Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, widely hailed as the greatest horror film of all time, is now available to stream for free on BBC iPlayer. The 1960 classic, adapted from Robert Bloch's novel, is considered the progenitor of the slasher genre.
Plot and Legacy
The film follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who steals money from her employer and checks into a remote motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a man with a disturbing relationship with his mother. Psycho polarized audiences upon release with its nudity, violence, and twist ending, but is now recognized as a foundational work of modern horror.
It holds a 97% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Guardian calling it 'the best horror film of all time' in a 2010 retrospective. In Variety's 2024 list, it ranked third behind The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The Times praised Hitchcock's 'impeccable craft,' while NME highlighted Perkins and Leigh's 'career-best' performances. Audience scores stand at 95% positive.
Influence and Adaptations
Psycho influenced classics like John Carpenter's Halloween and Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill. It spawned three sequels with Perkins reprising his role, a 1999 shot-for-shot remake directed by Gus Van Sant starring Vince Vaughn, and the TV prequel Bates Motel starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga.
Real-Life Inspiration
The film resurfaced in 2025 with Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which explored how Bloch based his novel on real-life killer Ed Gein. Bloch claimed he had written most of the book before Gein's 1957 arrest, but acknowledged similarities: 'I'd discovered how closely the imaginary character I'd created resembled the real Ed Gein both in overt act and apparent motivation,' he said, per Galaxy Press.
The series also depicted Perkins' struggle as a closeted gay man, drawing criticism from his son, director Osgood Perkins, who told TMZ he 'wouldn't watch it with a 10-foot pole.'
Hitchcock's Intentions
Despite its terrifying reputation, Hitchcock originally envisioned Psycho as a comedy. 'A lot of people looked at this thing and said what a dreadful thing to do, how awful, and so forth. The content as such was, I felt, rather amusing and it was a big joke. I was horrified to find that some people took it seriously,' he said on the TV show Monitor in 1964.
Psycho is streaming on BBC iPlayer now.
