Psycho 1960

Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life Marion leaves town and heads towards Sams California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Review

Most modernday horror films make the killer to be an absolutely inhuman grotesque unimaginable monster in order to scare the audience out of its wits. Most of the time however these stereotypes create a generic murderer a raving ranting clearly demented psychopath. One of the few memorable cinematic killers that does not adhere to these restraints and cliches is of course Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Lecter whom manages to effectively cause the audience to recoil without such drek as the aforementioned devices.

Anthony Perkins skillfully crafts his performance as Norman Bates avoiding a ranting raving drooling murderhappy manic characterization instead his performance as Norman is subtle creepy cool and unsettling. He is brilliant from his quiet conversations with Marion Crane amidst the stuffed birds to his weasling wimpiness when confronted by Arbogast his performance is so exact that it chills the viewer all without the unnecessary disturbing images prevalent in more modern films (read The Cell Henry Portrait of A Serial Killer).

Perkins fine performance a tight script and Bernsteins classic score make Psycho a film that is now and will always be remembered as one of the pinnacles of the horror genre.