FilmRSlasher Psychological Gothic★ Editor pick

Psycho1960

Name: Psycho
Genre: Slasher, Psychological, Gothic
Released: 1960-06-22
Rating: 8.7

“A new and altogether different screen excitement!”

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

8.7

Crypt Score

Blended from 4 sources

IMDb 8.5Rotten Tomatoes 97%Metacritic 97TMDB 8.4

✍ Review

On the charts

#1·Top Classic Horror Movies (Pre-1970)#2·Top Gothic Films #2·Top Psychological Films #2·Top Slasher Films #2·Top Horror Movies of All Time

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Year

1960

Runtime

109 min

Box Office

Budget

$806,947

Revenue (worldwide)

$50,000,000

Domestic

$32,181,230

🏆 Nominated for 4 Oscars. 8 wins & 14 nominations total

The premise

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

Horror Vault's take

A desperate woman fleeing her past makes a fateful stop at a remote motel run by the soft-spoken, deeply troubled Norman Bates — and vanishes from the story in ways no one could have predicted. Alfred Hitchcock's landmark 1960 thriller redefined what horror cinema could be, wringing unbearable tension from ordinary settings and deeply fractured psychology. Shot in stark black and white, every shadowed corridor and stuffed animal feels charged with menace. Decades on, it remains a masterclass in dread that continues to influence virtually every psychological thriller and slasher film that followed.

Content: Violence And Stabbing, Depictions Of Mental Illness, Voyeurism, Brief Partial Nudity, Disturbing Imagery Involving A Corpse