DirkH’s review published on Letterboxd:
After being tormented by two recent awful modern horror productions ( Turd no.1 and Turd no.2) I felt the urge to go back to horror's humble beginnings and more often than not I end up with Hitchock's timeless masterpiece.
One of the most disgusting serial killers that ever lived was Edward Gein. Robert Bloch wrote the novel 'Psycho' and based his Norman Bates on Gein, focusing not so much on his murders but more on his bizarre relationship with his mother. This novel was subsequently turned into a screenplay and handed to Hitchcock who proceeded to turn it into one of the most influential and iconic horror films ever made.
I read the novel not so long ago and my appreciation of the film increased tenfold. It is rather pulpy, interesting but rather forgettable. What Hitchcock does with the material is absolutely amazing. It is a technical masterpiece of storytelling, mood setting and suspense. Hitchcock manages to instill a constant sense of unease and threat from frame one and doesn't let go. It is the type of film I wish I could forget so I can keep seeing it for the first time. Having said that, there are so many subtle tugs and tweaks in the visual narrative, it is always a marvel to behold.
This film has been analyzed to death and even though there are clear recurring motifs (Hitchcock's birds, the mirrors), I feel that, as is often the case with classics, the essence is often lost because of misplaced over-analysis. I remember seeing a documentary a couple of years ago (the title eludes me) in which it was suggested that the three storey Bates motel represented the human psyche. It's over-thinking like that that completely misses the point in my eyes.
It is still amazing to me that, considering the time it was made in, this film is so unflinching in its treatment of its deranged subject matter, the only compromise being the black and white to soften the gore a tad. It remains to this day a masterclass in filmmaking and is still lightyears ahead of turds like the two mentioned above that seem to pass for horror these days.