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31 Days of Horror Movies - Day 14

 

Happy Saturday and hope you're enjoying the Annular Eclipse and really what better way to celebrate this incredible spectacle than with a horror movie. For today's recommendation, we're going back to the Master of Suspense and a cast that includes Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, John Gavin, Vera Miles, and the incredible Anthony Perkins. We're of course talking about the one that started it all.


Day 14 - Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

The one, the only. Psycho. Considered by critics to be THE earliest, if not one of the earliest, examples of  a slasher movie, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is a horror film that remains as shocking and provocative today as when it premiered in 1960. The story of a young woman who steals money from her work takes a wild turn when she hides in the creepy, Bates Motel and meets the owner, Norman Bates. There's no way to discuss this movie without even getting into spoilers, so the only thing you need to know is that Psycho is one of those films that completely changed the game. Shot in grisly black and white, considering that Hitchcock had just done the big widescreen adventure North by Northwest, Psycho is more of a low-budget horror thriller than anything else and it shows. Every image drips with tension and it perfectly exemplifies one of the director's favorite story ideas - the ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances. Leigh is absolutely incredible as Marion Crane but it is Anthony Perkins who steals every single scene. His Norman Bates remains one of cinema's best villains - also make sure to look at the scene when Marion checks in and he starts moving like a bird. The bird imagery. The shower scene. The big TWIST. The masterful direction. The Bernard Herrmann score. It is all so classic and amounts to one of the best horror films ever made. 


*All of the recommendations that we make can be found at the El Paso Public Library Catalog!

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