BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 27: PSYCHO (1960)

As far as essential and influence horror films go, few rank higher than ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO. To the Hitchcock aficionado it is another of his great psychological thrillers. Since then it has become more than that. In the years that followed Psycho's release the film has become a template for realistic serious horror. For so long horror films were and still are in many cases regarded as B-movies. Hitchcock was one of the great directors that showed us how horror could be more than merely inferior filmmaking. Psycho is one of the finest examples.

Based off a novel by Robert Bloch, Psycho stars Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, and the incomparable Anthony Perkins as the infamous horror icon NORMAN BATES. Perkins's performance and Hitchcock's unique and misleading presentation helped change the way audiences perceived horror films and cinema as a whole. It also helped pave the way for a whole new sub-genre of horror films, a sub-genre that would take the cinema world by storm in the 1980's. Many consider Psycho the granddaddy of the Slasher film.

THE PLOT

Marion Crane just stole $40,000 in cash on a whim. She isn't a bad woman but temptation got the better of her. She took off on a Friday and has been driving across California all weekend, her conscience nagging at her the entire trip. During a rainstorm she accidentally leaves the highway and finds herself along a lonely stretch of road devoid of any civilization save an empty motel at the edge of a swamp. The torrential downpour forces her to pull into the motel. She rents a room for the night and has a strange chat with the caretaker, Norman. Then she goes to her room to shower. A woman with a knife rushes into the room and stabs her over and over. Marion falls down dead.

Norman rushes in afterward and finds Marion's body. He quickly cleans up the room and disposes of the body and belongings in the bog behind the motel. A week later a private investigator shows up looking for Marion. He insists on talking to the woman in the window of the house upon the hill near the motel. Norman says the woman is his mother and she can't see anyone. When the P.I. goes into the house secretly he encounters the woman and meets the same fate as Marion. Again Norman has to clean up after his mother. When even more people arrive Norman has to make a choice: give up his mother or let more people die. Can he let go of his mother? Or will mother let go of him?

THE GOOD

Twists and Turns. The structure of this movie is unique among other genre films of the era and even among movies today. At first you think that Janet Leigh's character Marion Crane is the central character and it is about a momentary lapse in judgement. Then we see her conscience grow heavier and heavier. She begins making strange and suspicious choices one after another that she wouldn't normally make. She imagines people's responses and reactions to her out of character decisions. It seems as though the movie is going to be about a seemingly normal woman's decent into madness. Then she is killed off without warning with a significant portion of the movie remaining.

Norman & Mother. Suddenly we find ourselves following a new lead character. The story becomes about Norman Bates and his homicidal mother. At first Norman appears like nothing more than a dutiful son trying to cover up his mother's murderous outbursts. As an audience member you think, "Okay, so the mother is the psycho." This notion persists through the film till the climactic confrontation in the fruit cellar and the big reveal at the end. By now most of us know the story and the plots twists but can you imagine being an audience member in 1960 seeing this movie for the first time? It had to have been mind blowing.

Technically perfect. The direction of Alfred Hitchcock need not be said because everyone already knows. It is simply amazing. I can think of only one shot in the film that doesn't work, the shot of Arbogast falling down the stairs while unique looks rather silly. Some may argue with me but other than that the movie is solid. Take into account Bernard Herrmann's classic frightening score the movie just keeps getting better and better. Then there's the acting. Anthony Perkins is absolutely amazing. He's handsome and meek and incredible misleading. He was so good in the role people couldn't disassociate him and the character of Norman, much to the detriment of his career.

THE BAD

Exposition heavy. Personally I don't have a problem with exposition scenes but nowadays such scenes in novels, movies, and video games are looked down on with disdain. While watching it today someone made the observation that the scene at the end of the film where the psychiatrist goes on his lengthy explanation and recap of his interrogation of Norman that, if made today, the filmmakers would show the audience the interrogation scene. For the era exposition was quite common place. Most critics now believe exposition to be weaknesses in storytelling. If there is one thing this film has a lot of is exposition.

THE VERDICT

My favorite horror director JOHN CARPENTER speaks very highly of this film and it has influenced many of his films as a result, from casting Janet Leigh in one of his own films to naming characters after characters in Psycho. And Carpenter is one of countless other filmmakers who have been effected by this film. The roots of the Slasher sub-genre of horror and psychological thrillers directly stem from this film and others of Hitchcock's. Calling it the "Citizen Kane" of horror films may not be entirely accurate but it comes damn close. If not for Psycho we wouldn't have my all-time favorite horror film, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN.