Psycho (1960) - Film Review

Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles & John Gavin

Screenplay: Joseph Stefano

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Certificate: 15

'Psycho' is one of those essential films that anyone who professes to love cinema should sit and watch at the very least once. If you were to make some kind of "starter kit" of great American movies, then there's a very good chance that 'Psycho' would be among them. Not only is it the film that people today would probably associate most with Alfred Hitchcock, it's one of the most discussed and recognizable films out there. Everyone recognizes the shower scene. Everyone recognizes the name Norman Bates. Everyone recognizes the iconic music. There's been absolute tons written about this film in the sixty years since its original release, so let's go ahead and add my own bit of writing to the immense pile. 

Marion Crane, a secretary living in Phoenix, Arizona, steals $40,000 of cash from her work in order to clear her boyfriend Sam's debts, run away together and get married. When en route to meet Sam at his home in California, a heavy rainstorm forces Marion to stop for the night at the Bates Motel, where she meets its curious proprietor, Norman Bates... 

I'm going to come clean and admit now that if you hadn't guessed from the opening of this review … I absolutely adore this film. It's a bona fide classic in every meaning of the word, and that makes this review both enjoyable yet challenging for me to write. It's enjoyable for me because I get to talk about one of my favourite films and exactly why I think it's so great. Yet at the same time it's challenging because I have to avoid the temptation to just gush about it, and not go through it scene by scene talking about everything that's going on. I have a feeling I'm going to fail the gushing part. But anyway, one thing that has to be said about 'Psycho' is that compared to other films of its time, there's something about it that makes it seem very accessible. Just recently, my sister-in-law told me that it's the only black and white film she can watch casually and enjoy. But when you say the name "Alfred Hitchcock", it conjures up images of old-time-y affluent 20th Century America, dominated by men who seem to almost exclusively wear suits all the time. Yet 'Psycho' doesn't seem to fit this mould - unlike a lot of classics, you're not necessarily enjoying it because some film scholar told you how good it is: you're just enjoying it. It's a piece of work that retains its entertainment value to this day. 

I think part of what makes 'Psycho' so appealing is its simplicity. The plot itself is easy to follow, there's only a handful of characters involved and it can be enjoyed as a straightforward psychological thriller or slasher movie. But this simplicity is only present at a surface level - scratch away that surface and there is so, so much going on underneath. Remember when I said I have to avoid the temptation of going through the film scene by scene and analysing it? I could be here for days doing that, and in my time as a Film Studies student at A-Level and university, I've studied and written tons on the visuals and themes of 'Psycho'. The use of lighting, the cinematography, editing, the chilling string-heavy music from Bernard Hermann, and how they all play into Hitchcock's characteristics as an auteur, while also creatively reinforcing the themes of the film is exceptional. I can't begin to imagine the thousands of words you could notch up talking about just the famous shower scene alone. The way lighting is used to obscure the killer in shadow, how tension is built through the seeming lack of narrative purpose, and how the editing of the scene becomes each stab of the knife (at no point do we ever see the knife entering flesh). If you're into psychoanalytic film theory, then 'Psycho' (unsurprisingly given its name) is a dream to examine. There's tons of potential for discussion on the parallels to Freudian psychology, such as the Oedipus complex and Freud's understanding of the human psyche. Not to mention how much can be said about gender roles, voyeurism and even the breakdown of traditional film narratives. 

