Hitchcock’s biggest commercial success, made intentionally on a B-movie budget, follows an on-the-lam secretary (Janet Leigh). At the worn-out Bates Hotel, she meets the owner (Anthony Perkins), who is happy to work on his taxidermy but not his relationship to his mother. The rest is cinema history: PYSCHO rewrote the rules of horror films, Hollywood success and movie music. “It wasn’t a message that stirred the audiences,” Hitch told Francois Truffault, “nor was it a great performance…they were aroused by pure film … I was playing them, like an organ.” (U.S., 1960, 109m)
“Immortal … it connects directly with our fears.” –Roger Ebert
