Horror of the Decade: Psycho (1960)

Showings

Screening Lounge Wed, Oct 6, 2021 7:30 PM
Theater 3 Sat, Oct 9, 2021 9:00 PM

Description

October 6 & 9


Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Screenplay: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin


Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.


1hr 49mins / R


Hitchcock deliberately wanted "Psycho" to look like a cheap exploitation film. He shot it not with his usual expensive feature crew (which had just finished "North by Northwest") but with the crew he used for his television show. He filmed in black and white. Long passages contained no dialogue. His budget, $800,000, was cheap even by 1960 standards; the Bates Motel and mansion were built on the back lot at Universal. In its visceral feel, "Psycho" has more in common with noir quickies like "Detour" than with elegant Hitchcock thrillers like "Rear Window" or "Vertigo." - RogerEbert.com