August 23, 2022 • 46 mins
This week we watched a movie that changed horror, and taking showers, forever: Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece "PSYCHO."
Our discussion touched on subjects including both fictional and real serial killers and murder. We will be spoiling this film, so if you haven't seen it, please watch it first and come back for the discussion.
Regarding language: While we realize that, shockingly, teens are usually very familiar with the rich tapestry of english language swear words, unless otherwise noted at the beginning of our episodes we will be keeping things family friendly and avoiding cussing in both our banter and movie clips. Of course in this episode, even without f bombs, the subject matter is still pretty intense so probably not appropriate for younger kids.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:00):
Marion's boss asks her to take it. Did you just delete
something?
Sage (00:03):
It said back at "the work." Is there only "one work"
in the world?
Ethan (00:08):
Yes, there is "the job"
Sage (00:10):
The one office.
Ethan (00:11):
I am going to "the job" now. The work at the office.
Sage (00:16):
It's ours.
Ethan (00:17):
Okay.
Sage (00:28):
Hello, and welcome to Episode Nine of the Teen Horror
podcast where we watch anddiscuss horror movies from a
teen's perspective. I'm yourhost Sage, and I'm joined by my
co host and unpaid intern, mydad.
Ethan (00:41):
Greetings everybody.
Sage (00:43):
This week, we watched a movie that changed horror and
taking showers forever. Psycho.
Ethan (00:49):
(makes EEE EEE EEE noises like the Psycho soundtrack)
Sage (00:51):
What was that!
Ethan (00:54):
That was my soundtrack.
Okay, so maybe a quick contentwarning. This movie does feature
subjects including bothfictional and real serial
killers and murder. Well, Iguess the movie doesn't contain
real serial killers, but ourdiscussion of the movie will
contain discussions of realserial killers and murder. Yep.
Sage (01:12):
One other quick note, we will be spoiling this film. So
if you haven't seen it, pleasewatch it first and come back for
the discussion.
Ethan (01:21):
be keeping things family friendly and avoiding cussing in
both the banter and movie clips.
Of course, in this episode, evenwithout F bombs, the subject
matter is still pretty intense.
So probably not appropriate foryounger kids. We wanted to thank
(01:42):
everyone for listening and beinga part of the show. So thank
you, dear listener, we do havelisteners right now on all
continents other thanAntarctica, we figured that's
only because everyone inAntarctica has already been
turned into The Thing and TheThing doesn't listen to
podcasts, evidently. So but ifyou do know somebody on McMurdo
Station, hey, you know, mayberecommend us? Speaking of
recommendations, we do reallylike to get reviews and ratings
(02:05):
on Apple podcasts. So if youhave a chance, please review us
there, Apple podcasts inparticular. But really any
podcast platform is great if youwant to just leave us a review.
It also just makes us feel greatto know that you guys are
listening and how you feel aboutthe show and what your thoughts
are. We also wanted to give aspecial shout out to friend of
the show Rich at Scarecrowvideo,
Sage (02:25):
Who, by the way, has met David Lynch.
Ethan (02:27):
Yes, he's actually been in the same room. Yes, it's
pretty amazing. I suspect, notjust David Lynch. Well, I think
he's probably met a whole passelof directors.
Sage (02:37):
Do you just make that up?
No, I think passle isthe word for when directors are
all?
Ethan (02:42):
Yes. A group of directors is a passel of directors. Yeah,
he's met a bunch. Rich is afriend of the show a friend and
he gives us greatrecommendations on movies that
we like to watch. And you know,we actually watch, we try to
watch most of our films on Bluray. And it's just so great to
have Scarecrow here in Seattle.
I think it's the biggest videostore in the world right now.
(03:03):
Yeah, I should also mention,this is not any sort of
sponsored message, we justreally like Scarecrow, they're a
nonprofit, actually, they takedonations, you know, if you have
a like, say, I don't know,$40,000 in cash that you just
embezzled from your employer andfled town with their a great
choice. You don't have to belocal to do it. They're really
preserving a very importantmedia. So before we start with
(03:23):
our summary and review, wethought it might be fun to talk
a little bit about some of themovies we've been watching that
we haven't reviewed, how wewatch them and just have a
little casual chat time. How'sthat sound? How does that strike
your fancy?
