Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock’s unsparing wrong-motel shocker starring Janet Leigh is a watershed for mainstream horror and still seminal in its suspense games.

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

1960 USA
Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by
Alfred Hitchcock
Written by
Joseph Stefano
Featuring
Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Running time
108 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Psycho

Critics

Ali Arikan
Turkey
Anahit Behrooz
UK
John Berra
UK
Ed Buscombe
UK
Ava Cahen
France
Anchalee Chaiworaporn
Thailand
David Cox
UK
Catharine Des Forges
UK
Ernesto Diezmartínez
Mexico
Wheeler Winston Dixon
USA
Radmila Djurica
Serbia
Nenad Dukić
Serbia
Shmulik Duvdevani
Israel
Glenn Erickson
USA
David Garlick
UK
David Gregory
USA
Annika Haupts
Germany
Barrett Hodsdon
Australia
Isabel Ivars
Spain/Germany
Alan Jones
UK
Namrata Joshi
India
Laura Kern
USA
Hans Langsteiner
Austria
Andy Lea
UK
Nathan Lee
USA
Victoria Luxford
UK
Scott MacDonald
USA
Mathieu Macheret
France
Mike Maggiore
USA
Vincent Malausa
France
Ian Mantgani
Ireland/UK
Matt Maytum
UK
Josué Morel
France
Nasreen Munni Kabir
UK
Bill Nichols
USA
Darcy Paquet
USA
David Parkinson
UK
Cristiana Paternò
Italy
David Pirie
UK
Dana Polan
USA
Ben Roberts
UK
Tim Robey
UK
Brian Robinson
UK
Martin Rubin
USA
Rox Samer
USA
Pablo O. Scholz
Argentina
John Semley
Canada
Jai Arjun Singh
India
Katie Smith-Wong
UK
Gavin Smith
USA
Ben Stoddart
UK
Can Sungu
Turkey/Germany
Oleksandr Teliuk
Ukraine
Suncica Unevska
North Macedonia
Jonathan Walley
USA
K. F. Watanabe
USA
Madeline Whittle
USA
Mike Williams
UK
Slavoj Žižek
Slovenia

Directors

Giuseppe Pupi Avati
Italy
Abel Ferrara
USA
Lee Haven Jones
UK
Ahmed Jamal
UK
Bong Joon-ho
John Landis
USA
Nikhil Mahajan
India
Philippe Mora
Australia
John Paizs
Canada
Alex Ross Perry
USA
Seungwan Ryoo
South Korea
Ti West
USA
Edgar Wright
UK

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