Some boys are close to their mothers; let's just say that Norman loves his mom not wisely but too well. Like our No. 10 villain, the character may be loosely based off of serial killer Ed Gein, according to the book's author Robert Bloch, but credit Anthony Perkins for making the gangly caretaker of the Bates Motel seem like he's simply a slightly off version of the boy next door, what with the oddball hobbies and awkwardness around Janet Leigh. All the better to fool viewers once it becomes apparent that Norman is—what's the phrase?—not himself some days. The original slasher-film villain remains a touchstone for using the banality of evil to make audiences loosen their bowels in fright. Not even a handy psychologist's wrap-up can explain away his monstrousness; Norman may not hurt a fly in the last scene, but that death's-head smile at the end suggests that he's far from cured.—David Fear

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