Psycho (1960)
Country: US
Technical: bw 109m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam
Synopsis:
An estate agent's secretary steals $40,000 to be free to marry her boyfriend, changes her mind, but is murdered at a motel before she can take it back.
Review:
Archetypal Hitchcockian manipulation of audience expectations marks this out as one of the first 'modern' American films, one where plot and character are less important than the personality and preoccupations of the director. Carefully marketed and cheaply made, it was hugely successful and gave rise to countless imitations and ultimately a remake by Gus Van Sant in 1998. It still plays well because it is for the most part subtly made, combining direction, music, photography and performance to chilling effect. Dialogue is literately tailored to yield secondary meanings on repeated viewings, but one is also gradually aware that only the first half is really any good as drama, or horror.
Country: US
Technical: bw 109m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam
Synopsis:
An estate agent's secretary steals $40,000 to be free to marry her boyfriend, changes her mind, but is murdered at a motel before she can take it back.
Review:
Archetypal Hitchcockian manipulation of audience expectations marks this out as one of the first 'modern' American films, one where plot and character are less important than the personality and preoccupations of the director. Carefully marketed and cheaply made, it was hugely successful and gave rise to countless imitations and ultimately a remake by Gus Van Sant in 1998. It still plays well because it is for the most part subtly made, combining direction, music, photography and performance to chilling effect. Dialogue is literately tailored to yield secondary meanings on repeated viewings, but one is also gradually aware that only the first half is really any good as drama, or horror.
Country: US
Technical: bw 109m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam
Synopsis:
An estate agent's secretary steals $40,000 to be free to marry her boyfriend, changes her mind, but is murdered at a motel before she can take it back.
Review:
Archetypal Hitchcockian manipulation of audience expectations marks this out as one of the first 'modern' American films, one where plot and character are less important than the personality and preoccupations of the director. Carefully marketed and cheaply made, it was hugely successful and gave rise to countless imitations and ultimately a remake by Gus Van Sant in 1998. It still plays well because it is for the most part subtly made, combining direction, music, photography and performance to chilling effect. Dialogue is literately tailored to yield secondary meanings on repeated viewings, but one is also gradually aware that only the first half is really any good as drama, or horror.