Psycho (1960)

In the nicest way possible, this is going to be the hardest film to write about yet. Overall I found this quite the typical horror/ mystery film. That isn't to say it was bad but it also doesn't stand out to me as ground breaking. I think I have had a few films that I have watched so far this month that makes it seem as though I am just trashing on all of them when I don't think I could confidently say I've watched a bad one. Instead it is the fact that a few of them are just classic movie structures and narratives that they do not stand out widely to me which is something I am looking for. However sometimes it is difficult to find a movie that clicks with you personally and that is fine it doesn't take away from any of the others just that I have not found a high tier Halloween film for me.

That being said a large part of what I did enjoy about this film was the narrative. Specifically the ending which completely surprised me. First however I do want to talk about the character of Marion as it is one I was most unsure about. When she first stole all that money and began packing her bags and leaving I was getting hyped thinking part of her was a con woman just waiting for this moment to move on. Especially when she started later flirting with Norman so quickly after leaving Sam, it made me believe that she was just moving from places to place making a normal life before moving town and starting again. Which is something I was very interested in seeing but it was later revealed she was working there for ten years which eliminates the idea of her constantly moving around as well as the fact she literally said herself she changed her mind. So clearly she wasn't as bad ass of a character as I thought which really became obvious by how bad she was at making herself seem casual. The way she presented her 'I'm fine' acting was such an exaggeration that of course she made herself suspicious, not that the small town she visited seemed to care. They allowed her to exchange her car and leave without further question even from the police.

I will say it did come as I huge surprise when the iconic shower scene happened half way through the film. I thought that would be a murder that happened near the end of the film so having it in the middle completely threw off what I thought was going to happen and left a lot of questions for what the rest of the film would be about. Naturally it became about who the murderer was and that was the most surprising reveal to me of all. See I did think the killer was going to be Norman and it was going to be a killer fueled by sexual fantasy since after Marion left he watched her through a hole in the wall. Partnered with the knowledge that for a time she was being a bit flirty before leaving, and in a way rejecting him, I was sure his passion crime was going to be the fact he liked this woman who declined any further involvement with him. Only for it to be shown that the killer was a woman and therefore the mother. Already I was loving it. The trope of a boy or man becoming a series killer who is only protected by his mother's ability to hide critical evidence is a plot we have seen many times in horror movies.

It has been used for years as a way to reinforce this behaviour that women should revolve their whole world around their children, particularly the men. In a way it has gotten old, as difficult as I understand it being for a parent to grapple with the idea of their child being a murderer it allows for the ideology of 'boys will be boys' even when that results in death. However having it flipped and showing a son taking care of and hiding away his mother's crimes was something I thought was so much more interesting to watch. The only time I began to question that is when we saw Norman carry his mother down the stairs and the indent on the bed she seemingly left. This confused me because why is she seemingly unable to move from her bed despite her ability to run around killing people. Later it was revealed by the sheriff that Normans mother was dead and that's when I knew clearly something isn't right. However I loved the idea of it being his mother whom he is cleaning up after that I was trying to find any way for that to still be true. I was thinking maybe they faked her death for insurance money and now she is in hiding or even that after her death a criminal came along that somehow made a deal with Norman that she would pretend to be his mother under the guise that he got his mother back and she got a hidden identity to kill people under.

Regardless I was intrigued to hear what the answer to this mother mystery was. And then it was revealed the killer was Norman all along. I can not state to you how fucking annoyed I was upon seeing and hearing this. I am so done with this narrative of all people with DID (dissociative Identity Disorder) having an alter that wants to murder everyone. I know I can not speak on this matter in any form because I do not have or am educated enough about the disorder, however I am tired of this stereotype being repeated over and over in movies. All hope I had from the movie ended here, it was going so well and I was so joyful for the reveal of a woman murderer just for it to all be destroyed. I know I shouldn't have been surprised considering it is a 60s movie but that doesn't make it any less disappointing. But even with this discovery it only created more questions such as how easily Norman was able to travel from place to place. Particularly during the death of Arbogast it is as if Norman has powers. We see him pass the rooms as he goes to change the beds before suddenly appearing not just in the house but upstairs enough to attack Arbogast when going down.

Not only is that scene horrendous in terms of camera work because who stumbles that slowly down stairs but also who is able to run that fast around the motel and house, up the stairs all without being seen. It really makes me wish that they had made some different ending where the woman truly was the murderer. But alas it was a different time and perhaps I am being too harsh on the matter. Still there is no denying how iconic that shower scene and the music have become and there was a portion where I found myself hooked on the mystery. I just am truly annoyed they couldn't have ended with any other reasoning.