(1960, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
In short: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) skips town after stealing $40,000 from her boss so she can marry her poor boyfriend. After a few run-ins with a highway patrolman who is suspicious of Marion’s nervous behavior, a rainstorm hits and Marion decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel. There, she meets Norman Bates, the motel’s seemingly rather quiet and friendly proprietor, and she overhears an argument between Norman and his mother. From there, things go famously badly for Marion. This is a movie that’s meant to be shocking. The first scene with Sam and Marion is pretty risqué for the time period. Psycho was the first American movie to show a toilet--they hadn’t been allowed before! And of course, there’s the infamous shower scene, shocking for both its violence and perceived nudity. Moreover, there’s something taboo about the psychological aspects of the plot. (SPOILERS, obviously.) Norman’s mental illness is scary and weird and in-your-face by the end of the movie. It’s messed up that he dresses up as his mother to kill the women he’s attracted to. It’s even stranger that he is unaware of any of it. (End spoiler zone.) Hitchcock’s film puts all the controversial topics of violence, mental illness, and sexuality front and center in a way that’s impossible to ignore, yet it’s not just shock for shock’s sake. It’s smart. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this film. This is the most famous horror movie of all time, I’d say, and I tend to not like horror movies. But Psycho is, obviously, fantastic. It’s smartly written, well-acted, brilliantly-directed, and just plain terrifying. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it. It’s clear why everyone else does. 10/10 metaphorically resonant stuffed birds.
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AuthorEileen here, writing reviews for film class. Archives
April 2018
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