3.5/4  What is it with Hitchcock and birds?
This is my favorite Hitchcock film. He is the master os suspense and this film def proves that. I loved the acting and cinamatography the best in this film. I love the scene where Anthony Perkin's character gives Janet Leighs character som... (read full)

4/4  We all go a little mad sometimes!!
I am a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock. I have seen all of his movies, and think all of them are excellent. This one, however, is at the top of the food chain. Psycho is brilliant. Hitchcock gave this film excellent direction, and the acting w... (read full)

4/4  Welcome to the Bates Motel
When it comes to classic horror/thrillers, "Psycho" is second-to-none. Based off of events that have been speculated as true, this film chronicles some of the earliest attempts at what makes scary actually happen in film. Alfred Hitchcoc... (read full)

3.5/4  The original "Psycho"
I have always enjoyed this dark, moody film. What impressed me the first time I watched it was how disposable many of the major characters are, the great change in the plot that occurs with the death of Janet Leigh, and the fabulous twist... (read full)

4/4  Magic. Pure Magic
Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpeice is considered to be one of the building blocks of horror films, and is said to be the film that started the slasher genre. Most of this is rightfully said, as this film is truely a msterpeice, and n... (read full)

4/4  Psycho
one of the best horror films ive ever seen.


On a Friday afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona, Marion Crane and her lover, Sam Loomis, are having a romantic rendezvous at a hotel when Marion complains that she is tired of meeting Sam under su... (read full)

4/4  Psycho Quick Review
Creepy and very scary, watch and try not to be a little weary next time you're in the shower. Many label in the start of modern horror although that praise should be given to Night of the Hunter.

2/4  Psycho Quick Review
Some blame this film for the death of film noir. While I loved Hitchcock, I have never understood what was so great or scary about it. I will pass.

3.5/4  Psycho Quick Review
Slightly overrated in my book. But still very good. A must see for everyone, especcially as an introductory to the genius of Hitchcock.

3.5/4  Psycho Quick Review
There's a reason Hitchcock is still known as the Master of Suspense - Psycho will creep you out, no matter that it's over 40 years old. The shower scene alone deserves a place in film history.

3/4  Psycho Quick Review
Not my favorite Hitchcock film, but still a good movie. I think this film is a little over hyped but the Norman Bates character is one of the most memorable characters ever.

3.5/4  Psycho Quick Review
I have really only seen this once, and I was not a fan of Hitchcock, but now I am. I was surprised the first time and disappointed. Now I know what's coming, and I am sure I will love it!

5/5 The "Mother" of All Horror Films
  by Kevin Beuret (Howe, Indiana United States)
I was 15 years old in the summer of 1960 when a buddy and I went to see "Psycho" at the Colfax Theater in South Bend, Indiana. The Colfax was torn down years ago, but I have wondered since then how many of the post-"Psycho" seats in that majestic old house were still damp when the wrecking ball brought it down.

No, "Psycho" didn't make me wet my pants, but it scared the hell out of me. I had never seen anything like it, and compared with its expert heightening of tension and its masterful "conning" of the audience, the supposedly scary pictures from the Fifties--"It Came From Beneath the Sea," "Them!", and pictures like it--were shown up for the shallow and tawdry efforts they really were.

Contemporary efforts at pictures like this one are mere feasts of cruelty, and present the uneasy spectacle of pointless and explicit human suffering offered as entertainment. Hitchcock, a subtle and intelligent director, achieved the Greek ideal of exciting horror and pity in his audiences. In that sense, I don't think there has ever been a film as successful as "Psycho," and I doubt if there ever will be.

4/5 A Shocking Horror Story
  by Acute Observer (North Jersey Shore)
The film begins in stark black and white, the frantic music is a clue to the story. In Phoenix Arizona Marion Crane has a long lunch hour with her boyfriend Sam. Sam has an ex-wife and financial problems. You can see a man standing in the street when Marion returns to her job in an office. Can drugs or money buy happiness? Customer Tom tells about himself. Marion must deposit $40,000 into the bank. [That would be over ten years' wages for Marion.] Will she go for a vacation? People could sleep in their cars then. Who is watching Marion? [Note the product placement in automobile brands.] A voice-over carries the story forward. After a long tiring drive she stops at a small motel. [Is the rain symbolic?]

Is motel manager Norman Bates a nice young man? What about his mother? "She isn't quite herself today." Norman's hobby is taxidermy, the preservation of the dead (like a mummy). "She's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds." Does this talk pad out the film or lull the viewer before an action scene? Marion takes a shower to wash away her caress. But someone else is there! The attack is done with taste. [That eye is not dilated.] Now Norman has another mess to clean up and dispose of the leftovers.

Marion's sister Lila visits Sam to inquire about her. So does a private investigator to locate the missing money. Arbogast visits hotels to search for a backtrail. One of these places is the Bates Motel. Arbogast recognizes Marion's signature, and then Norman remembers the details. Arbogast decides to go back and question Norman's mother. What a surprise! Then Sam returns to search for Arbogast. Sam and Lila visit Sheriff Chambers, who tells them about the history of Mrs. Bates. Who else was in the house?

Sam and Lila return to investigate the Bates. Did Arbogast leave after learning something? Lila slips out to see Mrs, Bates. Her elaborately decorated bedroom is empty. Norman guesses their scheme and returns to the big house. The good guys win in the end. A psychiatrist provides details to explain this story. Were there other missing persons? Does the ending now seem to be unintentionally funny?

This is a low-budget film with few actors. The story made this successful in the late 1950s. Note how Marion wears white underwear before the theft but black underwear afterwards. She was punished for her sins like in a morality play. The novel by Robert Bloch was inspired by a true crime in 1956 Wisconsin. The new highway damaged business for the Bates Motel, a reflection of the declining small businesses of the 1950s. The few outdoor scenes show southern California without traffic or smog.


4/5 psycho
  by Judith Sodowsky (Elizabethtown, KY USA)
very good for this era, good to watch on holloween if you like a movie without cursing and a lot of blood.

5/5 ALL WAYS A FANTASTIC CLASSIC, WILL NEVER DIE!
  by J. Cardona (S.W. Florida USA)
GREAT MOVIE AND ALL WAYS GREAT TO SEE AGAIN AND AGAIN. GREAT SELLER, SUPERFAST SHIPPING. ALL AS DISCRIBED BEST PRICES ANYWHERE IS AMAZON.COM. I ONLY BUY FROM AMAZON.COM THEY ARE THE BEST STORE EVER!!! THANKS

5/5 1960 Hitchcock
  by Dr. Feelgood (USA)
One of Hitchcock's best films, carefully constructed, visually, and thematically. Before the slasher films were popular, which this film influenced, the psychological suspense film, done only the way Hitchcock could, was a more effective approach to the subject matter. Most of the associations of the events, takes place in the mind of the viewer, rather than on the screen. Leaving much left to the imagination, rather than having the events crammed down our throats, the way they appear in today's slasher films.