Psycho

Psycho is the definitive Hitchcock horror film and was so influential that it was remade shot-by-shot in its exact entirety by Gus Van Sant. It's about a young secretary who steals a bunch of money from her boss and runs away to be with her lover. She stops for the night in an out of the way motel where she meets the creepy Norman Bates and his "mother." When she disappears her lover and her sister began to look for her and to piece together what happened.

This movie set the standard for the genre and was considered very bloody and violent at the time. The murder scene in the shower is notable for having been so scary that Janet Leigh never showered again. It is full of iconic scenes, mainly surrounding Norman Bates. However, having watched this in 1998 I found it a bit of a disappointment. While it's clearly a well-made film, I knew too much about it already and was expecting a scary classic. It felt dated and lacking in tension. It's worth seeing if you're a Hitchcock fan or a horror fan because it's still good, but it is no longer frightening by today's standards.