Wow! What an amazing film! Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors for sure. I remember watching his stuff with my mom back in the day. It’s hard to forge that icon profile shot. He honestly was one of my first introductions into the horror genre. I’ve seen Psycho years ago but, I rewatched it recently through older and more interested eyes.
I don’t know what it is but the black and white element takes films to another level sometimes. Psycho is in this category for sure. If this were in color, it wouldn’t be as creepy I don’t believe. The fact that is was filmed in the 60’s is great too. The old interior designs, the vehicles, the clothes – they all pair so well, and rightfully so, with the black and white. It all comes together so well. Norman Bates (portrayed here by Anthony Perkins) is a fantastic “psycho.” Of course, a lot of this was the character development on Hitchcock’s end but the casting was great. The end sequence was the best. That creepy smirk on his face as he was sitting in the holding cell left so much to the imagination. I know this is a big thing in films, to set up a sequel, but this was great.
I think sometimes, today, we forget we are watching movies. They are so realistic now that it’s almost like we are really watching these things happen. I’m not qualified to argue on it but, I think this also desensitizes us to violence. This idea, of course, is important in today’s world where we have the atrocities happening that we do. In that regard, the cheesy 60s skeleton face of the mother was great. When I watch stuff like this and it’s so evident that it’s fake, it takes that “hey this was based on Ed Gein who really did this” edge off it. It keeps it in its place for me – this is just a film. It holds the creepiness there while still curbing the desensitization.
The iconic shower scene – one cannot blog about Psycho without talking about this piece of horror history. How many times have we seen this recreated or parodies of it made? I wonder if Hitchcock knew what he was doing. I almost put him on the visionary level of Walt Disney in a way. I think he could see the future and he wouldn’t be surprised if he could see the impact his work has made on film. The flashing of the different parts of her body and the knife – the random stomach shot, all of this really put you there in her terror. Nothing was ever shown, only blood running in the water. You could feel it though and see it with your mind’s eye. You don’t see directing like this anymore. He functioned within the realm of possibility at the time and made something as frightening in 1960 as anything out there today. His work focused more on the viewer’s own mind that anything else, I think. This was an edge and a very sharp one.
Afterwards, Norman calmly cleaned up. He knew what he was doing. You could tell he had done it before. He knew he had done it before and that he would do it again. He did away with bodies. The money didn’t matter. Hearing the doctor’s explanation was reminiscent of college for me. When he was speaking on how sometimes Norman was Norman and sometimes his mother but never both Norman and Norman’s mother. For the experts out there, forgive me if I didn’t recapture the speech dead on. I just mention it because Hitchcock had a good idea of how these people really think. I imagine he had done his research. I remember taking Abnormal Psychology in school and learning about the disorders. One professor I had let us watch videos of folks who had whichever disorder we were focusing on. This speech took me back to that class. Well done Alfred.
One day when I get to build a house for me and my wife, I hope we model it after either the Myers house or the Bates house. We watched the newer show based off this movie, The Bates Motel, together recently. I remember the house being featured in this show and it being very similar to the one in the original film. It is a creepy house. There are endless pages written on this film, I’m sure. It is iconic and great. If you’ve never seen it, it is a must watch. For me, it is a definite watch again.