Striking from the Shadows of '50s Pulp Fiction - Review of Robert Bloch's "Psycho"

 Just off a junction on a busy highway there still exists Bates Motel. This struggling business is run by Norman Bates who endures an oppressive relationship from his unhinged mother who seems hell-bent in keeping her son single and away from the outside world. Then, one night, Mary Crane arrives at the Motel. She is on the run with $40,000 she has stolen from of a client of her real estate company. Soon a private detective and her sister will be after her, but none of them expect the horrors that will ensue the night Mary accidentally turns off the highway and meets the Bates…


We have Peggy Robertson to thank for the franchise that this 1959 pulp fiction thriller spawned and keeps on giving to this day. Apparently Robertson had read a good review by Anthony Boucher of Robert Bloch’s seminal thriller, “Psycho”, despite Paramount Pictures already rejecting the story’s premise. Hitchcock, never one to back to down to anyone in movie world except maybe his wife, thought differently and fought a hard battle against virtually everyone to get the film greenlit. My copy of Bloch’s novel is a paperback published not long after the film was made, but looks fairly plain. In fact, the thin little novel was so indistinct amongst my book collection that I had a job to find it earlier this year.

Late Psycho

Psycho (Photo credit: -Alina-)

This is a review a wrote a while back and I thought it would be appropriate to share today, one day after the 54th anniversary of the premier of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Yes, I am late, but couldn't resist the opportunity. 

"Psycho" must go down as one of the most important films of all time. It is memorable for many reasons, of big cinematic importance and hugely influential. Firstly, it is the most successful film Alfred Hitchcock made. Hitchcock is often justifiably regarded to be the greatest director of all time as well as the "master of suspense". "Psycho" is not only a great example of Hitchcock's artistic ability at his peak, but also a perfect demonstration of the art of suspense. It was also a great demonstration of his working relationship with his wife, the great editor, Alma Hitchcock. The use of music and voyeurism in film was never bettered by "Psycho", and many movies from art-house to the slasher horror have this film to thank. "Jaws", which also went onto becoming a massively influential film, uses a lot of what Hitchcock established by using the killer's point of view and allowing a tremendously atmospheric yet incredibly simplistic score to move the whole movie along. It took several decades before movies like "From Dusk Til Dawn" and the works of George R.R. Martin would understand the power of being ruthless with lead characters as well as showing amazing restraint with genre material. "Psycho" broke all the rules and established something brave yet artistically brilliant.    

The "Hitchcock" Institution - A review of "Hitchcock"

There are many ways to approach a biopic and "Hitchcock" goes for the easiest one. It's a choice that results in success for the most part. By opting for a pivotal moment in the main protagonist's career, writer John J. McLaughlin was not forced to wade through Alfred Hitchcock's imposing career, cherry picking what would make for a good dramatic narrative. Life, not being a piece of dramatic prose, is rarely a linear path. It takes a bold director and writer to tackle the full biopic approach and the result is usually what seems to be little more than a dramatized resume that fails to deliver an interesting central theme.