Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- A Stranger in the Woods 2024

- Underground 2023

- A Nashville Wish 2024

- molkipolki 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take Two 2024

- Return to the Theatre of Terror 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take One 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Psycho

USA 1960
produced by
Alfred Hitchcock for Shamley Productions/Universal
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Simon Oakland, Frank Albertson, Patricia Hitchcock, Vaughn Taylor, Lurene Tuttle, John Anderson, Mort Mills, Francis De Sales, George Eldredge, Sam Flint, Frank Killmond, and the voices of Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, Jeanette Nolan
screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, music by Bernard Herrmann, pictorial consultant: Saul Bass

Psycho, Norman Bates

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro




Marion (Janet Leigh) dreams about living a carefree life with her lover Sam (John Gavin) ... but they're both in debt, he's living in another town, and the prospects for at least the next at least couple of years aren't exactly promising - so when her boss asks her to deposit $40,000 in the bank, and she feels the lump of money in her hand, she has a lapse of judgment, takes the money, hops into her car, and drives all the way up to her lover's hometown. But the ride's longer than expected, and her guilt weighing in on her makes her making all kinds of bizarre decisions ... until she loses her way in the rain and finds a safe haven at Bates' Motel, a place off the beaten track that hasn't seen a guest in weeks - so it's no wonder that the hotel owner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a nice and handsome enough young fellow, is totally excited about the new arrival, imposes on her a bit, has long conversations with her, makes her sandwiches ... but as I said, he's always nice enough, and he seems to have a dragon of a mother (whom Marion only ever hears nagging) so he deserves sympathy, and something in what he says makes Marion decide to drive back the very next day and deposit the money after all the way she should have, and to face the consequences. Sure, Norman also has his flaws, like he likes to spy on Marion when she has a shower, but after all, he's just a man ... and then, Marion is slaughtered in the shower by a woman, Norman's mother apparently, and while he's shocked, he still removes the body and all traces Marion was ever here. Not too hard a job as she checked in under an assumed name ...

Lila (Vera Miles), Marion's sister, arrives at Sam's shop, believing he hides herand the money and wanting to persuade the both of them to give it up to avoid severe trouble. But Sam assures her he didn't even know Marion was coming (which is true), and Lila, who has never met Sam before, believes him and the two try to figure out what to do yet - and are soon joined by Arbogast (Martin Balsam), a private detective hired by Marion's boss to retrieve the money. At first, he suspects the two of them even, but he's easily convinced they have nothing to do with it but are as adamant as him to track Marion down. Arbogast checks all the hotels and motels in the area until he happens upon Bates' Motel ... and something doesn't ring true about Norman, plus Arbogast is sure the key to it all is Norman's mother - but when he tries to sneak into the Bates-residence behind Norman's back, he's attacked by Norman's mum, stabbed and pushed down some stairs to his death.

Lila and Sam grow worried about having lost Arbogast, but knowing where he has gone, they check into Bates' Motel, posing as a couple, and soon they come to the same conclusion as Arbogast, that the key to the mystery is Norman's mother - so while Sam keeps Norman talking, Lila is to sneak into the Bates residence ... and she finds traces of the mother but not mum herself - until she looks in the basement ...

Norman meanwhile has figured out Sam is diverting him so Lila can meet mum, so he strikes him down then storms back to the residence to keep Lila away from mum ...

In the basement, Lila finds Mrs Bates sitting in a chair, but when she turns the chair around she finds it's only a mummified dead body - while Mrs Bates storms in behind her knife in hand, but just before she can strike, Sam enters from behind and wrestles her down ... to reveal her to be Norman himself dressed up in drag.

The story behind this, Norman has killed mum and her lover ten years ago out of jealousy but kept her mummified corpse with him ever since - and by and by he has assumed her personality to, including her jealousy over every girl who sexually arouses Norman, jealousy that usually ends in murder ...

 

Now let's state the obvious first, Psycho is of course a masterpiece, a relatively late masterpiece in Hitchcock's career, whose oeuvre had by 1960 already been somewhat marred by Hollywood gloss, too big budget and the sheer availability of whatever needed - in other words, he had become mainstream through and through. Psycho though was made on a very limited budget (still a far cry from actual low budget productions of the day mind you), with hardly a big name (other than Janet Leigh, and she gets butchered halfway through) in the cast, and the man had to relie more on his ingenuity once again ... and succeeds tremendously, making this one his best movie, and probably also his most influential (at least in terms of modern horror, serialkiller and slasher movies). Plus, Bernard Herman's musical score is pretty much as iconic as several scenes (first and foremost, duh, the shower scene), and Anthony Perkins' performance was flawless enough to typecast him for the rest of his life. And I could go on and on praising the movie, but at the same time it's not without flaws, and the biggest two are probably:

1) Martin Balsam's death scene: When he is stabbed and then walks down the stairs backwards in an awkward way, it looks more like slapstick than anything horrific, and at least for me it mars the tension with every viewing (and I've watched it often).

2) The psychiatrist's (Simon Oakland) monologue at the end that rather unnecessarily ties up all the ends, especially those that weren't loose. Now rumour has it that Hitchcock was pretty much forced to add this scene by the studio - might very well be, but he could have seen to it that the delivery was less camp and the whole thing was better and tighter written.

Am I picky?

Probably, because the film still is a masterpiece - but at the same time I do feel I'm right ...

But yeah, a must-see nevertheless!

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Psycho
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Psycho here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Psycho at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!