At number two in our chart to uncover the top horror movie is the godfather of the genre Alfred Hitchcock with his classic Psycho.Released in 1960, at the height of Hitchcock's success, Psycho is widely regarded as one of the director's best movies and was nominated for four Oscars.Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is unhappy in her job at a real estate office in Phoenix, Arizona and frustrated in her romance with hardware store manager Sam Loomis (John Gavin) believing that it isn't really going anywhere. One afternoon, Marion is given $40,000 in cash to be deposited in the bank. Minutes later, impulse has taken over and Marion takes off with the cash, hoping to leave Phoenix for good and start a new life. 36 hours later, paranoia and exhaustion have started to set in, and Marion decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel.She is met by nervous but personable innkeeper Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) cheerfully mentions that she's the first guest in weeks, before he regales her with curious stories about his mother.
When released the critical response to the film was mixed. But the public loved it and Psycho went on to become one of the biggest black and white grossing films of all time.
The box office success led to a re-review by the critics in which the response was overwhelmingly positive.
The film was nominated for four Academy Awards Best Director, Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh, Black and White Cinematography and Black and White Art Direction - set decoration. It failed to win any.
Psycho kicked off a craze of myster thrillers as Hammer Film Productions released Taste of Fear amd Maniac, amongst others, trying to capture some of Hitchcocks critical and commercial success and financial reward.
Hitchcock had begun an innovation in film using the daring, and never seen before, plot device of killing off Janet Leigh in the first part of the movie.
Psycho was also unprecidented in the showing of extreme violence and sexuality. Depicting an unmarrired couple Sam and Marion sharing a bed and showing them as lovers would have been a taboo at the time.
The violence in the shower scene made it one of the ost terrifying scenes ever committed to film. That scene is the most influential few moments in the whole film and has become an iconic image in cinema history.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw