I do so hate the trend of "this movie from 1931 isn't scary, therefore it is bad and we shouldn't talk about it!"

Oh, I'm sorry that you "predicted" the ending of Dracula, it's only one of the most influential horror films of all time.

I DO, however, enjoy folks watching Psycho for the first time, because they're all set for the shower scene but don't realize that there's more than another HOUR of film after that.

That's the BEGINNING, bitch.

Also? You do not even know how incredible a mindfuck that movie was. It sets up a narrative, it sets up a character played by a big star, and then? It reverses direction completely and murders the leading lady. It's total cinematic whiplash.

And it works. It works in a way that a lot of contemporary horror movies don't because we're primed for them. It spends half an hour on a story that is almost meaningless. THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF HOUR IS THE MACGUFFIN.

It's narratively brilliant, and it makes explicit use of star persona in several different ways. It primes the viewer for the inevitability of murder for the rest of the film, but pulls back except in ONE other instance.

There is literally no other film quite like it, even in Hitchcock's oeuvre. It implicates the viewer and forces us to participate in our own terror.

Most importantly, it undercuts its own safe explanation at the end. It gives you a warm, closed ending and then rips it away with just a few more shots. It gives you time to breathe, just like in the first half hour, and then takes it away.

"Oh, you got comfortable? Well, fuck you."

He never did anything like it again, but it's perfect.