Sage (03:41):
It strikes it perfectly.
Ethan (03:44):
But not too hard? Right?
Your fancy is ok? Alright, so werented a whole whole passle of
videos recently.
Sage (03:51):
We watched Dawn of the Dead.
Ethan (03:54):
The 1970s version to be clear. Yeah. Maybe we'll watch
the remake as well. What did youthink about I'm just curious.
Sage (04:01):
I think that it's definitely worth watching more
than once. Because I'm surethere's like themes and such
that you would get.
Ethan (04:10):
Is that the first zombie film that you've seen
Sage (04:12):
Define zombie film.
Ethan (04:14):
Film. With zombies.
Sage (04:16):
No. It is not.
Ethan (04:20):
What other zombie movies have you seen?
Sage (04:23):
I don't know. Zombieland?
Ethan (04:26):
Oh, Zombieland for sure.
You've seen Zombieland. Okay, sothis is not your first zombie
movie. Not my first zombierodeo.
Sage (04:34):
You called it a slow zombie movie?
Ethan (04:37):
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because later on. Yeah. So in 28
days later. I think that's themovie that introduces the
concept of the fast zombie.
Yeah. I should watch that too.
Yes. Totally. I actually wantyou to watch a couple more
zombie films when we maybe wejust do a zombie episode.
Sage (04:55):
Yeah, we could do that.
Yeah. I watched Lost Highway byDavid Lynch. I still cannot
believe that Rich has met DavidLynch. That's insane. I don't
know. Yeah, it's crazy. I haveseen someone who has seen David
Lynch
Ethan (05:13):
Through the transitive property of seeing you too have
seen David Lynch. Pretty much.
Maybe if we just sit and talkwith him for a while. And he
just really describes DavidLynch in detail.
Sage (05:24):
So today, we had an interview with David Lynch.
Ethan (05:27):
Sort of. Rich channeled David Lynch.
Sage (05:32):
What else we oh, we watched this, just like kind of
short horror movie. Yeah, like45 minutes long. AM 1200. It was
really good. And there were somebehind the scenes on it. On the
blu ray, they included a deletedscene, which I thought was fun
(05:55):
to see. It's interesting to justthink about how that would have
changed the film. So that thatmovie was really cool. And what
else
Ethan (06:04):
Trying to think what else I have seen recently.
Sage (06:06):
Well, oh, we watched The Life Aquatic. By Wes Anderson.
Ethan (06:11):
We do watch non horror films as well. Yeah.
Surprisingly, I really coverthose in our sister podcast,
teen non-horror podcast.
Sage (06:21):
I really like Wes Anderson. As a director. Yeah.
There's something there'ssomething about his, you know,
so the pace of his his movies.
If you know if a pace can becompared to someone walking the
pace of his movies, it's kind oflike someone walking with a
limp. But in a good way. Youknow, there's just some odd
(06:43):
pauses, you know, and some weirdlittle
Ethan (06:48):
sort of occasional shuffle.
Sage (06:50):
Yeah, yeah. I really like I think it's a unique
Ethan (06:55):
Yeah, what else? I'm trying to think what else we
watched prey? The new predator?
Oh, my
Sage (06:59):
gosh, yeah. I mean, and obviously, I've seen predator.
That's right.
Ethan (07:03):
Yep. But we just recently watched predator, right. Yeah.
Sage (07:07):
I wouldn't want to watch prey without first seeing
predator, because I think it'simportant to appreciate how far
the this battle of eggs havegone. And just see the original
concept. Yeah. A predator. Yeah.
