My Collection movie #1: Psycho

So first movie up is number 153 on my list, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Wow what a way to start this journey, with one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. This movie has always been one close to my heart. I love the horror genre and specifically I love slashers. My all time favorite is John Carpenter's classic Halloween, and I was probably 14 or so and I was nerding out and found out that Psycho was one of the biggest influences on Carpenter when he was making Halloween. So I worked backwards and bought Psycho and watched it, and I must say it is like the Mona Lisa of Slashers.

It is so artistically done, the cinematography is fantastic (such is Hitchcock), the music is iconic and so effective. The story is before its time, America was about to see an explosion of real Serial Killers that would fascinate  and horrify the nation. One of the biggest things that really frightened people is that these serial killers looked like the man next door. They were not disfigured, and socially awkward creatures, they were socially and physically chameleons. That is what Norman Bates was, and that is why I think the movie was so frightening to people, this was before Manson, Bundy, Gacy, and Dalmer, this was a more innocent age of America and this movie absolutely terrified them.

So masterfully crafted by Hitchcock, from the shower scene to the final scene where "Mother" stares into the viewers soul, this is just a mystery that as it gets revealed strikes at the safety of everyone.

One thing that always strikes me is the first quarter of the movie, we see Marion Crane (played by the lovely Janet Leigh) really challenging society. She is the apparent protagonist, but we start by seeing her sleeping with a man who is not her husband, remember this came out in 1960 so the country has not yet been hit with the sexual revolution or the hippies. This is still a country very much "Leave it to Beaver", a nation still in the Dwight Eisenhower mindset, and here we have the protagonist challenging cultural standards.  Then we get to the inciting incident, the thing that starts the whole movie, Marion is asked to deposit a very large sum of money, namely $40,000 (Modern Day value is $288,994.50), in her bosses account. She then after going home decides to take the money and run. So now we have the protagonist also committing Grand Larceny.
So this movie was on the edge in 1960, and this movie really kicked off the slasher sub-genre of Horror movies.

Overall this movie I would give 9 out of 10. This movie is nearly perfect, and is as good to watch today as it was in 1960.

Quote that I love from this movie 

" It's sad, when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son. But I couldn't allow them to believe that I would commit murder. They'll put him away now, as I should have years ago. He was always bad, and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man... as if I could do anything but just sit and stare, like one of his stuffed birds. They know I can't move a finger, and I won't. I'll just sit here and be quiet, just in case they do... suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching... they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, "Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly..."