31 Days of Horror: Psycho (1960)

“A boy's best friend is his mother.”

Filmology Rating: 3.17 out of 4

Psycho is a film from 1960. So that means it's time to stop reading the review cause this film is in black and white, so it must be boring. Here's another good Halloween recommendation! It's hard to talk about this film because it's difficult to say what hasn't already been said about one of the greatest horror films ever made. This is a Hitchcock film and a strange one.

Before this, Hitchcock directed Vertigo and North by Northwest which were expensive movies to make and they are good movies, but they did not do well at the box office. So Hitchcock went in reverse and made a dirt cheap black and white movie with his TV show crew.

This film is based on a book which is loosely based off of Wisconsinite, Ed Gein (I'll let you do the research). And I think Hitchcock made this film just see what he could get away with in 1960 because when this film came out, it broke so many rules. This is the film that famously showed a toilet on screen for the first time, and also showed a vast amount of sexuality, and several other things, which I'll get to. But when this movie was finished, no studio wanted to touch it and even Hitchcock didn't believe in it. When the film debuted Hitchcock made the rule that you could not be admitted in the theater after the movie started which created a lot of buzz around the film, which was genius. Little did Hitchcock know, this would be his highest grossing film.

The trailer for this movie is so great because it's just Alfred Hitchcock walking around the set of this movie just explaining what's in every room. It's just him walking around and it's kind of hilarious.

This film is about a girl, Marion Crane, who steals 40,000 from her job and goes on the run. She happens to stop in at the Bates Motel for the night and meets Norman Bates, a man who is controlled by his mother and is forces Norman to run the motel on his own. What happens at the motel is a sinister mystery... until you finish the film.

Spoilers for a film over sixty years old, and good for you if you have somehow avoided the twists of this film! This movie was shocking when it came out. Just like Rear Window this film explores what people are like behind closed doors. Between Marion Crane and Norman Bates, they both have this other side to them that nobody sees and this internal dilemma. They're both good people that unfortunately do bad things, just like most people. Norman Bates is one of the best horror icons ever because he's such an interesting character. He starts as a likable character but you slowly start to uncover the truth about him. He's so likable, but terrible, but such a relatable character. You almost feel bad for him because of what Mother makes him do.

However, you do discover that Norman's Mother is actually dead and Norman has a split personality and dresses up in drag and becomes Mother and murders people and he can't control that other side of him. Norman is a good person but he's not there anymore. It's so interesting.

This is the film that also shocked audience is by killing Marion, our protagonist, halfway through the film in the famous shower scene which is probably the most iconic scene in motion picture history. Which is accompanied by one of the best scores ever put on screen.

I know that I say certain scores are incredibly iconic and that's because I review a lot of movies that have good scores, but when I say that Psycho has one of the most iconic scores ever, that's no joke. Believe it or not, you've heard this score before. You've heard the screeching noise that is famously in the shower scene. Google it. It's so iconic because it mimics the unnerving sound of a stabbing. It's great and I love it, even the more melody stuff.

However there's one issue I have with the film and it's the last few minutes. There is a giant exposition dump. This scene is so long and it's just a guy explaining to the audience what happened. I understand why it's there because this film would have been really confusing in 1960.

Psycho broke so many rules and made way for filmmakers like John Carpenter to make Halloween which was a homage to Psycho. If you haven't seen Psycho, do so! It's one of the best horror films ever.

Rating: See It

-Nolan