Ethan (07:22):
I mean, also, I mean, the predator is pretty amazing what
they achieved without specialeffects. Yeah. Yeah. Which is
relevant, actually, to ourdiscussion of psycho. Yeah. And
just like go, do you think it'spronounced psycho? Yeah,
probably. But this whole
Sage (07:39):
episode about prey, I loved it. And I think it was
really good that they had afemale lead, and that almost the
whole cast the whole castbesides the like, the Frenchmen
were indigenous. And anyone whothinks that the movie is
(07:59):
unrealistic, because it was awoman can stop listening
Ethan (08:02):
to our podcast. Yeah.
Just turn it off right now.
Sage (08:06):
Because I have heard that criticism of it so many times.
And it is shocking to me thatpeople still have these trains
of thought. I truly cannotfathom that. There are people
out there who still think thatthe movie was bad because there
was a woman as the lead.
Ethan (08:26):
It's a terrible criticism. I know. Yeah. Yeah.
We really liked it. It was Iloved great movie. Super fun.
Love. It's taken predator into agreat direction. Yeah, I've
watched it twice now.
Sage (08:40):
So those are some of our movie recommendations recently.
Yeah. Um, okay, so should we geton to the summary? Oh, do you
have something else
Ethan (08:49):
to say? Oh, no, my thoughts aren't important. Just
steamroll right over everything.
I was gonna say
Sage (08:57):
anything. Okay. So,
Ethan (09:00):
yeah, let's go into the summary A quick note on our film
summaries, we love doing thesesummaries we love including
audio from the film's so let usknow what you think in terms of
like the length of the summary.
(09:22):
We go shorter, longer. Maybewe're hitting the sweet spot
just let us know what you think.
On to the summary. Sycho openswith a wide panning shot across
an American city hundreds ofbuildings 1000s of Windows. The
camera zooms in further andfurther to we're entering one
window in particular. Inside wewatch a steamy love scene
(09:43):
between Marion Crane, asecretary played by Janet Lee
and her boyfriend Sam Loomisplayed by John Gavin
Sage (10:13):
While the couple is interested in more than just
afternoon, rendezvoused and CDhotels, Sam is bound by debt it
doesn't feel he has thefinancial resources to marry her
yet.
(10:36):
Marian seems frustrated by thisshe clearly loves Sam, but how
they can overcome this obstacleis unclear.
Ethan (10:43):
Back at work, Marianne is discomforted by the lecherous
new client her bosses dealingwith.
Keeping his money off the bookshe slaps down payment for a
(11:04):
building and thick wads of cash,Marion's boss asks her to take
it for immediate deposit.
Leaving with a money Marianseize her opportunity to clear a
path for her and Sam to finallymarry. She literally takes the
money and runs
Sage (11:26):
fleeing town with a suitcase and $40,000 in cash.
She drives all night and sleepson the side of the road in her
car. awakened by a policeofficer she handles the
encounter poorly raising hissuspicions.
(11:54):
One bad encounter leads tofurther panic decisions as she
stops to trade in her car at adealership driving off past the
police officer who followed herthere.
(12:18):
She seems unprepared for her newlife of crime and needs to rest
to collect your thoughts.
Finally, in the middle of thenight in pouring rain, she spots
a motel. The Bates Motel fromwhich she will never check out.
Ethan (12:49):
Marian checks in and meets the proprietor Norman
Bates a young charming ifslightly odd young man. She and
Norman bond over a conversationin which they each reveal the
metaphorical traps they findthemselves in.
(13:18):
Marion doesn't disclose details,but Norman goes into depth about
feeling trapped by his mother,whom he still lives with in a
house behind the hotel. Marianand Norman each leave the
conversation inspired, butinspired two distinctly
different action.
Sage (13:33):
Marian returns to her room clear headed for the first time
and days and decides to returnthe money and face the
consequences. Feeling reliefhaving made this decision she
prepares to shower to wash awayher feelings of shame and guilt.
As she just robes she is unawarethat in the next remover. Norman
is watching her throw people. Hedesires her but this is
(13:55):
something his mother cannotabide. And minutes later she
bursts into the bathroom whileMarian showers a dark and
menacing figure who brutallymurders Marian by stabbing her
again and again with a knife.
