Gun! Gun! SOMEONE GET A GUN!

The Movie: Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Recommendation: Me
Reason: It's Psycho. I haven't ever seen it. Hush.

Anthony Perkins is going to haunt my nightmares. I can tell. Like the closing image of the Blair Witch Project and "then he came unsewn" from Hellraiser, the final shot of Norman Bates staring right into my SOUL chilled me to the core. So far today seems to be fiction versus reality day, and where Open Water was 'eh', Psycho surpassed the yech factor of Ed Gein's crimes. Perkins' portrayal of Norman Bates was so unsettlingly perfect that my skin crawled. He's the very definition of 'he seemed so normal', a sweet-faced, sort of gawky guy. Good god, though, is that faint little smile beneath those soulless black eyes frightening.

I don't have the words to properly describe Hitchcock's filming technique, but some of the shots he assembled were true works of art. People refer to Psycho as his finest picture ever, and I can definitely understand why. The entire infamous shower sequence aside (which was stunning), the 'check-in' scenes created an excellent sense of 'this is not quite right'.

I can't imagine Gus Van Sant's remake coming remotely close to touching the skin-crawling terror that Hitchcock produced. There are a few factors there, but primarily it's casting. Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins simply cannot be replaced-their performances aren't just iconic anymore, they've transcended to the consideration of legendary. When a film shot in black and white is remembered as being in color, and the stabs of a knife that never once pierced skin onscreen are shuddered at by audiences today, it's just not possible to top it. Screw Van Sant. His casting's a mess (sorry Julianne Moore and Viggo Mortenson, you deserved better than that). I'm sure if I see his remake, I'll have a few more criticisms to throw, but yeah. This one's a classic. Don't touch it.

-86/365 down, 279/365 to go