Psycho

Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam who is in California. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be controlled and fed up with his mother.  For Marion Crane, it's been quite an eventful day. The day before, she had stolen $40,000 from her employer's client, packed her bags and driven all day on her way to join her lover several miles away.

Several things make this a good thriller; 

• The fact that it is in black and white, even when films have been able to watch in color
• The music is very subtle yet suspenseful 
• The murder scenes

The murder of Marion Crane is one of the most famous scenes in film history...

What makes this scene a classic is the screeching music that plays as soon as the murderer pulls the curtains, and the way the swirling water into the black hole fades to a shot of her eye at the end.

Another classic scene is right at the end of the film...




This scene is what made the film legendary. What makes it a good scene is that we finally here the mother of Norman Bates, the notorious murderer, speak. At the end, when the shot fades, if you look carefully enough you can see the Norman's face in the form of his mothers skull as he smiles.