Psycho: Review By Daveactor7

Psycho. At first the title and the movie poster made me seem like as if I were going to watch another story about love gone wrong. However, never judge a book by it's cover. This film was absolutely stunning and it reconfirmed Hitchc*ck's dominance in the cinematic world.

The story-a woman flees with a stolen large sum of money to be with her husband, but a harsh rain downpour forces her to stop at the Bates motel where she meets Norman Bates and so the terror begins. A superb story mixing every single genre of film into one and overall in the end being a horror/suspense picture. I credit screenwriter Joseph Stefano for taking author Robert Bloch's novel into one of film's best. The story, even for that time period in which love stories and westerns mostly came about, was far impressive and more intriguing. A film like this not having much cheesy romance, action and gunfights and still coming out fantastic.

The acting-Anthony Perkins, who plays Norman Bates, deserves a full applause for his work as the crazed man. Perkins does well portraying Bates in two different personalities and that is amazing right there. Janet Leigh as Marion Crane does a good job in portraying a woman who is coping with what she has done and the very perplexing Norman Bates. The rest of the cast does well except for John Gavin, who plays Sam in the film. He portrays a character searching for answers on what happened to his wife, is just too plain. Too emotionless. He did however manage not to go further more then to make his character not worth watching. That is the only problem with the cast there.

The directing-Hitchc*ck deserves praise and it definitely helped to solidify his place in the film world. Having taken Stefano's screenplay and turning it into a great film. He also used black and white photography an ingenious take to film this movie and it helped to intensify the movie's mood and theme. Excellent job and earning him a nomination for best director for which i think he should have definitely won.

The visuals-the usage of cgi is no where in this film but the cinematography is superb. The way each character is shown in each shot greatly shows each character's emotions and conveys it well into a symbolic meaning. For example-there is a closeup shot of Perkins as he is conversing with Janet Leigh in a room full of stuffed birds. The closeup, combined with the low angle, shows that he has the power here, that he is far superior then her. The camera angles only get better throughout the movie, never stopping to achieve more and more. Great job by cinematographer John Russell who was nominated for best cinematography.

Overall, a masterpiece and definitely a giant stepping stone for other movies to come. Even to this day, this movie is more terrifying then any other films made today.