More than anything this film kept us on our toes, and kept audiences guessing.  Truly by the end of this film when Norman Bates is revealed to be impersonating his own mother, everyone was shocked.  No one saw it coming, and in a time before M. Night Shyamalan this was a totally unexpected twist.

It made it's mark on the film industry and audiences because it dared to try new things, many filmmakers wouldn't have bothered with.  How many times can you say you've seen a movie where the main character is killed half way through.  Could you imagine how stunned they must have been when this first released?  Normally it's pretty taboo to kill your main character in any story, but Hitchcock did it so deftly, you never even realized until the end, that the main character, the story we were following was actually Bates.

While the techniques employed seem textbook now, they were revolutionary then, and it's rare today when another filmmaker can use adeptly today.  It's a great demonstration of Hitchcock's abilities as a story teller, and one that's hard to match.  While there have been many misguided attempts at remakes, and some very poorly done sequels, nothing comes close to the original.

So if you're not doing anything later maybe whip out that old classic and celebrate it's 50th today by watching this with the lights out.  Oh and maybe keep your eyes open in the shower...

-Jordan