Yeah I agree, that was really well done. The scariest part for me was
Really disturbing and completely s**t me up lol.
WARNING: spoilers below
when the sister finds his mother's corpse in the cellar and Bates comes rushing upon on her with the knife in the wig and dress.
WARNING: spoilers below
shower scene and the scene in the cellar were things I'd seen through other movies/TV shows. But the part with the detective on the stairs wasn't and I didn't see it coming at all.
It's the way that it switches to that overhead shot (obviously to disguise the identity of the attacker) as she rushes out, but then swoops into a close up of the detective falling down the stairs. It's weird--on the one hand you can sort of tell how fake the effect is (ie the actor is like sitting on something and waving his arms and then it's projected onto the shot of the stairs), but I've fallen down the stairs a few times and honestly no other movie scene has ever quite captured the way I feel as it's happening more than Psycho *shrug*
It's the way that it switches to that overhead shot (obviously to disguise the identity of the attacker) as she rushes out, but then swoops into a close up of the detective falling down the stairs. It's weird--on the one hand you can sort of tell how fake the effect is (ie the actor is like sitting on something and waving his arms and then it's projected onto the shot of the stairs), but I've fallen down the stairs a few times and honestly no other movie scene has ever quite captured the way I feel as it's happening more than Psycho *shrug*
I'm glad you enjoyed the film. I think that Psycho is firmly in the camp of classics that hold up really well even for a more "casual" audience. It even has some elements that feel more modern, like the threatening vibe of the highway patrol officer.