Marion's life swirls down thedrain as she bleeds out in the
bath.
Ethan (14:15):
After his mother returns to their house, we hear Norman
scream apparently from theblood.
He rushes to the room and uponentering discovers to his horror
that his mother has killedapparently not for the first
time. After the initial shock hetakes action and disposes of
Mary Ann's body and possessions.
A
Sage (14:37):
detective sent to track down Marian and the money
contacts Marian sister andboyfriend Sam and then proceeds
to interview Normanhis suspicions around the
(15:09):
coverup of events lead to hissneaking into the Bates house
and a fatal encounter withNorman's mother.
Ethan (15:48):
Marian sister and Sam loose patients waiting for the
detective and take matters intotheir own hands. Breaking into
Marion's room at the hotel theyfind evidence of our occupancy
and know that Norman is lyingabout something.
(16:25):
Sam keeps Norman busy. Mariansister sneaks up to the house
convinced that the mother knowssomething to finding only empty
rooms she hides in the basementas Norman rushes in.
Sage (16:35):
There she enters the cellar and discovers to her
horror the desiccated remains ofNorman's mother.
(16:56):
As she screams, Norman rushes inwearing his mother's clothes,
acting, and as it turns out,even thinking as his mother
would, his split personality isfinally split no more, the
mother half dominatescompletely, and he descends into
madness alone in a policeholding cell as the movie ends.
II don't do that, again.
Ethan (17:21):
I don't remember any of the other soundtrack. But this
is that that's the only part ofthe scores. All right on to the
discussion.
Sage (17:40):
So for this movie, I actually want both of us I guess
we compiled a list of things totalk about, because there's just
so much that happened with thismovie behind the scenes,
especially because it wasdirected by Alfred Hitchcock.
And he's a little bit eccentric.
Ethan (17:57):
He has big ideas is master filmmaking.
Sage (18:00):
He's a little stubborn.
Yeah, one of the things that Iwanted to talk about was the
iconic shower scene, because youknow, I'm sure many people
listening to this podcast knowwhat we're talking about, even
if they haven't seen the movie.
I knew about the shower scene,even though Yeah, let's
Ethan (18:15):
Okay, so before we get into all that, let me ask you
like, what did you know aboutthis movie before? You You saw
it?
Sage (18:20):
What I knew about the movie, I knew the shower scene.
I knew the iconic scream. Thestabbing. And honestly, that's
pretty much it. I didn't knowanything about women. Yeah, you
didn't know Norman was No, Ididn't know it was Norman. I
didn't know that the mother wasactually dead. Well, I didn't
know anything else about thepotluck, the motel the
embezzlement, her boyfriend, hersister, anything like that.
(18:42):
Yeah. So even though it is insome ways, a hallmark of movies
and pop culture. It's reallyonly one scene that's talked
about heavily outside of horrorcircles.
Ethan (18:53):
We've been joined by our third production associate, new
member of the crew, our cat isjust wandered in. Just checking
things out. Could you get ussome coffee, please? This cat is
useless.
Sage (19:06):
So apparently, back in the day, when it was released in
1960. Obviously, there were alot of things that weren't as
acceptable to show on film. Yes.
And actually,
Ethan (19:18):
what was the issue? The censorship? Yeah. And,
Sage (19:20):
you know, no one had even seen a toilet on film before
before this movie, which I wassurprised by, you know, because
it's so normal now. I'm notreally shocked by it.
Ethan (19:29):
It's nothing but toilets everywhere. Yeah, obviously,
Sage (19:31):
they couldn't show a knife going into a person.
Ethan (19:34):
Yeah, there was a lot of censorship around like, that's
actually one of the reasons thatthis film, he chose to film this
in black and white, which feelslike you know, an iconic and
appropriate choice. But hecouldn't show red blood was like
that taboo. So he filmed it inblack and white so that there
wouldn't be red blood. I guess.
Dark blood is okay. It's likeblood if you like, react to it.
