Psycho

Interest: 7/10

Acting: 9/10

Storyline: 9/10

Intensity: 8.5/10

Fights Guns or Otherwise: 8/10

Nudity: 3/10

Horror: 8/10

Mystery: 6/10

Thriller: 6.5

Logic: 8/10

Psycho is a 1960 film. Genre wise it is considered and horror, mystery, thriller. Its run time is one hour and forty-nine minutes. The three main stars are Anthony Perkins (Known for Psycho, Psycho III, Psycho II, and Friendly Persuasion), Vera Miles (Known for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho, The Searchers, and Psycho II) and John Gavin (Known for Psycho, Spartacus, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, and Thoroughly Modern Millie). I’m sure most of you are wondering why I’m reviewing this, it’s because it’s a forgotten classic among most people who do horror movies, it does a lot of tropes right, and well, and originated many of them while starting new ones and perfecting things even big films keep struggling with. A quick summary of the film is “A secretary embezzles forty thousand dollars From a client, goes on the run and checks into a hotel run by a man, who is controlled by his mother.” Let’s take a look at it shall we?

Interest: So psycho weirdly fills this gap from older horror films, and newer horror films, using clearly old principles from film, while using some brand new techniques to the film world, and cliches we still have to this day. It is fun to watch, But also it does seem to be slow. I’m sure it was intentional, but being someone who has watched a lot of movies with faster pacing, it made it hard for me to not try to find something else to do while this movie unfolded.

Acting: I thought the acting was good. It was all very solid, and for the time, excellent. I Think especially the character Norman Bates, is very creepy and strange, and also probably the most interesting. I don’t want to ruin any of the movie (I know it’s old, but just in case!).

Storyline: The storyline is fun and interesting, and while I alluded to it earlier, it to me is a little slow to me, but the story is another strong point for the film. I love it. The dynamics of it are simple but it pulled off in excellent fashion.

Intensity: I think the intensity is well paced in the film. At first you’re not sure if a death will actually happen at all at first, the creepy atmosphere, the hotel off the beaten path, The crazy bad guy. You start to really wear on you, almost causing dread. And I think that does great work for the film, and for the audience as well.

Fights, Guns or Otherwise: So fights are pretty quick, but intense (for the time). Verbally there isn’t much harassment except in a single scene, and while mentally there may be a fight in Norman Bates mind, everyone else I think is pretty alright. Fights were mostly the killings, and by today’s standards, were quick and lacking.

Nudity: There is no visual nudity in the film (yes I know of the shower scene, no you don’t see anything you wouldn’t want your child to see) and for the time, probably would never of happened. But even so, it would not helped the film in anyway, without taking it in a completely different direction.

Horror: Horror elements in the film are relateable, honestly something where I go to a motel or hotel and the owner is weird and is a killer, really is a fear of mine, not a strong one, but it is one, and this definitely preys on that fear. It also doesn’t help he has his mother propped up in windows around the house near the motel. Otherwise there are no jump scares, no creepy crawlers nothing to make the movie any more scary than this idea.

Mystery: This may be the weakest point of the film. There isn’t much of a mystery in the film, until they bring up a mystery. The viewer, if the question was never asked would never of thought about it, and would have had an excellent twist ending that I think would of gone better with the film, but alas, I am only almost 6 decades to late as of this writing, but it was still a fun twist at the end as it was with te reveal of if it was right or not.

Thriller: Psycho has a nice thrill to it. People are eager to try to solve things, they want action and things solve, and the viewer is also there to want more of these things, because I feel like the movie sinks its metaphorical fangs into you, but can’t quite get the jugular. What I’m saying is it has some thrill, but nothing over the top for today’s standards.

Logic: The Logic of the film is sound to me. The cops were involved, the characters were worried for all the right reasons, and things just made sense in the film, even though they went wrong.

Did I enjoy the movie? Yes I did. Do I suggest psycho? Yes I do, especially if you’ve never seen it. It’s a fun movie to watch, and if you’re a huge movie buff, you’ll use this as a measuring stick of other films. It was fun, it was great, maybe you’ll even make fun of a scene or two, but otherwise the movie is pretty solid and fun to watch! Altogether I rate this movie 73% overall. Go give it a watch! Until Next Time!