROR MASTERPIECE?
With the iconic shower scene, the “skull smile” and the unforgettable killer, Psycho is known as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best. It’s extremely entertaining and highly clever, with brilliant acting and a terrifying score.
Storyline
When a secretary steals $40,000 in cash from her employer’s client, she goes on the run and ends up checking into a remote motel run by a strange man named Norman Bates.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Simon Oakland
Writer: Joseph Stefano
Release Date (Australia): 21 September 1960
Runtime: 109 minutes/1h 49m
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
Thematic content includes mental illness, murder, theft, a scene in which a woman is killed in a shower and a depiction of a corpse.
The film contains brief implied depictions of people being stabbed, accompanied by wound and blood detail.
None.
There are depictions of a nude woman throughout the film, but there is no nudity detail.
The film contains sexual references that are very mild in impact.
mpaa rating
R (for an unknown reasoning)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Alfred Hitchcock is a freaking genius. To this very day, Psycho is an utterly terrifying, highly enthralling and extremely suspenseful 1960s horror classic, and no, it’s not just because of the iconic shower scene. It’s one of those rare movie gems with strong tension and anxiety that manages to hit you or give you the chills every time you see it, but it’s also a movie that gets better and better the more you watch it.
Janet Leigh shines seemingly as the film’s central lead as a secretary who steals $40,000 in cash from her employer’s client, before going on the run and ending up checking into an isolated motel run by Norman Bates. What really keeps you glued to the seat without a doubt is Hitchcock’s fabulous work as a director. During the scenes unaccompanied by music or dialogue, his very clever camerawork alone creates breathtaking moments of horror-defining terror and uncertainty. In addition to this is the cast, with solid acting skills from everyone who has large portions of screen time, but Anthony Perkins definitely gives the best performance this film has to offer, in his unforgettable role as Norman Bates.
Another notable element that will strike the audience just as much as the performances and direction is the movie’s excellent score, doubling the overall sense of dread and uncertainty in all the scenes that make use of soundtrack, which is composed admirably by Bernard Herrmann. The credit for the concept, ideas, scares and the terrific plot twist mostly belong to the novel by Robert Bloch, but it’s hard to imagine that it could’ve been written or directed any better.
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