When Marion Crane steals some money from her workplace and takes flight for California, she little realises the consequences of checking into the Bates Motel... One of Hitchcock’s greatest achievements, Psycho combines suspense, Gothic horror, dark humour and rich ironies to dazzling effect. Leigh and Perkins turn in pitch-perfect performances, while Bernard Herrmann’s score is memorably eloquent and atmospheric.
“A Hollywood movie that breaks rules from the first scene but exists entirely to entertain. Give the audience what they don’t know they want.” Ben Roberts
“The film that set me on the path to reading about cinema, thinking about it in ways I had never done before.” Jai arjun Singh
“One of Hitchcock’s most intriguing films, Psycho is a double portrait of a young woman on the run and a disturbed young man whose sexual impulses turn into murderous ones. The shower scene immediately comes to mind: the editing, the knife, the music, the lifeless eye of the heroine, the blood mixing with the water. It’s a truly terrifying sequence, even today.” Ava Cahen
