Category: Horror - Horror / Sci-Fi / Fantasy - Movie - Mystery - Mystery / Suspense
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DVD Psycho (Collector's Edition)
At last--a great American movie available on video for the first time in its original aspect ratio. For all the slasher pictures that have ripped off Psycho (and particularly its classic set piece, the "shower scene"), nothing has ever matched the impact of the real thing. More than just a first-rate shocker full of thrills and suspense, Psycho is also an engrossing character study in which director Alfred Hitchcock skillfully seduces you into identifying with the main characters--then pulls the rug (or the bathmat) out from under you. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates, the mama's boy proprietor of the Bates Motel; and so is Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who makes an impulsive decision and becomes a fugitive from the law, hiding out at Norman's roadside inn for one fateful night. Psycho gets the masterpiece treatment it deserves on DVD, with extras including newsreel footage surrounding the making and release of the movie; an archive of production stills; the special trailer in which Hitchcock (acting as one of the original Universal Studio tour guides) himself leads viewers around the Bates place; credit designer Saul Bass's original "shower scene" story boards; posters and advertising materials for the movie's William Castle-like publicity campaign (No One Will Be Seated After the Feature Begins!); and a 90-minute documentary on the making of the film! What more could any movie fan possibly want? --Jim Emerson
Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) is a film that has stood the test of time well, and that deserves to be called a classic. I saw it just a few days ago, and was astounded by how good it was. Truth to be told, I don't generally like terror movies, but "Psycho" is an exception, probably because it is a movie that scares you but also a carefully crafted masterpiece that you can see many times without getting bored.
The main character is Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a beautiful blonde that makes an enormous mistake in a moment of weakness. Marion steals a lot of money from her boss, and drives away in order to meet her unsuspecting boyfriend. Alas, she makes an even bigger mistake in the way, stopping at the "Bates motel". What is hidden there? And will she get out alive?
All in all, this is an excellent movie, the kind of film all are you are likely to enjoy (unless you absolutely hate any kind of scary movie). Even if you are not partial to black and white films, give "Psycho" a chance, it deserves it! Highly recommended :)
Belen Alcat
PS: Pay attention to the bonus features, and try to watch "The Making of Psycho". It is long, but more than worth your time.
"Mother, what have you done mother?"
`Psycho' is probably one of the most definitive films of cinema, not just horror but of pure American cinema. The acting, the direction, the plot, script...everything is utterly brilliant and can compare with today's standards and still stand out as truly inspired film. Alfred Hitchcock was probably the smartest movie-maker of his generation, and maybe even ours, for he knew how to get what he wanted with very little, to make the most of what he had and he always delivered something smart, edgy and ahead of it's time.
`Psycho', of course, is no exception. Probably his most popular film, and arguably his best, `Psycho' has been the inspiration for countless rip-offs, sequels and a remake, none of which have even come close to the power of the original. Psycho itself was inspired by the real life account of serial killer Ed Gein, and man brutally abused by his mother into believing that women were evil. Ed Gein himself has been the inspiration for many films including `The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' and `The Silence of the Lambs', both of which fall in the line of `Psycho' as cinematic landmarks, but arguably `Psycho' was and is the most important.
Unbeknownst to anyone who has seen this film post its original release, Hitchcock really wove a twisted web. You see, everyone who's heard of the film after it was released has heard that it's about a crazy momma's boy who kills a woman in the shower, but knowing the story does a somewhat disservice to Hitchcock for he really went all out to weave a tangled web of mystery as to the who's and why's. Regardless though, everything about this film is extraordinary and deserving of praise. Of particular note is the excellent acting on the part of the entire cast, but of course Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh (who received a well deserved Oscar nomination) are particular standouts.
I'm guessing I don't really need to explain the plot, but for the sake of discussion I will. The movie starts by giving us some back story on our famous victim, Marion Crane (Leigh) who is involved with Sam Loomis (John Gavin) but because of his impending divorce they have no means to make it, that is until she gets her hands on $40,000. Of course it's stolen money and the man she stole it from is all but a little unhappy. She flees the city and stops at off the road motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who lives with his overbearing (oh yeah, and dead) mother. After Marion is murdered (the classic shower scene) her sister Lila (Vera Miles) and Sam send a detective to find her (they just assume she's missing, run off with the money and all) but what they find is a crazy house of horrors.
`Psycho', above all else, succeeds in creating the perfect mood for a film of this nature, giving us enough air of gloom and eerie atmosphere to breathe life to this brilliant film. Horror movies of today may try, but I highly doubt any film will really come close to what Hitchcock created with `Psycho'. This film proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it's that silent sinister feeling that creates real, pure and raw terror, not blood gore and mayhem.
Perfect film making!
One of those films that does everything right! And it is a horror film no less!!!
What can I say that has not been stated before. A perfect film!
Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes." From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tippi Hedren - Rod Taylor DVD Release Date: Released the 28 March 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A suave tennis player (Ray Milland) plots the perfect murder, the dispatching of his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), who is having an affair with a writer (Robert Cummings). Amazingly, the wife manages to stave off her attacker, a twist of fate that challenges the hubby's talent for improvisation. Alfred Hitchcock wisely stuck to the stage origins of Dial M for Murder, ignoring the temptation to "open up" the material from the home of the unhappy couple. The result may not be one of Hitchcock's deepest films, but it's a thoroughly engaging chamber movie. It also features Grace Kelly at her loveliest, the same year she made Rear Window with Hitchcock. Dial M for Murder was filmed in the briefly trendy 3-D process, and Hitchcock shot some scenes to bring out the depth of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ray Milland - Grace Kelly Director(s): Alfred Hitchcock DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 6 to 7 days
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Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder.
Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Grace Kelly - James Stewart DVD Release Date: Released the 06 March 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Although it wasn't a box-office success when originally released in 1958, Vertigo has since taken its deserved place as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest, most spellbinding, most deeply personal achievement. In fact, it consistently ranks among the top 10 movies ever made in the once-a-decade Sight & Sound international critics poll, placing at number 4 in the most recent survey. (Universal Pictures' spectacularly gorgeous 1996 restoration and rerelease of this 1958 Paramount production was a tremendous success with the public, too.) James Stewart plays a retired police detective who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife (a superb Kim Novak, in what becomes a double role), whom he suspects of being possessed by the spirit of a dead madwoman. The detective and the disturbed... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Kim Novak - James Stewart DVD Release Date: Released the 31 March 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio (with Citizen Kane, Only Angels Have Wings and Trouble in Paradise running neck and neck). Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite"; seminal Hitchcock critic Robin Wood (in his book Hitchcock's Films Revisited) makes an airtight case for this glossy MGM production as one of The Master's "unbroken series of masterpieces from Vertigo to... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cary Grant - Eva Marie Saint DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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