It is easy to argue that 'Psycho' (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) is one of the greatest and most influential horror films to date... but why is that so? There many reasons as to why Psycho is seen as such a great horror film, but there are certain key factors that helped to give it the reputation is has today. First of all the premise of psycho is completely different to any other horror film at the time since most horror films were about monsters like the wolf man, Dracula and Frankenstein and had simple plots about simply defeating these monsters, psycho is a story of betrayal, mystery and real human issues, which made them film seem a lot more realistic than other horror films and made the film a lot scarier since the events that occurred in the film could occur in real life.
One major factor that made psycho such a hit was because of its killer Norman Bates. Most killers in horror movies were a type of monster or supernatural force that didn't really exist; the use of a human killer added much further to the films sense of realism and set the stage for future human killer such as: leather face (Texas chainsaw massacre) and Michael Myers (Halloween). What was interesting about Psycho is that before Norman bates is revealed to be the killer he seems like a normal person even rather nice at times (despite being controlled by his dominating mother) which really plays with the audience's expectation because in the majority of horror films the killer is painfully obvious from the first time you see them so there is less sense of suspicion and mystery, where as psycho uses these elements to its advantages since the audience were made to expect that Normans mother was the killer after witnessing the shower scene which helped to put the audience on edge and overall make the film scarier.
This brings me to my final point, which is that Psycho has a larger focus of suspense and tension rather the blood and gore. Through out the film only two people were killed in Psycho and even then the wasn't much emphasis on the blood pouring out of their body (plus the fact that it was shot in black of white) but rather the build up to their deaths and the use of high pitched music or the 'psycho strings'. This more apply to Marion's death or the 'shower scene' which is arguably the scariest scene in the film since the scene where Norman is talking to Marion in the parlour really helps to build tension and suspense because it's mise-en-scene (the birds being symbolic since Marion's last name is 'Crane' and the way they are position as if they are watching Marion), Norman becoming more paranoid when Marion suggest that he should put his mother in a home, the use of low angle shots near Norman to make him seem like a more powerful an threatening figure etc.
It's because of these key elements that Psycho became such a hit and is regarded as such a great horror film. There are various other reasons why Psycho was such a influential horror (such as the time and dating setting in the beginning of the film and the various shots used in the shower scene) but it's these elements in particular that are the main reason for Psycho's reputation and the reason why many horror film after psycho used a lot it's ideas and conventions (e.g. a human killer and a bigger emphasis on tension and suspense).
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