Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who doesn't have both oars in the water, lives in the "old, dark house," next to the adjoining hotel, which he owns as well. His mother has overbearing control over him, telling him what to do in great detail, and he is obsessed with her. "A boy's best friend is his mother. "

Janet Leigh plays a Phoenix office worker Marion Crane, who is tired of working in her dead-end job, and is given an opportunity to get some needed cash to marry her lover, Sam, when she is entrusted by her boss to deposit 40,000 dollars into a bank. She puts the money in her purse and heads out toward Sam's place in California, making a run for it. Because she was tired, and a big storm was brewing. Unfortunately, trouble and terror await Janet Leigh, who decides to stay at the Bates Hotel, which turns out to be an ill-fated choice.

After the quiet, well-mannered Norman makes her dinner, she retires to her hotel room for a shower, that turns out to be her last. Norman Bates attacks her with a knife, killing her in the shower, which is brilliantly filmed and directed by Hitchcock. This infamous shower scene has terrified many viewers, making them avoid the shower for some time.

Of course, others who are on the trail of embezzler Marion Crane wind up at the Bates Hotel, and have terrifying adventures of their own. How this crime is solved, and the twists and turns leading up to finding the truth and the terrifying ending makes it one of Hitchcock's best efforts; a truly compelling and terrifying film, that frightens the audience silly, without the usual gore found in today's films.

Screenplay by: Joseph Stefano, Based on the Novel by Robert Bloch. Stephano was a close friend of Alfred Hitchcock, and wrote many great horror-thriller screenplays in the 1960's and '70's, and a few in the '80's and '90's.

The wonderfully scary musical score was composed by Bernard Herrmann, whose most memorable work was done for nine Alfred Hitchcock films. He was a prolific composer, who proved to be one of the most original and distinctive in his field of work.

Anthony Perkins does a stunning portrayal of the creepy, criminally insane, crazed killer, Norman Bates.

This classic suspense horror movie is wisely rated R, as it is still very scary even today for most people. Norman Bates would give anyone under 17 or sensitive in nature nightmares for weeks.