Psycho Review
Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time (I know, super original), even as a young man so far removed from his cinematic prime. I mean, I was born twenty-seven years after he died, for goodness sake! But I digress. Psycho is far and away Hitchcock's most popular and mainstream film, but is it his best? That's the question I, Brighton Nelson of The Reel Ranker, will be tackling in today's article.
Psycho is known as a groundbreaking film that catapulted the slasher genre into the mainstream. It is applauded for its slick direction, impressive atmosphere, outstanding camerawork, haunting score, and iconic acting. It spawned many highly questionable sequels, and it is considered a turning point for the acceptability of violence, sexuality, and deviant behavior in films. It allowed societal taboos to start dissipating and allowed for more variety in the art of cinema. From the world's standpoint, this film is exceptional, and famously so.
Regardless of popular belief, this is my review, not an unbiased, objective perspective, not a regurgitation of the opinion of the masses. This may ruffle feathers, but I've always found Psycho to be one of Hitchcock's most generic and forgettable films. If it weren't for the constant media attention, I'd probably have forgotten about this movie by now, and I wouldn't have cared enough to rewatch it for this review. As a Hitchcock enthusiast, I never even put Psycho on when he has made so many much more intriguing and suspenseful films.
Sure, on a cinematographical level, this is an incredibly directed film. To be fair, Hitchcock based it on a book, so the plot, which is the more disappointing aspect of this film for me, is not an issue with the film itself but its source material.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 78%
Letter Score: B+
Star Ranking: 4 out of 5
While the plot reveals at the end were sensational, and the shower scene is iconic, if I want to watch a Hitchcock film, I will throw on Vertigo, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, The Birds, North By Northwest, or even Family Plot over this film. I mean, honestly, this is low-tier Hitchcock in my eyes, and the camerawork was fantastic. Now that I have posted this review, I highly doubt I'll ever be watching this film again unless somebody coerces me into doing so. Yet, regardless, low-tier Hitchcock is still high-tier cinema, it was just disappointing in comparison to his other films for me.
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