Sage (19:55):
Yeah. But yeah, so he managed to get around that with
lots of little jumps, jump cutsbetween the actual murder scene
yes or no between Marion's facescreaming and then the knife
almost coming into contact withthe torso. And apparently there
is a frame like three, threeframes maybe where the knife is,
(20:17):
quote unquote in her skin. Yeah.
And we were looking at a websitethat was talking about this we
dove deep. Yeah, so this personhad laid out each individual
frame of that suppose that scenewhere the knife breaks the skin,
supposedly, and they said thatthey thought that it didn't
actually break the skin, it wasjust kind of pressing into the
skin enough to make it look likeit was Yeah. And the way they
(20:40):
were able to make it so preciseand able to stop the knife
before it went in. This personwas speculating that it was
actually a reverse shot. Andthey had started with a knife
pressed into Marion's torso andthen pulled back and they had
analyzed like the water dropletsand the way the shower and the
(21:00):
wit like the water was moving.
To come to this conclusion, thisperson was really serious about
this. So I don't know if that'strue if it hasn't been
corroborated by Hitchcockhimself, because he's no longer
around. So I thought that wasinteresting. Yeah.
Ethan (21:15):
So can we take a step back? That was a lot of good
information. And it's reallynotable that the censorship
played a big role in sort ofshaping a lot of those scenes of
the film. But what what's yoursort of gut reaction to the film
like, did you first of all, didyou like it?
Sage (21:27):
I did like it. I liked the plot, twist the fact
Ethan (21:30):
that the who the person who you think the main character
is dies partway through or theend? Is that
Sage (21:36):
Yeah, and that his mother is dead. And you know, a lot of
movies, they'll talk about howthe audience first reacted when
it was shown, like they werescreaming in the theater in
hysteria. And it was the samewith this movie. I heard a lot
about that. And this is maybethe first movie I've seen, where
I can understand why theaudience was screaming like
(21:57):
that, you know, yeah, I get thatsame feeling. And I wasn't
screaming while I was watchingit, obviously. But I felt I felt
what I thought the audience feltwhen they saw it. And that's
something that can be hard toachieve, even what 60 plus years
later,
Ethan (22:14):
yeah, Hitchcock was doing an interview with Francois
Truffaut, another director,Hitchcock said that he felt like
he was playing the audience likea musical instrument. And I can
see that because by the end ofthe movie, when Marian sister
rushes into the cellar anddiscovers the corpse of the
mother, I felt like I've beendriving up this hill, you know,
(22:36):
just and you just hit the peakthis like crescendo of anxiety
and like tension. Yeah. And itjust bursts at that moment.
You're just like, oh, my gosh,
Sage (22:48):
yeah, it's great. The reveal, and the fact that it's
in black and white too, I thinkis really good, because I think
they didn't have to worry asmuch about making it look super
realistic, because it was inblack and white. And I think
there's also something aboutthat, that it seems to be almost
a restriction. And a lot oftimes restrictions can act to
(23:11):
make you more creative orinventive, or give you more
ideas. And there's this onething that you pointed out to me
was that in the beginning of themovie, Marian is wearing I think
it's like a white bra and awhite slip. Yeah. And after she
decides to embezzle the moneyand take it for herself. She's
wearing a black bra and a blackslip. Yeah. Which is definitely
(23:36):
on purpose. For sure. For sure.
It's symbolism and it's withinthe black and white. And I think
it's really cool.
Ethan (23:42):
And there's there's so many like moments where
characters move in and out ofshadow. And yeah, you know, it's
interesting that AlfredHitchcock actually, so he was
doing his Hitchcock Presents TVshow at the same time. And so he
let me see if I can get all thisstraight. He was with Paramount
at the time, right anduniversal. So this movie was
(24:02):
produced by Paramount but filmedat Universal Studios, because he
was moving there.
Sage (24:06):
Yeah. And also Paramount highly disapproved of him making
this movie, they were soadamantly against it. I don't
understand
Ethan (24:16):
how that happens, where they can be against something
but still contracts in the filmindustry. Seems so complicated.
Sage (24:22):
Yeah. So he had a very small budget, even for that
time.
