Psycho *SPOILER ALERT*

Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock.

Feat. Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Vera Miles (Lila Crane)

Universal Pictures, 1960.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho was an intense thriller to say the least. The movie was based off of one main theme: psychological inadequacies/differences. I can honestly say, my initial projection regarding the ending of the movie changed in less than a millisecond. Every character who was apart of the movie had some sort of “psychoness” in them.

Marion Crane ran into a situation with her boyfriend Sam. Sam said that they could not be together in the open because, he did not have a lot of money since he was still paying his former wife alimony. At the time Marion was working for a very wealthy real estate agent: Mr. Tom Cassidy. Marion’s job was to take $40,000 and put it in the bank for Cassidy. She did all but this. Marion thought it would be a good idea to take the money for her and her boyfriend, so she ran off with it. What ensued after was unexpected to say the least. From being stopped by the police for sleeping alongside the highway, to changing cars in a suspicious manner, and finally winding up at the Bates Motel, she ran into some sticky situations. The whole time I thought to myself: this girl is weird.

The Bates Motel was owned by a clean cut, groomed man named Norman Bates. At first Bates seemed normal, but in the end, he wasn’t. He had a crush on Marion to say the least; he flirted with her and brought her dinner. He became sexually attracted to her, but he told her that he couldn’t love her because of her mother. One night, as Marion bathed in the shower, someone broke into the bathroom and stabbed her to death. Norman went to check up on her later and was shocked when he saw her laying there in a pool of blood. He who killed her: his mother. Norman wanted to protect his mother though; he disposed all evidence, put Marion in her car, and dumped her in a nearby swamp.

Marion’s sister Lila became worried when she hadn’t heard from her in a few days, so she hired Detective Milton Arbogast to find her whereabouts. Arbogast found out she had stayed at the Bates Motel so he went there and interviewed Norman. At first Norman seemed normal, then when Arbogast kept asking questions, Norman started contradicting himself. For example, Norman initially stated that he never saw Marion, but he later admitted to seeing her. While listening to Norman’s bland answers Arbogast found out that Norman’s mother lived there. When he asked Norman if he could speak to her, Norman declined his request. Bates went against Norman’s word. He went up to where Mrs. Bates was living and proceeded to question her. Just as he got to Mrs. Bates room, a figure came steaming out with a knife, and stabbed him one time at the top of the stairs, and one time at the bottom after he tumbled down.

When Arbogast didn’t return, Lila became worried again. Her and Marion’s boyfriend Sam set then set out to find Arbogast and Marion. They found out about the Bates motel, so they went there to look. When they got there Norman was very skirmish. Skirmish to the point where he didn’t even ask them to pay for the room. They immediately knew something wasn’t right. When Sam was alone with Norman, Lila inched her way into Mrs. Bates living space. Norman came to a consensus that Lila was going see his mother, so he knocked Sam out and ran towards the house. Lila ran down into a fruit cellar when she Norman opening the front door. She saw what she thought was Mrs. Bates sitting upright in a chair, staring at the wall. It was not Mrs. Bates, it was a skeleton dressed up like Mrs. Bates. Someone ran into the fruit cellar, dressed like a woman, chasing after Marion with a knife, but was tackled by Sam. This person was… Norman Bates.

This movie was tremendous. I would be certain to recommend this to anyone who enjoys a classic thriller. The ending to me was 100% totally unexpected. First of all I never thought that the initial character (Marion) wouldn’t be the total psycho. In a way she was. She did have multiple personalities where she would be a quiet hardworking woman one minute, and a thief the next minute. But, the real psycho was Norman Bates. Norman had his own personality as a quiet guy, and as a psychotic killer who was his mother. It all dated back to when two girls were killed and it was said that Mrs. Bates did it, but she was dead. So who killed those girls? The same person who killed Marion, and Arbogast: Norman. Norman acted as his mother to make himself seem normal, but in all honesty he was a demon of some sort.