Psycho (1960)

I first watched Psycho as a teenager and thought it was fine. Rewatched at 30 and it hit completely differently. The the nature of evil undercurrent makes total sense now in a way it didn't before.

Psycho has been praised so heavily that no film could live up to the hype completely. It's an excellent film — Anthony Perkins's quiet menace is genuinely remarkable — but it's not the untouchable masterpiece some claim.

Psycho ended and I sat with it for weeks. The the nature of evil theme kept circling back. I'd be doing something mundane and Norman's final monologue would pop into my head. That kind of resonance is rare.

I went into Psycho knowing nothing — no trailer, no plot summary. I strongly recommend that approach. The duality and repression hits much harder when you haven't been primed for it. Go in cold.

Every choice in Psycho feels deliberate. The framing, the pacing, the shower scene — Alfred Hitchcock is operating at a level most filmmakers never reach. It's the kind of film you study rather than just watch.

Psycho is not background viewing. Every scene requires you. Put your phone down, dim the lights. Alfred Hitchcock is doing too much to be half-watched. Give it the attention it deserves.

Some elements of Psycho show their age, but the core of it — voyeurism, the audacity of killing the lead early — hasn't diminished at all. Films this good age better than almost anything else.

Every actor brings something to Psycho, but the lead performance is genuinely extraordinary. The subtlety involved, the way the character changes without announcing it — it's a masterclass.

I liked Psycho when I first saw it, but the second viewing is where it clicked. Once you notice how Alfred Hitchcock plants every detail early on, the whole film transforms. Layers everywhere.

The music in Psycho is so deeply married to the images that you almost can't separate them. It stays in your head days later and when you hear it again the emotions return immediately.