The movie Psycho is undoubtedly the most shocking of iconic director Alfred Hitchcock’s career.
It’s a graphic slasher flick, made in 1960, in which one of the man characters is killed off in the first act, a long-dead woman could be very much alive and a brutal serial killer is on the prowl. The production is shot in harsh black and white, with plenty of sinister shadows, instead of the luxurious Technicolor favored at the time.
Did I mention that I still can only watch the infamous “shower scene” with its chilling, shrieking music from behind the safety of my cupped hands?
Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam, Vera Miles and John Gavin are among the stars of a movie that constantly wrongfoots the viewer with some truly nasty surprises!
Leigh plays real estate agent’s assistant Marion Crane, who steals $40,000 from her boss in Phoenix and heads to California to pay off her boyfriend’s (John Gavin) debts so they can get married. Along the way she gets lost in a rainstorm and stays at the isolated Bates Motel, where the lonely Norman Bates manages the business and looks after his overbearing, invalid mother.
If you haven’t seen it I’m not going to spoil your “fun” by revealing any more, save to say this is a perfect flick if you’re planning a Halloween Party for grownups.
And the movie has never looked better than in Universal’s gleaming new 2-DVD edition, featuring a wealth of extra features.
Some of the documentaries – like the 90-minute The Making of Psycho – were on the original single-DVD edition of the movie, but there’s a lot here that I havn’t seen before including In The Master’s Shadow: Hitchcock’s Legacy, a fascinating look at Hitchcock’s influence on contemporary filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorcese.