Psycho
1960; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; screenplay by Joseph Stefano, from the novel by Robert Bloch

Allen: Alfred Hitchcock would forever change the game with Psycho. Using the same crew that worked on his television show, Hitchcock moved away from the glossy, big-budget look of his previous films, and made this much more in the vein of an exploitation movie. The result was a film that has made a lasting impression on movie audiences, perhaps being the first truly great slasher film.

The movie had the first in many elements that would be copied countlessly in movies to come. At first, people put their sympathies with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), but would be shockingly surprised when she is famously “removed” halfway through the film, with a trick now known as the “Psycho-Switch”. Hitchcock, the master-manipulator, would then push our sympathies to that of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), the iconic killer, and his story of running the Bates Motel and his more-than-odd relationship with his mother. A truly great movie made by a truly great director.

John: Changed horror overnight. Now instead of monsters from another world or creatures in old castles scaring us, it would be our neighbors and their dark secrets that kept us up at night. In a long line of masterpieces, this is Hitchcock’s best. Some decent sequels followed decades later.

Mark: This film is iconic to the extent that it now exists as a broader cultural reference point: it’s almost certainly the case that more people have heard of Psycho and have seen the shower scene—even if only refracted through The Simpsons—than have watched the film in its entirety. Released in the same year as the earlier mentioned Peeping Tom, Psycho was presumably more popular because it doesn’t confront issues as close to the public consciousness: it does not unsettle by probing the often voyeuristic and aggressive nature of viewing itself, but instead tells a story of a crazy individual and does so exceptionally well.

Team Rankings:
Allen – #2
Ed – #5
Jeremy – #8
John – #8
Brandi – #21