'Psycho' turns 50 today

EW ^ | 06/16/10 | Owen Gleiberman

[eddie willers]

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.

Unless you're the ex-wife.

[discostu]

Check you local arthouse cinema, I know the one in Tucson (The Loft) is putting it on screen next Wednesday (23rd), I wouldn’t be surprised if others are having anniversary showing also.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The following two years were the worst time in American History to be a man (because all of the women were afraid to take showers...)

[Retired Greyhound]

The scariest movie for me in a long time (don’t laugh) was the remake of War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise.

There was no way to get away from those things. Totally stressed me out.

Psycho didn’t really do it for me. But I love Hitchcock.

[Retired Greyhound]

North by Northwest has to be his best movie.

Rear Window and Vertigo were good, though Vertigo kind of fizzled at the end.

Notorious is another good one.

Psycho is not my favorite.

[Darkwolf377]

I’m sure you know this, but Hitchock originally wanted no music in the shower scene. Herrmann, a cranky ol’ bastid, prevailed.

[Pollster1]

That is cruel and in violation of Hitchcock’s artistic philosophy. Hitch made Paycho in b&w specifically so the blood going down the drain would be gray and not red. Understatement has its own power. He would not have run the pic on the right, for the same reasons.

[dangerdoc]

It’s OK, he got the FR account in the settlement.

[des]

My Mom took me with her to see it when I was five (she really, really wanted to see it). The scariest part was hearing my Mom scream and her covering my eyes.

[reagan_fanatic]

You're right. B&W does kind of give an image a sort of stark, otherworldly effect, doesn't it? (sorry I couldn't find a pic of HT screaming - apparently, there were no Jews around at the time.)

[VRW Conspirator]

Hitchcock understood that what you DIDN’T show had more potential to horrify, than what you actually framed with the camera lens.

He understood the pregnant pause and anticipation of horror.

Gotta go, mother is calling me!

[EveningStar]

Thanks for the ping. This is a truly fine movie. The remake is an abomination.

[Lockbar]

LOL. You’r kill’n me!

[radiohead]

<The scariest movie for me in a long time (don’t laugh) was the remake of War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise.

Not laughing here. I love the beginning of the film - the idea that something is not just coming, but that it is here already, and it’s bigger than us and it’s planning on eating up and cannot be reasoned with is frightening. The sound of the horn is also disconcerting. I like the effects and even though I’m generally ‘meh’ on Cruise, I like the film. It’s coming on cable this weekend. Have fun!