The first time I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Masterpiece Psycho (1960) I was truly scared by the picture. It is one of those films that leaves you lingering for a while going through your head like a thought that never should have been there but I believe the beauty of the film is that no matter when you watch it, it will still give you the same feeling. That is why it is a classic and rightfully so.
Psycho is about a young woman who steals $40,000 and absconds to a lonesome motel on the highway run by an eccentric young man named Norman bates with his mysterious mother.
Psycho starts off by a fast pace title sequence combined with the frightening music of string instruments from Bernard Hermann that will automatically absorb you into the film and establishes the atmosphere of the film which you will realize is not going to be pretty.
Many will know about the infamous shower scene. It is a scene of brilliant editing and what editing can do to a scene and how it creates the horror portrayed. The scene is accompanied by a famous and masterful yet horrific piece of music by Bernard Hermann that gives you the chills and lingers on your mind for a long time and becomes a memory that never leaves you.
The film was shot on black and white instead of color because Hitchcock had to fund the film himself as no studio was willing to fund the project so he needed to cut down his budget. This to me made me realized that it didn’t matter because he created the atmosphere and suspense regardless if the film was in color or not. This itself shows why he is a master and that he can create suspense by his filmmaking.
Each actor and character had done their part well but the highlight was definitely by Antony Perkins who plays Norman Bates, he gives a convincing portrayal and if not, the film would have not worked out.
There is one particular scene and shot by Hitchcock that I admired very much. I will try not to give anything away and when you watch the film, I hope you notice it. It is when the character played by Antony Perkins slowly moves in to see a particular information in his handbook, you can see Hitchcock places the camera below his chin as to show his dominance. It struck me only after watching it a couple of times.
See these are some of the scenes, the atmosphere and filmmaking that makes the film a classic in the horror genre. The film keeps the tension till the very end until that shocking climax occurs and that climax will also leave you petrified it is that climax that blows like a bomb, a suspense bomb, you won’t realize what is to come, even though it is subtly shown as the film progresses, it truly is suspenseful. I highly recommend you see the film, do not ignore it since it is old or the film is in black and white. It does not matter because you try to take any psychological thriller or horror film made these days it will not scare you like what psycho does. It really does play with the human psyche and it is just great cinema.
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