| More than just a first-rate shocker full of thrills and suspense, Psycho is an engrossing character study in which director Alfred Hitchcock skillfully seduces you into identifying with the main characters--then pulls the rug out from under you. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates, the mama's boy proprietor of the Bates Motel; and so is Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who makes an impulsive decision and becomes a fugitive from the law, hiding out at Norman's roadside inn for one fateful night. When Marion 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 twitchy manager Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) cares for his housebound mother. The place seems quirky but fine -- until Marion decides to take a shower. Once discovered as missing--last seen at the infamous Bates Motel in the desert--her sister and boyfriend visit the place only to find it run by a voyeuristic, taxidermist loner whose possessed by his dead mother and dresses himself up like her, adopting her personality |