We regret to announce that David Thomson is unable to join us this evening; however, The Moment of Psycho will still be available for sale at this screening.

In celebration of his new book The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder, David Thomson will introduce this screening of Hitchcock's film. Thomson's previous books include Have You Seen . . . ? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, and The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood. Purchase The Moment of Psycho at the screening and receive the 10 percent members' discount!

From its early scenes of self-censored sex in an anonymous hotel room, through Janet Leigh's cold pursuit of hard cash, to a cop-car chase shown almost entirely in a small rear-view mirror, Psycho is a study in chilling frustration, effectively photographed in shades of gray. Ironically, things only warm up at the Bates Motel (a family establishment), where Anthony Perkins's Norman Bates brings the first elements of vulnerable humanity. Norman is crazy (the others aren't?), and his curious relationship with Mom is certainly one of the more intimate mother-son relationships around. Norman's vulnerability is somehow contagious; it rubs off on Janet, whose attempt to freshen up in the shower is fruitless. “As for ‘psycho' itself, that word, the name, the film turned it loose on the culture like a mad dog, and it shifted the Freudian age of potential treatment into one of licensed glee” (David Thomson).