Psycho (1960)

I think I first saw "Psycho" back when I was about eleven or twelve, and I recall a young friend of mine laughing at me because I was watching a film that was in black and white. Replying that this film was one of the biggest horror flicks of all time, my buddy replied, "Some crappy black and white movie is supposed to be scary?" Well, after we got to the infamous shower scene my friend (who was a year or two younger than me) suddenly had to go home for reasons unknown. I recall laughing at his false bravado because I knew the real reason he went home is because he was scared shitless! As I grew older, I tended to always have a soft spot for this one and even came to love all the sequels that were to follow. Nothing really needs to be said about this one that has not been said already...it's a classic piece of filmmaking, plain and simple. My favorite moment in this one has to be the little chitchat scene between Norman and the soon to be motherized Janet Leigh. Right there we know that something is not quite right about this guy, but you can't tell if he is a harmless sort of weird, or maybe something more. It's tough to watch this one nowadays without having at least some sort of knowledge about the plot, so I can only imagine how shocking it was when it first came out. Love the creepy old house, Norman's little lines like "you eat like a bird", and on and on. Definitely required viewing for the serious horror student, both young and old alike.