Pyscho (7.7/10)

Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror/mystery was way ahead of its time, and you can see the path it lit for so many of the movies we watch today. Of course, it feels dated in places, but the plot was still strong enough to hold my attention the whole way through. Judged on its era and its significance, this is easily a 9/10. On a true scale against today's bar, though, I had to mark it down when comparing it to the rest of movie history. It's a must-see for anyone who cares about where the genre came from, even if it doesn't hit as hard as it once did. "Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother."