Alfred Hitchcock Biography     Elements     Works     Criticism

"The title is suggestive of the film's profound impact on viewers. Psycho, endowed with graphic violence and a cutting script, transcends its fertile grounds as a thriller. Its driving force cannot be measured by the eyes or ears, in mere terms of gore or screaming. The film imparts terror, fiercely psychological, that lingers long after screams have subsided. Viewers are drawn into the mind of Marion Crane, the film's ill-fated protagonist played by Janet Leigh. Such manipulation, evident in the narration, contributes to the force of the "shower scene"."

-Emily Woodward, B.A. in English

"Practically all of Hitchcock's dramatic ideas were visual. If a cameraman is supposed to 'paint with light,' Hitchcock painted with moving camera."

-Jack Cardiff, in Hitchcock's Notebooks by Dan Auiler


"One of Hitchcock's calling cards has always been his masterful use of music to build suspense. In The Birds, the only score you'll hear is chirps and caws. This keeps the focus precisely where it should be; on our fine feathered fiends."

-efilmcritic.com