Origins of My Love of Horror 8

Yesterday I wrote a few words about Dario Argento, referred to in some circles as the Italian Alfred Hitchcock. This allows me to segue to Hitch and his seminal 1960 movie Psycho.

It's impossible to overstate the movie's influence. It's a movie that changed everything; not only did it set the stage for what we consider to be the modern thriller, it also laid the groundwork for the slasher movie. You can see seeds of it in Bob Clark's Black Christmas, and full flowering with movies like John Carpenter's Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Burning, and more than a hundred others.

It's based on a 1959 novel by Robert Bloch. While there are a few minor differences, the novel is as much required reading for horror fans as the movie is required viewing.

What is your favorite proto-slasher movie? What is your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie? Let me know in the comments.