One of the greatest, most popular, significant, influential and recognisable films of all time.

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s strongest films and most commonly considered to be his most famous.

Commercially and critically successful, it is today globally praised as a major cinematic work of art by film critics for its direction, storytelling, performances, music, terror, shock and suspense.

It was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock and Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh.

It changed cinematic storytelling, opening the doors for creatives to make more game-changing choices in terms of narrative and story structure, more creative casting and marketing and to explore new levels of violence, deviant behaviour and sexuality in film.

It is most commonly considered to be the film that created modern horror, “the first psychoanalytical thriller” and one of the earliest examples of the slasher film genre.

Roger Ebert reviewed the film stating the film’s success comes directly from how it connects to “our fears that we might impulsively commit a crime, our fears of the police, our fears of becoming the victim of a madman, and… our fears of disappointing our mothers”. It is, simply, a film that “connects directly with our fears.”Psycho is one of the most top ranked films on many ‘Greatest Films’ lists by magazines and websites with its most notable rankings being:

• #14 in AFI’s ranking of 100 Years… 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), #1 in their ranking of 100 Thrills, #2 in 100 Heroes and Villains and #4 in 100 Years of Film Scores.

• #35 in British Film Institute’s 2012 poll for Greatest Films Ever Made, #53 in Empire’s 2017 list of The 100 Greatest Movies and #8 in BBC’s 2015 list of 100 Greatest American Films.

• #5 in Time Out’s 2021 list of100 Best Horror Movies, #6 in Total Film’s 2005 list of Greatest Horror Films of All Time and #1 in The Guardian’s 2010 list of Best Horror Films of All Time.

Today, the film is positively reviewed on Metacritic with a score of 97 out of 100 from 17 critics showing “universal acclaim” and on Rotten Tomatoes it is 96% approved from 103 reviews.