Is PSYCHO a horror film? in The Psycho Ward Forum

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Is PSYCHO a horror film?

Author	Comment
ItsaDollThang		#21	[-]
Aug 26 11 1:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Horror, yes. Suspense, yes. Film noir, yes, I think so, and yes, a dark comedy. I saw Psycho for the first time when I was like 10 and the shower scene actually scared me a bit, but even back then Norman shouting "Mother!" it had me laughing. I just couldn't help but see him as truly funny, particularly when in drag. The way Perkins played him he was definitely a darkly comedic anti-hero/villain. There were a lot of sick laughs in Psycho and I do think Hitchcock did that deliberately to send off horror films and the genre in general.
Torgo		#22	[-]
Dec 21 11 9:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes i believe Psycho to be a Horror movie,more important it's one of the first modern Horror movies. Up until then the monster in movies was a hideous creature from space and beyond. Norman was like us,an ordinary run of the mill kind of guy who looked after his crippled mother. As we all know,the character of Norman Bates was loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein,someone who committed the most awful crimes yet everyone who knew him couldn't believe that he did what he did. With this in mind,how can it not be a Horror movie. Hitchcock loved to shock his audience,he revealed in the idea of having a well known star playing Marion Crain. Just so he could shock the audience who couldn't see any harm in her taking that shower. Psycho changed everything.
Monsterpal		#23	[-]
Dec 22 11 12:35 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Is it a horror film? You bet it is, one of the best ever made.
Gil Ray		#24	[-]
Dec 22 11 10:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Monsterpal wrote: Is it a horror film? You bet it is, one of the best ever made. Agreed! Gil
Dudley Manlove		#25	[-]
Jan 6 12 3:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Horrific yes, but i have never see it as a Horror film as such. I guess if Norman had been shot and made a comeback ala Mike Myers - then it changes into the realm of Horror. As for Comedy - its full of black humour, like the scene where the car wont sink in the 'lake'. Normans face when it stops sinking is great and its odd how we as the audience are made to root for the car to keep sinking!
Monsterpal		#26	[-]
Jan 7 12 7:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hitchcock does that again and again. He makes the audience complicit with the murderer without realizing it until later. Robert Walker trying to get the lighter out of the sewer in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN is an example. The potato truck scene in FRENZY is another. Dudley, you seem to be saying that you only consider it horror if it's supernatural, or at least fantastic. I usually do, too, but not always.
hermanthegerm	Psycho in Hollywood Universal Studios and Wax Museums	#27	[-]
Feb 5 12 12:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's sad seeing Universal Studios exploit Psycho in such a hamfisted manner. They are "spoiling" the entire film. All kids and people who have not seen the film pretty much know what happens, without knowing why the film is recommended after coming out of the studio tour and park. It's good to promote the film, but they should be really careful in what scenes and elements they present. Even the Tussaud museum was quite careful/respectful in their Psycho scene. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
JohnnyWaco		#28	[-]
Mar 28 12 11:51 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Shortly after its American premiere, when Hitchcock was returning from Europe, someone said to him about PSYCHO "You sadistic son-of-a-!$%" and Hitchcock breezily replied, "I thought it was funny." That's the version I heard, just an off-the-cuff remark.
Jay Maggio		#29	[-]
Sep 11 12 10:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think it is, the corpse of his mom, thats horror 2me!
skelton knaggs		#30	[-]
Sep 11 12 10:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey,checkout this very cool publicity photo. Is this great or what? I've never seen this one... "You can't smell any reefer, can you"?
telegonus		#31	[-]
Sep 12 12 1:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	In my opinion Psycho has become so famous, so iconic, as to nearly defy genre, and in this it resembles such earlier films as King Kong and Gone With the Wind. The former is arguably proto-sci-fi, with its giant creature and all; also action-adventure and horror; while the latter is, I think it's fair to say, more than a Civil War picture; it's also more than a romance (to sweeping, there's too much going on), more than a costume picture or an historical epic. It's in a class by itself. That's how I view Psycho.
