Psycho By: Henry Seyue

          Psycho is a film that many people in 2017 may not even give the time of day because in our age of advanced imagery and graphic affects the thought of  a black-and-white film being entertaining seems a bit ludicrous. Of course when you're comparing across generational lines Citizen Kane wouldn't be as impressive as Forest Gump, but when you think about a films effect specifically within its generation you will see that some just stand outㅡPsycho is one of those films. As far as slashers go, viewers must take into consideration that this is a film that is a product of its time, that is to say that the gore and horror depicted in the film is in accordance with what was acceptable at the time. However, that does little to take away from the film's effect in the horror category as the film reaches it's conclusion.
          I'm not looking to laud Psycho any more than the film industry has already done because there are some flaws that I think must be acknowledged before I give Hitchcock any credit. For starters, the film includes some characters who I don't think add much to the film. By that I am mainly referring to a creepy police officer that appears in the beginning of the film to stalk our supposed main character inconclusively. The creepy stalking that Hitchcock devotes about 15 minutes of run time towards never comes back around to mean anything in the film. I figured the police officer might be of some relevance later in the film but this conjecture never comes to pass. This is something that slightly bothered me but the average viewer may not even pay much attention to it. Actually, it's something that some viewers might even want to give Hitchcock credit for because he adds the prospect of a police officer being our "psycho", however the way it is orchestrated isn't very entertaining. Secondly, the first 30+ minutes of the film is presented with the most inappropriately sinister, non-diegetic sound. A horror film isn't complete without a signature non-diegetic sound to alert the audience when a murder is about occur, or to put viewers on their toes during certain scenes. In this case that sound is inappropriately used when the supposed main character is doing simple things like driving or even having a normal conversation. It gets annoying pretty quickly when you are expecting something to go wrong in every scene and nothing happens. Besides this inappropriate use of horror movie music, my biggest beef with the film is the killing of a character that is in literally every scene for about the first 40 minutes of the film. I don't see why so much time is devoted to creating a connection between a character and the viewers just to kill them off. I will however admit that this leads to an interesting turn of events because you are then left wondering who the film will follow next. Essentially it becomes a film without a main character which is a risky move on Hitchcock's part.
          Aside from these minor complaints, Psycho is actually a pretty satisfying film. It has a low body count when compared to slasher successors like John Carpenter's Halloween, but there are no unnecessary deaths like the Halloween franchise. This is a film that I think may have not only influenced the creation of Halloween, but also 2017's split. Norman Bates dual personality disorder certainly had to have some influence on the mind of M. Night Shyamalan when he decided to create a character with 23 different personalities. While on the topic of influences it would be wrong to not acknowledge that Psycho clearly gave birth to the Netflix Original Bates Motel. Psycho is one of those films that transcends generational confines through it's influences in later generations, something that not many films can do. The film's ending might just be the best part. To find out that our seemingly innocent motel owner was playing both the role of a victim and a killer is a plot twist worthy of a standing ovation, due primarily to the convincing performance put on by Anthony Perkins. This ending is so unexpected that more than 60 years later I can still see why Hitchcock went to such great measures to ensure that the ending would not be spoiled. If I could rate this film off of influence alone I would probably have to give it a 9/10, but because there is so much more to a good film than just influence I'm going to give it a 7/10. That's in comparison to even the technologically advanced horror films that come years after psycho, which says a lot about the timelessness of a good film.