I don’t remember seeing Psycho on the rental video shelves in the early to mid-80s and had to wait until the late ’80s when the film was released on sell thru before I could see it. Its inclusion in the compilation Terror In The Aisles certainly whetted my appetite. I also remember buying a book that contained all of the frames from the film around this time. Any frame from the film could indeed be hung in an art gallery and savoured.

On re-watching the film for this review I noticed that right from the get-go Psycho grabs hold of your attention and never lets go. Saul Bass’ innovative and (literally) off-kilter title sequence is just as genius as the rest of the movie. The broken/fractured letting of the film’s title on its advertising material is also another perfect aspect of the movie as a whole.

I also love that Hitchcock was pushing the envelope right from the start of the film. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) meeting in a motel for some lunchtime delight and shown semi-dressed must have shocked censors and audiences alike when it was first released. Not only that but as they are unwed makes for a very risque scene for its time. The sight of Leigh in a bra and girdle and Gavin bare-chested is a thing of wonder.

I love that the film noir/hard-bitten vibe continues with Crane deciding to steal $40,000 from her place of work and deciding to drive who knows where. The scene at the crossing with her boss and his business associate walking in front of her car and her boss seeing her was amazing as are the following scenes involving her being questioned by the curious cop who has seen her asleep in her car and then the following scene in which she provokes suspicion whilst trying to swap her car at a car dealers whilst being watched and then followed by the same cop is masterful and the audience genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next.

Of course, we all know what happens next. She pulls into The Bates Motel and the rest is film history.

Audience expectations up until this point would have expected the character who we have followed from the start of the film to be there until the end. Hitchcock again plays with these conventions and completely rips up the rule book. Who said that the film’s leading character has to make it to the end and can’t be bumped off partway through the movie?

Audiences had never seen anything as shocking as the shower scene before. This scene also provided consternation for the censors as they objected to the scene’s nudity (even though its masterful direction means that there is no obscenity in it), the graphic violence of the murder (again the direction meant that the knife is never actually seen entering Crane body) and laughably, the fact that this was the film time a flushing toilet was seen in a film.

This is also a controversial scene as the scene depicts one of the daily practices that everyone in the audience could empathise with which is also one of the most vulnerable. There are no ways to defend yourself whilst nude in the shower and attacked by someone with a butcher knife. There would be another violation later in the movie when Private Investigator Arbogast is stabbed in the face whilst poking around the Bates abode.

Psycho also brings to the table concepts that were completely unheard of by audiences before its release. It must have been shocking enough to think that a mother figure could be murdering people but to then find out at the film’s climax that the killer was actually her son Norman who was dressing as her whilst assuming her personality must have terrified audiences in 1960. These concepts still have the ability to terrify today although many people know some of the surprises the film has to offer before they have actually seen it (one of the gimmicks Hitchcock put in place on its original release was that patrons would not be permitted into screenings after the film had started).

Psycho influenced John Carpenter’s Halloween massively. Not only is Micheal Myers’ doctor named Sam Loomis but watch the scene in which we see Lila approaching the Bates House. It’s strongly reminiscent of the scene in which Laurie Strode is walking across the street to the Myers House. The audience knows that both heroines are walking to unspeakable horror and rachets up the suspense and dread.

Psycho is perfectly cast with Janet Leigh impeccably as Crane and Anthony Perkins just as perfect as the equally friendly, vulnerable and sinister Norman Bates. In fact, the whole cast is pitch-perfect.

And then there’s the score. Hitchcock originally wanted the shower scene to be silent but composer Bernard Hermann put his foot down. And film lovers the world over rejoiced. But the entire Psycho score is just as fantastic as the iconic music for this iconic scene.

Psycho is a masterful film by the master of suspense and from start to finish shows off his masterful direction. The movie features in best-of lists the world over. Believe the hype.

5 out of 5 stars