Psycho
at Village East Cinema
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 American psychological horror film, Psycho, is based on a 1959 novel, sharing the same title, by Robert Bloch, that centers upon an unfortunate meeting between an on-the-run secretary, Marion Crane, and a motel’s owner-manager. After stealing $40,000 from her employer and intending to skip town with her boyfriend, Ms. Crane encounters a heavy rainstorm while driving and is forced to spend the evening at a secluded motel, at which time she meets the motel’s owner-manager, Norman Bates. The film, staring Anthony Perkins as Bates and Janet Leigh as Crane, is heralded as one of Hitchcock’s best works, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. An early example of the ‘slasher film genre,’ Psycho set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in Hollywood.
As part of a month-long series at New York’s Village East Cinema – aptly titled ‘Hitchcocktober’ – the historic theater is honoring the master of suspense, and screening a selection of Hitchcock’s greatest works. Fittingly, given Psycho’s horrifying plotline and terrifying climax where a mystery killer is finally revealed, the 1960 thriller is closing ‘Hitchcocktober’ and being screened on the evening of Thursday, October 31st; a ‘Must See’ Halloween feature that will surely get you in a spooky mood.