Psycho
Psycho was a great film that always kept you guessing who the true psycho is. From the beginning, I thought the main character was the psycho. She stole $40,000, which was worth a lot more in the 1960’s then it is now. The entire plot of the story is a never ending shift in belief of the murderer. Starting from the beginning we saw a police officer following the main character literally wherever she went after he found her in the car on the side of the street. The officer followed her to the dealership where she bought a new car in $700 in cash, which was surprising to the dealer along with the fact that she didn’t even want a test drive. From here, the officer is watching her intently. I immediately thought that the cop was the psycho foreshadowed to in the name of the film. She then disappears from the dealership and makes her way onto the road. As she was on the road, it started to downpour. We then find the “Bates Motel”, a remote motel owned by a man and his mother.
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Norman Bates, the owner, seemed off from the first time we meet him. He was a little to friendly. He invited the main character to dinner in the parlor where Norman made her a sandwich. She then sees stuffed owls everywhere and says she has to go to sleep. She then takes a shower and when she is taking a shower, Mrs. Bates kills her. Then starts the search. A private investigator showed up
and questioned Norman bates and said he would be back. When he came back, Mrs. Bates killed him too. We then find the sister of the main character and her lover searching for her sister. They question the neighbors and they find out that Mrs. Bates has been dead for 10 years. They then go to the motel and check the room where her sister stayed. They find nothing, so the sister checks the main house. Soon after she leaves to go there, Norman bates can been seen running up the hill. The sister goes to the basement and finds mrs. Bates, who is to our surprise, dead. Norman bates is then found to be manipulating his mother and is arrested. The sister then is verified that her sister was killed. Closing the movie, we see Norman with voices of his mother in his head and him with a smirk on his face. The film itself was very well done. The film contains such an elaborate plot and the filming is so well done for its time, so no shock it lands a spot in the top 100. I could write about the plot for hours, but that wouldn’t be very interesting
Along with well done filming, the props and the lighting are so well thought out and executed. The lighting on the board for the Bates Motel was flashing in and out, giving it a sketchy vibe. The amount of work that went into this film is extremely impressive. Because it was in black and white, they were able to use chocolate syrup for blood because of its consistency. For the stabbing sounds, they stabbed a watermelon and put the sound over the top of the the acting. This was so well thought out and extremely interesting. I liked the addition of the basement and the poor lighting creating a feeling of tension. The spotlight on the mothers skeleton really sold the shot for me.
Overall, this is one of the best films I have ever seen. The plot, the filming, everything was so well thought out and executed. No wonder this film landed a top 100 spot.