The director of the film is Alfred Hitchcock. It's writers are Joseph Stefano (screnplay) and Robert Bloch (novel). It's stars are Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles.
The film has several characteristics of a thriller. The threat is from what appears to be a normal man, but it turns out he has gone mad from his mother's death.
There is also fast pacing, frequent action: the shower scene and the staircase scene (Arbogast's death) are examples. There is also suspense, and red herrings; we were led to believe that the film would be centred around Marion, however her death in the middle of the film leaves the audience shocked and clueless. In fact, Hitchcock was determined to keep the audience thrilled throughout the film, and he wanted to make extra sure by doing things such as having no advance screenings, and no one was also let into the film if it had already started. At the end of the film was a trailer from Hitchcock telling the audience not to give the plot away to anyone else, to keep new audiences in for the ride. The music score was used effectively to build up tension (unlike in 'The Birds', where tension was built via the silence). However it could be argued that there was no antagonist in this film, as it is not Norman's fault that he has gone mad.
A key scene in this film was the shower scene; it's a very famous sequence, with it's musical score often being used to insinuate tension by other films, shows, etc.
The scene also has some key parts, such as the killer's identity not being seen, as well as the knife only ever seen to cut skin once. Much of the detail of Marion's murder was left to the imagination of the audience, which added to the tension.
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