Album Review

Psycho – Blu Ray –

• 26th Jul 2010

Some people worry about upgrading old films up to Blu-Ray as it can do an injustice to the picture. Well not so with Hitchcock (certainly his golden era of film making) – if anything these titles should be on the frontline for upgrade.

Visual style is a large part of what he worked with and Psycho comes to us not in picture and sound perfection.

Do we really need to rehash the plot for you? Well there is always someone out there who has managed to avoid the odd classic. So for their benefit I won’t go into heavy detail. The film opens with a young career gal called Marion who is trapped in work she doesn’t like, and in an affair with a man she can’t seem to marry. By chance she comes into the possession of another persons money and decides to hit the road with it stopping off at a motel on her long and journey. It is here she encounters the owner, Norman Bates. Their interplay together is both impressionable and decisive for them both and marks the beginning of something altogether unforeseen.

To say any more would spoil it for those 3 people on the planet who have no idea what the film is about. But we are pretty sure that those three subscribe so we’ll stop there.

The extras on this disc are also worth getting excited about. There is a new doc “Psycho Sound” which focuses on the re-mastering of the film, which is illuminating for those interested in the technology and process.

The meat of the film is in “The making of Psycho” which is 90 minutes long and encompasses the full path the film took from book to screen. Equally engrossing is “In the Master’s Shadow – Hitchcock’s legacy” which has many a film maker giving their contribution as to how Hitchcock shaped and influenced their own cinema and that of others. It all feels relevant and never too much like back slapping of the director. There is an audio commentary to enjoy – which thankfully comes from Stephen Rebello who authored the making of book –m so yes it is littered with information.

For completists there is also an audio excerpt between Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut from their published 1962 interview. Beyond this there is a large archive of news footage, stills, trailers and notes.

There seems to be no stone unturned for this release. North By Northwest got some impressive treatment when it upgraded to Blu-Ray – Psycho doesn’t t drop the ball. Let’s hope all studios do Hitchcock some justice with his other releases too!