Monsterpal		#32	[-]
Sep 12 12 5:21 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's an interesting perspective, Tele, and you explain it well.
Jay Maggio		#33	[-]
Sep 12 12 6:46 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	well, first time I've ever seen Janet Leigh and Vera Miles 2gether, as u never see them 2gether in the movie.
telegonus	Sunset Blvd?	#34	[-]
Sep 13 12 3:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks, Monsterpal. There are a few films that defy genre or come close. Another one: Sunset Blvd. Black comedy? Drama? Melodrama? There's some social satire in there, too; and it offers a none too flattering view of how Hollywood really works. It doesn't seem to have a genre as such. Some have called it a horror movie! It does have some "horror trappings": the crumbling mansion; Erich von Stroheim's butler, especially when he plays the organ (or is it a piano? ); the card games with the "waxworks"; and the desperate look and terrible makeup of Gloria Swanson, whom I find far more frightening than the bride of Frankenstein. Still, Sunset Blvd is awfully morbid at times but this doesn't make it a horror.
gene phillips		#35	[-]
Sep 15 12 1:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Dudley Manlove wrote: Horrific yes, but i have never see it as a Horror film as such. I guess if Norman had been shot and made a comeback ala Mike Myers - then it changes into the realm of Horror. As for Comedy - its full of black humour, like the scene where the car wont sink in the 'lake'. Normans face when it stops sinking is great and its odd how we as the audience are made to root for the car to keep sinking! I'm not clear; were you saying that the black humor kept you from deeming it a horror-film? 'Cause if so, you probably know that there's tons of black humor in a number of canonical horror-films, not least BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. NATURALISTIC! UNCANNY! MARVELOUS!
gene phillips		#36	[-]
Sep 15 12 2:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	telegonus wrote: In my opinion Psycho has become so famous, so iconic, as to nearly defy genre, and in this it resembles such earlier films as King Kong and Gone With the Wind. The former is arguably proto-sci-fi, with its giant creature and all; also action-adventure and horror; while the latter is, I think it's fair to say, more than a Civil War picture; it's also more than a romance (to sweeping, there's too much going on), more than a costume picture or an historical epic. It's in a class by itself. That's how I view Psycho. Interesting take, Telegonus. Your remarks remind me a little of fan-author Peter Sanderson's attempt to account for irregularities in genres. For instance, Sanderson terms Buffy the Vampire Slayer a "displaced superhero" simply because she borrows conventions from other genres. KING KONG almost certainly borrows from the tradition of the novel and film THE LOST WORLD, but it's far more of a "romance" that either the book or its silent film-adaptation. NATURALISTIC! UNCANNY! MARVELOUS!
gene phillips		#37	[-]
Sep 15 12 2:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'll agree with those who deem PSYCHO a horror film. However, I don't deem another AH film with roughly comparable content-- FRENZY-- to be anything but a naturalistic thriller. It lacks the "something extra" that makes a horror film. NATURALISTIC! UNCANNY! MARVELOUS!
Action Avenue		#38	[-]
Sep 27 12 4:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I will chime in and say yes, there is no doubt in my mind that Psycho is a horror movie. Although I am not generally a huge fan of slasher movies, this movie is the godfather of all slasher movies that came after it. The only difference is that Hitchcock could do more with less. The suspense/horror was built through imagination and ultimately in the mind of the viewer through more subtle means than most comparable movies today, such as Saw, Hostel, etc. Please check out my zombie blog http://freakindeadjed.blogspot.com Please view my sci-fi artwork http://zazzle.com/actionave
blackbiped		#39	[-]
Oct 25 12 11:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's a breath mint! Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way. Porfle's Secret Blog HK and Cult Film News Andersonvision.com
MonsterGuy95		#40	[-]
Oct 27 12 8:27 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes I would say it was a horror film - to an extent. The horror being created in your mind. In terms of an overall genre for the film - psychological horror.

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Is PSYCHO a horror film?