Psycho (1960) poster
1960 · horror · thriller

Psycho

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock1h 49m1960
ElsewhereIMDb8.5784kRT97%Metacritic97TMDB8.411k
  • heavy
  • extreme
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, steady, extreme horror / thriller, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

Our read · Psycho (1960) reads as a heavy, steady, grounded horror · thriller entry — extreme in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of Psycho

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want classic suspense that erupts into one of cinema's most shocking murders.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 40attention 4/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upnuditygraphic violence

Skip it tonightYou want easy viewing or are sensitive to psychological horror and implied violence.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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