Ethan (24:28):
It was he wanted to have a small budget. Yeah, it was,
Sage (24:30):
I think 800,000 or something like that. And he
actually decided to forego hisusual salary. What was his usual
salary?
Ethan (24:40):
So like tuner like $125,000.
Sage (24:44):
And he decided that he wanted all the money to go
towards the production becauseit had to because he
Ethan (24:51):
would be like, 25% of the entire budget. Well, yeah. Which
is his money, so he
Sage (24:54):
decided instead to take 60% What was it? Yeah.
Ethan (24:57):
60% of the gross The revenue from the film
Sage (25:01):
and which turned out to be a lot of money. Yeah, so I guess
he's happy he made thatdecision. Yeah, he made a ton of
money off of it. Yeah. And hestill managed to make an
incredible movie with not thatmuch money.
Ethan (25:13):
Okay, so the worldwide box office for psycho, was $32
million. Well, I can't rememberwhat the Blair Witch costume
revenue was. I think it was ahigher ratio. But this is pretty
good. Yeah, the reason Imentioned the Hitchcock Presents
TV show is because he used hisTV crew. Yeah, mind you. I mean,
(25:35):
it wasn't just like they weretalented. Obvious. Yeah, right.
Like it. It's film. It's, itdoesn't feel like a TV show. As
a movie, definitely. Although hedid consider splitting this
movie up into two parts and thenairing it on TV and stuff
releasing it in theaters. Yeah.
Can you imagine? Like, justwhat? I wonder if he would still
be considered as iconic if thathad happened? Yeah, so he used
(25:57):
his TV crew. And it was not ashoestring budget, but it was a
cheap for a film and 60. Part ofwhat he said about that was that
he had seen all these like indiefilms, cheap indie films come
out black and white indie films.
He's like, but what if somebodydid a really good job? Which is
both like kind of a dig, Iguess. But also sort of like,
(26:18):
well, I'm the guy. Yeah. But itwas good. Because, you know, he
was he was doing like big moneypictures. Like I think he just
done North by Northwest. Yeah.
And you know, those were likebig stars, big money, big
production, you know, onlocation, all sorts of crazy
stuff. And it was. So this was abig shift.
Sage (26:38):
Yeah. I think what his assistant said in an interview
was that he had read the bookpsycho. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Robert
Bloch. Yes, I think so. Yeah.
Robert Bork. Yep. So he'd readpsycho. And he said, we have to
do this book. One of the majorchanges he made from the book to
the movie was in the book.
(27:01):
Norman Bates is supposed to be apretty unlikable man.
Ethan (27:06):
Oh, yeah. Right, right.
Yeah. He's like a slob. And he'slays rose. He's
Sage (27:10):
an alcoholic. Yeah. And he, yeah, he owns a lot of porn
or something in the book, thatthey almost never I mean,
because you know, in the movie,they can't really show that.
Yeah. I think it's just, it'salmost just adjusted once when
Marian sister is in Norman'sroom, and she picks up a book
and it's just a shot of her eyeswide. Right.
Ethan (27:32):
I
Sage (27:32):
forgot about that. Really?
The only time right where it wasin the book is a lot more heavy
handed with that. Yeah. But
Ethan (27:38):
yeah, that's right. It's a book with a blank spine. And
yeah, I guess that was the 1960scode for like, this is a naughty
pictures book or something? Idon't know.
Sage (27:47):
Yeah, I don't know. But so he really wanted the viewer to
be sympathetic with Norman. Sohe made him different, like much
different than he was in thebook. And that's because halfway
through Norwin, becomes the maincharacter, Marian dies, which I
think was a big shock for me. SoI can't imagine what audiences
(28:08):
then thought of that likeswitch. So no one becomes the
main character. And at thatpoint, you have to start rooting
for him. Yeah. And by the
Ethan (28:17):
way, so this was written by Joseph Stefano, who was a
really young writer.
Sage (28:20):
And I think he had only written one thing prior. Yes.
Ethan (28:24):
And it's very unusual for Hitchcock to work with a young
artist.
