Rating: Summary: Psycho ROCKS!!!!! Review: Hello fello...uh...people. I would like to tell you that this movie is well worth seeing. It's full to the brim with plot twists. Even the most skeptic of people (like my friend...we won't mention names) can't usually figure out at least the... well I won't give it away. I love how they can show murders taking place without having to show the knife actually piercing the flesh. This is not a slasher movie. There isn't that much blood spray either, but there is enough to give this movie what we like to call "Stabbitty Goodness". (for whoever looks at these reviews and puts them online this IS NOT the person who wrote the annoying review about bagel bites and spam, just a friend of hers.) The beginning is a little boring, but it's bearable. I really don't want to give anything away because the whole fun of this movie is the sense of utter confusion and of course the belief that you actually know what's going on only to find out you were terribly wrong. The only annoying thing about this movie is one scene where a man gets slashed across the face with a knife and falls down the stairs. That scene is pretty cheap, but this is an old movie so you can't really blame it. All in all this movie is AWESOME! (with a pletiful helping of "Stabbitty Goodness")
Rating: Summary: Stabbitty Goodness and Bagel Bites Review: I enjoyed this movie. It had much stabbitty goodness... and stabbitty goodness is great... just like bagel bites, which I like, just like this movie, which is like bagel bites... mmmm... spam. The end. Of the world will soon come... or not. Just look for these signs: When you hear high, screeching violin music that means there shall soon be some stabbitty goodness. Stabbitty Goodness: when somebody is stabbed and continually stabbed even when their bloody corpse falls to the ground... this relates to the movie... which I love... mmmm... spam. Now I know that this isn't gonna get posted, if it does, I'll laugh and laugh, and laugh some more till my head falls off, and somehow it continues to laugh. Which is like the movie, which I love.
Rating: Summary: This Movie Started Slasher Flicks! Review: This movie started it all! My favorite suspense thriller! If your in to horror and you haven't seen this then get it!Story: Fugitive woman is on the run from the law, she stops in at the BATES HOTEL only to find that the man who runs it is psychopath! This also cotains the famous shower scene that you have too see!
Rating: Summary: Checking in or checking out? Review: Even after more than 40 years, and even after having seen it so many times, I am still caught up in the tension which director Hitchcock develops so carefully. I am still shocked by the famous (infamous?) shower scene and by later moments in the Bates residence. It is thus a tribute to Hitchcock, his cast, and crew that this breakthrough retains its shock value after so many years. Hitchcock requires his audience to be especially alert to seemingly insignificant details as well as to playful insertions. More often than not, we are thus aware of what his leading characters miss. The first time around, I spotted him wearing (all things) a cowboy hat but only after several viewings did I spot Ted Knight in a small role as a prison guard. Her adulterous relationship with Sam Loomis (John Gavin) notwithstanding, Janet Leigh (as Marion Crane) was never more attractive than in she is this film. Frankly, I am still trying to wipe from my memory Perkins' portrayal of Jim Pearsall in Fear Strikes Out. It is almost as painful to watch as William Bendix' portrayal of Babe Ruth. In this film, Perkins is brilliant as Norman Bates. Even as I saw this film again, I wanted to warn Norman's victims before it is too late. Marion, of course, but also Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam). Don't be fooled! He really isn't the nice young man he seems to be! And for God's sake, don't go near the house! Perhaps only Hitchcock could engage and then sustain such emotions, and do so at such a high level of anxiety. That is not the case, at least for me, with The Birds. Oh sure, a few moments which still have some bite (no pun intended) but without the seamless continuity to be found in Psycho. Many think this is a great film, period. I think it is among the greatest of horror films. It redefined the rules for that genre. When first released, it defied so many conventions concerning adultery, nudity, and physical violence. What it suggests is even more frightening than what it portrays visually. Spielberg must have studied this film with great care. With all due respect to several moments in Jaws when, during my first viewing, I literally came up out of my seat in terror, it is the sense of infrequently seen but ever-present danger which captures our attention from the first underwater shot at night (I can still hear the cellos) until almost the very end of the film. I have seen most of the horror films which preceded this one. With only minor deviations, they tend to follow a formula. Even at an early age, I realized that violent thunderstorms with lightning illuminating a castle against the late-night sky, especially with a sound track featuring violin music, indicate that SOMETHING REALLY BAD is about to happen. The moment I became fond of a minor character, I knew that character was doomed. These films were almost completely predictable. The only question is "When?" Not so with Psycho, at least when viewed for the first time. And as I indicated earlier, Hitchcock still gets me emotionally involved even if by now I almost know the screenplay by heart. How does he accomplish that? I have yet to come up with answer that satisfies me. Meanwhile, I will continue to appreciate his art and especially films of his such as this. Thanks to the DVD format, both image and sound are much clearer. I also appreciate having supplementary materials such as the documentary "The making of Psycho" featuring new interviews with Janet Leigh, Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hichtcock O'Connell, writer Joseph Stefano and Hilton A. Green; one censored scene; newsreel footage; and the shower scene both with and without music. Excellent stuff!
Rating: Summary: Psycho rules! Review: The DVD is packed with extras, Sound is updated, Movie is awesome, and the only thing it is missing is the popcorn and soda. Alfred Hitchcock, using only a few sound stages and less than 100,000 dollars, made one of the best movies ever. With a twist of the plot in the first half hour, and a creepy ending, This movie rules! Buy The collectors edition of "Psycho" and treasure it. Based on a true story
Rating: Summary: Psycho (1960) Review: Wow. This is the best made horror film I've ever seen. It's really entertaining and it doesn't rely on blood and gore effects to keep us satisfied (which wouldn't satisfy me anyway). This relies on characters, storyline and a mystery that, if we lived back in 1960 and were seeing this for the first time, we wouldn't have a clue about. Anthony Perkins was meant for the part of Norman Bates. I fell in love with Janet Leigh and Vera Miles in their roles! Hitchock's direction is so different and interesting, it made the movie even more scary. When the detective is killed, mother coming around the corner and stabbing him was a shot filled with ingenuity. I'd give this a hundred stars if I could! Magnificent!
Rating: Summary: Psycho Review: Psycho. There is very little left to say about it. This was the film that set a standard for Hollywood violence that continues to resonate to this day. Back in 1960, no one was prepared for Psycho; and Alfred Hitchcock new it. On the surface, Psycho comes across as a simple exploitation film, with its low-budget, cheap production values -- all shot in black and white. And yet, there is nothing in the films setup that even remotely hints at the horror that is to come; indeed, at first, Psycho appears to be pure Hitchcock: an ordinary person stumbles into a criminal situation, with good intentions. In fact, it's so well set-up, first time viewers will expect to see this plot thread taken to its natural conclusion. Wrong. This ordinary person, played by Janet Leigh, is soon confronted by an unfathomable horror. That horror coming in the form of a disturbed kid. That disturbed kid is Norman Bates. And no one saw it coming. When we first see Norman Bates -- we like him. And that is truly scary. Indeed, Hitchcock's masterful powers of manipulation are perhaps at their strongest in Psycho: even after Norman Bates reveals himself to be a, well, psycho, Hitchcock manages to manipulate us into sympathizing with this killer. Pure genius. As it stands, Psycho is one of the finest horror films ever made. It never substitutes brains for blood, art for money. It is a brilliant film, pure and simple.
Rating: Summary: Hitchcock's masterpiece gets masterful treatment on DVD Review: There has been plenty written about PYSCHO; we all know it deserves it's placement on the pedestal of filmaking-as-art form. Instead of writing more about the film itself, allow me to rave about the excellence of this DVD. First, you get a beautiful widescreen presentation of the movie (which I had never seen until I got this DVD). The picture is sharp and clear and the sound does justice to those Bernard Herrmann conducted strings. Then there are the extras and what an extras feast! There is a 90 minutes documentary on the making of the film with interviews with Pat Hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Joseph Stefano and others who were there when the film was made.There is an original theatrical trailer which is has Hitch himself selling his film. There is the famous shower scene with the music and without the music which was interesting to compare. There is an extended newsreel footage showing the opening and promotion of the film with scenes of people lining up to see the movie. And there are lots of publicity photos and behind the scence photos. The booklet included contains an essay written by Pat Hitchcock about her father and her experience making this movie. This DVD is a MUST HAVE for any fan of Hitchcock.
Rating: Summary: A Classic ! Review: Excellent ! One of the greatest classic horror movies ever made. Anthony Perkins portrayl of the young, lonely, mentally unstable Norman Bates is sheer genius .
Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece and a Work of Art Review: If you are interested in filmmaking or just want to see one of the best horror/thriller films ever made, rent the original "Psycho." This film is beautifully crafted from one of the most respected directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock.
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