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| Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles,
John Gavin, Martin Balsam, Simon Oakland, John McIntyre |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins): A boy's best friend is his mother.
A
young woman on the run arrives at an out-of-the-way little motel run
by a man with a mother fixation.
 Psycho
is well-known and appreciated for completely dashing audience expectations
and for being the movie to break taboos about killer motivation. But
the thing that surprised me most during the latest viewing is the incredible
performance by Anthony Perkins. HIs unsettling performance is a truly
brilliant blend of creepiness and rampant boy-next-door insecurity and
sensitivity. This may be the biggest surprise of Psycho: making
the killer come across as a really nice guy who just 'goes a little
mad sometimes'. The gleeful double meanings in Norman's dialogues that
repeat viewings may yield, reveal the mischievous practical joke that
this film is at heart. You can almost hear Hitch giggling in the background
as he willfully pulls the rug out from under the audience.
The first 50 minutes of the movie are perfect in every sense and justifies
its status it enjoys as classic slasher movie. The black and white cinematography,
shot by Hitchcock's TV crew, give the movie great matter-of-factness
and a sense of realism, the pacing is just right and the atmosphere
is at all times augmented by a tremendous score from Bernard Herrmann.
But Psycho does have its lesser moments, especially when Vera
Miles and John Gavin take over the screen during the last 30 minutes.
Both are unable to project the believability and suspense so well done
by both Perkins and Janet Leigh, and Hitchcock seems to lose a little
interest in the narrative once his main gag has been pulled off. Also,
the psychiatrist's explanation at the end now comes across as ridiculously
dated when viewed outside of its historical context: only by realizing
how shocking the idea of motiveless killings were for a 1960 audience
does one understand the necessity to add some kind of explanation at
the end. But how cool it would have been if the movie had ended simply
with Norman's interior monologue. |
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Available
for both Region 1 and Region 2, but only the Region 2 version has an
anamorphic transfer whereas region 1 has a truckload of extras missing
from the Region 2 release. This review deaks with the Region 1 release.
The
picture is presented in letterboxed 1.85:1 and is not anamorphic. The
image is very good, but not perfect. Minor scratches and marks pop up
from time to time and a more comprehensive restoration or even a digital
clean up would provide better results. But the black and white cinematography
does deliver in clarity and shadow detail and most of the scenes are
a joy to look at.
The dolby digital mono track is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 so you
can play it best over the front speakers. The opening credits with the
pounding Bernard Herrmann score is awesome. The rest of the track is
clean and dialogue is easy to understand. A good solid presentation.
An amazing amount of extras make
this an essential disc for any Hitchcock fan. First up is a 95-minute
documentary called 'The Making of Psycho' worth the money
of the disc. Every aspect of the production is covered in great
detail and DVD documentary giant Laurent Bouzereau once again proves
his mastery of Hitchcock. Janet Leigh talks in lenght about her
scenes and her working method with Hitchcock, as does screenwriter
Joseph Stefano who details the changes he made to the original story
(which was written by Robert Bloch). Most of them involved some
psychotherapy Stefano was undergoing at the time and the many allusions
to mother are from his pen.
There is a small shower scene featurette done with and without
music, and I have to say that even without the music the scene plays
very well, which proves that the editing in this scene is rightly celebrated.
A separate section has the original storyboards done by Saul
Bass. There is an extensive set of production notes on the DVD
and a very informative eight-page booklet with even more good
stuff and qoutes.
The original theatrical trailer with Alfred Hitchcock is a classic
in its own right, making the case for finding Psycho more funny
upon each viewing. Hitchcock is a great practical joker, a trait also
present in the eight-minute feature taken from newsreel footage
about the movie. The Psycho Archives consist of production photographs
and behind-the-scenes photos. More promotional material is available
in the lobby cards and a Psycho ads section.Menus
are static with some of the musical score playing. Most of the menus feature
the most famous shots from the movie.
Gerard
Castelein
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Psycho.
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to return to the front page.
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