Psycho review

So yesterday I went to a screening at my local drama centre, it was a horror film and as my upcoming project for college is a horror opening I decided to go and see what it was. The film they showed was Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho. The film is more of a thriller than a horror as there are not as many scares in the film.

The story starts in Phoenix, Arizona where a girl named Marion talks to her boyfriend about leaving to pursue a better life. She goes to work later that day and a man about to buy the building she works for gives her $40,000 to put in the bank. she pretends she is ill and steals the money. She is then caught being suspicious by many people like the police and the car salesman. She stops at a place called 'Bates Motel' where she gets a room after they have a talk about Norman Bates's mother problem. She starts having a shower until she is murdered by 'Mrs Bates'. A week later a P.I turns up due to her suspicious disappearance, he later gets murdered and that leads Marion's sister and boyfriend to go to the motel and try to see what is wrong. Marion's sister founds Mrs Bates's corpse, Norman tries to kill her and then is stopped and after that, he is sent to prison. The story ends with the police finding the car with Marion's body and the $40,000 inside.

That's the story out the way, now for the cast. The cast had stars such as Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Janet Leigh as Marion, Vera Miles as Marion's sister Lila, John Gavin as Marion's boyfriend Sam and Paul Jasmin as the voice of Mrs Bates.

Some of the camerawork had a lot of impressive shots such as the freaky close-up shots and they also had a clever use of lighting which made it more effective in black and white than it would be in colour.

Overall Psycho is a film that is a classic example of a thriller. It has impressive shots and angles and a great use of lighting. However, the film has aged a little due to it being released 57 years ago so not all the scares are as terrifying as they were back then. However, the ending is freaky with Norman in his cell with the voice of his mother in the back round.

I would give Psucho a 9/10- Impressive camerawork and lighting, not all the scenes have a big impact on the audience anymore.