'Psycho's status as a film with influence is also worth discussing, as is its contribution to the horror genre. While by today's standards, the level of violence in 'Psycho' may seem tame, for 1960, it was something very new. Even something as seemingly innocent as seeing a toilet flush - it hadn't been seen before in the mainstream due to it being deemed offensive. Then to go further by displaying something as intimate and suggestive as to see Marion strip and enter the show: it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time. And it isn't boundary pushing for the sake of it - part of what makes the shower scene so uncomfortable is the invasion of privacy, where Marion is killed in somewhere that should feel private and safe. Even the marketing campaign for 'Psycho' is famously unconventional by the standards of the time. Hitchcock instructed that critics weren't to be given advance screenings so as to prevent any spoilers from leaking; and in cinemas, audiences were told that there would be no late entries to the film - it had to be watched from the beginning. 'Psycho's deviation from the norm and the risks it takes clearly paid off and, to use a currently popular expression (thanks to the rise of a certain K-Pop group), it "paved the way" for the horror/slasher genres to show more violent, graphic content. Movies like 'Halloween' and 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' owe a great deal to 'Psycho'. 

I've also got to commend the fantastic leading duo of Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, the latter of which was criminally snubbed at the Academy Awards. Actually scratch that, 'Psycho' went unrecognised in a ton of categories, with no wins and no nominations for: Best Picture, Actor, Screenplay or Music. It seems the Academy have always been questionable in their choices, huh? But I digress. While her character exits the film much sooner than your average protagonist, Janet Leigh does a brilliant job with the screentime she's given. Despite stealing such a significant amount of money, Marion keeps the audience on her side not just because of her sympathetic intentions, but because of the clear conflict that Leigh portrays so well. Her inner conflict is clear with the look on her face as she packs to leave Arizona, with the camera constantly returning to the guilty object - the money - lying on the bed. The range of emotions Marion goes through on her way to the Bates Motel is also interesting, as she experiences guilt and panic once more when she sees her boss on the way out of town. The imagined voices in her head of her family and co-workers, together with the unusual smile she wears on her face are a neat parallel and foreshadowing of her meeting with Norman. And then of course, there's Marion's encounter with the policeman. Inspired by Hitchcock's own childhood fear of the police, the moments where Marion sees the police car in her rear view mirrors are a classic bit of Hitchcockian suspense building. 

But as brilliant as Janet Leigh is, there's no denying that the spotlight is stolen from her with the introduction of Norman Bates. Anthony Perkins gives probably one of the best performances I've ever seen on film, and creates one of its most fascinating characters as a result. In a review I once wrote of an episode of 'Black Mirror', I said that one of the characters pulled off what I like to call the "Norman Bates trick". When I said this, I was referring to the very particular type of killer that Perkins plays. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing - someone who appears very youthful and innocent. Underneath YouTube clips of 'Psycho' you'll find plenty of people describing him as cute, and his demeanour is what sells this. He lacks that confident, macho quality of many male Hollywood stars of his time - his masculinity is instead much more akin to the modern male leads of today. Rather than smoking cigarettes and always being in control of his situation, Norman chews gum and his conflict with his mother leaves him with no control. As I've read in one YouTube comment, you just want to hug and protect him, but as Marion finds out, the more time spent with Norman, the more his sinister side reveals itself. The low-angle shots of him with the dead birds he's stuffed looming around him deliberately make you feel uneasy about the character (as well as being another great bit of foreshadowing: Marion's last name is Crane, and Norman stuffs birds...). And then as if to confirm this darker side, we arrive at the famous shot of Norman looking through a peephole at Marion as she undresses. Norman Bates remains one of the most fascinating antagonists of any film, and Perkins in the role is one of the best casting decisions ever made. 

There's so much more I could rave about when it comes to 'Psycho' but this review feels lengthy enough as it is so I'll wrap things up here. 'Psycho' is Hitchcock's most famous film and it's not surprising as to why. I'm a fan of plenty of Hitchcock films, but to me as well, this is his masterpiece. I struggle to find any significant fault with, and I still admire its duality as both a straightforward entertaining thriller, and a complex breakdown of multiple branches of film theory. Everything about it is firing on all cylinders - the cinematography, editing, performances, themes, music and more is all outstanding. It's no wonder that years later 'Psycho' has inspired things such as the 'Bates Motel' series (which is also pretty good) and remains a staple of film classes today. It's timeless.

Psycho

10/10