After watching Psycho, all I have to say is, "WOW!" I don't like horror films, and I especially dislike slashers, but this film... well, it blew me away. I loved it.
What is amazing about this film is that for all its purported violence and gore, only two people actually die, and even then you barely see anything. Hitchcock expertly builds up the tension to the point where the audience is sure something is going to happen, and it is that tension, rather than the actual acts of violence, that scare the viewers so much.
Of course, the cast as just as important as the director. Anthony Perkins absolutely shines as the psychopathic Norman Bates. Like Andrew Robinson from Dirty Harry, it is nearly impossible to whether Perkins is really acting or if he really is psychotic.
Above all, it is the music that makes this film shine. The score more than anything else serves to build up the tension to the breaking point. The shrieking violins during "Mother's" attacks are particuarly memorable - and the most frightening. Like so many other films, should the score be omitted, or even changed in the slightest, the film would never have worked.
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2 comments:
It's so completely apt that you cite the tension and suspense of this film as central to its success. Above all else, Hitchcock was the master of suspense. He liked to say that he could play his audience like an organ, and I think that's the nature of filmmaking to a considerable degree.
you should review more modern films. but yeah. this was sort of cool.
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