25 Definitively Best Movies EVER (According To Critics AND Fans)

19. Psycho (1960)

Anthony Perkins Norman Bates End Of Psycho Skull
Paramount Pictures

Score: 92

It might be more difficult to enjoy Psycho's big twist after the first time you watch it, but the genius of Hitchcock's strange, discomforting narrative still shines on well beyond the point of multiple viewings. Surprisingly, it actually doesn't lose a great deal for the magic being revealed.

Anthony Perkins is exceptional as the tortured, murderous Norman Bates, of course, but the film is all about Hitchcock's story-telling and the perverse feeling of being implicated in Bates' crimes as he does them. And while there are lots of terrible sequels and a completely numb-headed remake, critics still fall over themselves for the original as one of the great director's very best releases.

Rotten Tomatoes: 97 Audience: 94 IMDB: 85 Letterboxd: 87 Metascore: 97

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

WhatCulture's former COO, veteran writer and editor.