Sage (28:27):
I think he was reluctant.
But there was some scene thathe'd written was at the opening
scene, I think, I think it was,yeah. And so Alfred Hitchcock
took him home with him. And hecame back and he said, Oh, my
loves it. That's right. Yeah.
His wife. Yeah. We just I thinksomeone I think his assistant
said something like that wascode for it's really good. And
(28:48):
you're hired. Yeah. Yeah. Andit's because I think someone,
someone else prior to JosephStefano had written the, like
the entire script for psycho.
And Hitchcock didn't like,
Ethan (29:00):
Yeah, this is not uncommon, by the way. Yeah,
there's a podcast that I reallylike called best movies ever
made. Which if you like film,you know, it's it's a film nerds
dream, because they talk justabout films that never get made,
or versions of films thatdidn't. Yeah, it's amazing how
scripts get produced inHollywood. So yeah, he worked
with Joseph Stano. They did areally tight story with some
(29:21):
really interesting twists. Theytake their like lead actor and
kill her halfway through. Yeah.
Which is unimaginable, right.
Like it's the kind of theultimate bait and switch.
Sage (29:33):
Right. Something else is that a lot of the parts I think
were written for the actors whoplayed them. Yeah. And I think
it's great. I think especiallyNorman Bates. Really well, yeah.
Yeah. Anthony Perkins playsNorman Bates. He did a really
good job at it. And who playsMary? Generally? Yeah. Okay,
sorry.
Ethan (29:51):
Yeah. Yeah, played by Janet Lee. And, of course,
mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.
Sage (29:56):
I think they were they were both really Good in their
roles, because they're both verynuanced roles. You know, Marian
has committed a crime, but it'snot because she's a criminal.
It's because she wants to getmarried. You know, she knows
nothing about it's not
Ethan (30:14):
because she's a criminal.
It's because she's a person.
Yeah, like, isn't that that'skind of, I think one of the, I
don't know, that's how I readthese characters is like, we all
have a little madness in us. Weall have a little darkness in
us. Yeah.
Sage (30:27):
And Marian is able to overcome that she decides to go
back and deliver the money towhere it's supposed to be right.
And face the consequences ofembezzling $40,000. That's after
she has her talk with Norman inhis parlor, which is a great
scene in the movie, maybe one ofthe best, because you kind of
get a sense that Norman is alittle bit off. Yeah, there's
(30:51):
something inside him that'sdifferent
Ethan (30:54):
in at that point, I think it's still very possible to read
his character as just a littleodd and off. Yes, he's a little
like, overly controlled by hismother, or you know, is
development is stuntedemotionally or something like
that. Yeah. And not necessarilylike, oh, by the ways, it's got
to slip
Sage (31:10):
out. Yeah. One of the great things about the movie is
that at first when we first meetNorman, I didn't guess that he
was the psycho, you know, yeah,I, I asked you and you said
something like, Oh, he's toonice to be
Ethan (31:25):
nice. I didn't say no. I remember, like, very carefully,
kind of want to,
Sage (31:30):
like, oh, and I believe you because he is so nice. In
the beginning. There's no hintthat he, he's crazy.
Ethan (31:37):
I love you know, that performance by Anthony Perkins
is amazing.
Sage (31:41):
I know. And
Ethan (31:42):
you like him immediately.
I
Sage (31:44):
like no ugly. Yeah, he's, he's just a nice guy. And then
Ethan (31:48):
you feel like, within 30 seconds, you are feeling
sympathy for this guy. And likehis hotels on hard times. He's
still chipper about it, andstill trying to like, you know,
keep his chin up.
Sage (31:59):
And that's what helps. I think when Marian dies. That's
what helps the audience to lockon to Norman instead of Marion
is because before earlier in themovie, they've already
established this kind of warmfeeling about him. And even if
that's kind of slipped, yeah,after the parlor discussion, it
comes right back up once Mariandies.
Ethan (32:20):
That's actually a really good point. There's a scene so
Norman Norman mother nominallyright, we hear her voice and
Norman and his mother have aconfrontation up in the house,
he rushes back down, discoversMary's body kind of has a
breakdown. Again, furthercementing the fact that we think
like, oh, this is you know, it'snot him. It's his mom's crazy.
Yeah. And then he like pullshimself together decides he has
(32:43):
to hide the body in order toprotect his mom you assume and
and take care of herpossessions, stuffs everything
to do with her car, and itdrives her car into like a
swamp, basically.
Sage (32:54):
Yeah. And there's a scene where you're watching the car.
Yeah. Sink slowly into the mud.
Yes. And Norman is standingthere watching eating his candy
corn as he does,
Ethan (33:06):
which is which was an improv. Yeah. at Perkins. Love
it.
Sage (33:10):
There's a point where the car stops in the mud. And you
can still see the top of it. AndNorman kind of freezes and looks
at
Ethan (33:16):
it. You freeze as the audience right here.
Sage (33:19):
You're waiting your breath to keep going. Yeah. So at this
point, you're with Norman. Yeah,
Ethan (33:24):
I think it's that pause that just that to me. That's
Hitchcock's mastery. Yeah.
Right. It's like if the if thecar had just like sunk straight
down, you might still kind of belike, this guy. But because
there's like, literally justlike five seconds where you're
like, waiting for the car tocontinue sinking. Yeah, I saw
that. And I'm like, oh, maybe hecan cover the car up. Maybe he
can. What can you do? Maybe ifyou get some brush or some
(33:48):
branches or something, you know,like I'm like strategizing what
he what he can do. I'm like, allof a sudden, I'm in his mindset.
All the sudden I'm on his side.
Yeah, five seconds. Hecompletely gets us to switch
allegiance. Yeah, amazing.
Sage (34:00):
So we watched the remake a little bit of that. But one of
the criticisms we had is howstiff the actors seem, because
it is a shot for shot line forline remake. Yes, there's no
there's no originality. Andbecause those parts are not
written for the actors in theremake. It doesn't work.
Ethan (34:21):
I like Gus Van Sant. I don't like that remake. And it
is it's exactly for that reason.
We talked about constraintsbefore like, you know, you can
be constrained by budget, youcan be constrained by format
film stock, you know, black andwhite. In a way you could say,
well, Gus Van Zandt, you know,wanted to do an homage here and
the constraint was to do a shotby shot word by word
reproduction of psycho, and youcould still find ways to be
(34:45):
creative within them. I justfelt like if you're gonna try to
have that as your constraint youreally need to excel or exceed
in other areas. And it didn't,you know, really didn't Yeah,
the actors did feel wooden. Theyseem constraint, like, you can't
do any I mean, you're acting Iguess, but it's like doing
Shakespeare almost. Yeah. And Iguess there's an argument to be
(35:06):
made for do it, treat it likethat and just say, Well, we are
it's like we're doing, you know,a Shakespeare play. We're just
gonna be very loyal to theoriginal material. Yeah, but,
but the point is that in theoriginal material, a lot of it
was
Sage (35:20):
improv. Yeah. And one of the other things that shouldn't
say improv
Ethan (35:23):
that makes it sound to off the cuff, but it was like
they really made the scenestheir own, and they did
improvise a lot of them. Andthere were a couple scenes
actually, like Arbogast andNorman Bates, the detective and
Norman Bates when they'rethey're talking for the first
time. Yeah, like that. seen thefilm twice. And the second one
was the one that they used,because they both wanted to
Sage (35:44):
improv a little bit. Yeah, and they can't do that in the
remake and one of the otherthings in the remake that I
don't know whose choice it wasmaybe the actor or maybe they
thought it would just be betterthis way. But Norman right off
the bat is creepy. There's nowarm sense of companionship or
anything he does is the actordoes this thing where his laugh
(36:04):
is a little was kind of astereotypical metaclass. Yeah,
so right away, you get a weirdfeeling from him, which I think
one of the great parts of theoriginal movie is that he's not
like that at first. Yeah, youlike him? He's like, