Psycho (absent)

Psycho was better than I expected and better than the Maltese Falcon, in my opinion. I do not wholly attribute this to 19 years later production capabilities either, because it is clear that film production of the 1940's and 1960's both lag behind modern standards. This being said, Psycho, carried by Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, employs a plethora of tactics to make this horror movie all-the-more compelling. I was not that moved by the famous shower scene, but I did really enjoy the three scenes listed and described below.

The scene where Arbogast gets murdered (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bieIiX5KLQ) is one of my favorite scenes. I rewatched it on youtube to once again feel the suspense and see if it had the same shock-value as the first time I watched it. I was once again impressed, for this scene's value was derived entirely without gore. First, the distance visual of the creepy house, which even though the movie is in black-and-white, has a particularly gray and eerie backdrop. The whole scene is mostly Arbogast just walking around, but the foreboding music mixed with his curious, yet weary, demeanor has a haunting effect. It all culminates with the music coming to a still (a high and softly sustained strings note) and we are held on edge as we see only the bottom of a door opening. Then the murderer walks very deliberately out of the door and kills Arbogast. The best part of the whole scene is when Arbogast falls down the stairs after the first blow, and the viewer seems to fall with him for the camera falls exactly in-sync with his plummet. And he is helplessly exposed at the bottom of the stairs where he is finished off with the knife. 

 I also like the reveal scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWHYmNrAFlI), where the twist unfolds and Norman comes out dressed as mother, though the mother is a rotten corpse. The visual of the corpse is very disturbing, especially when panned back to. This also is the scene that reveals the plot-strength of Hitchcock's classic, that is largely lacking in modern horror films. He combines the suspense, with the scary visual reveal, and he places it under the context of a surprising element of the story. 

Then there is the final scene, a psychologically thrilling and chilling visual of Norman, with his motherly alter-ego voiced over his creepy face as his thoughts. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDxxHrlmUg). Norman's face at the end of the scene, when he does his creepy smile, is quickly overlaid with the dead face of his mother in the fade-out. This is something that I thought I saw the first time, and confirmed upon watching the scene again. This is a pretty innovative and effective production feature, and did a great job to play-up the interplay of Norman's personalities. 

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Psycho. It had all the crucial elements of a compelling scary movie: an engaging plot, convincing actors, purposeful music, and well-timed elements of shock and gore.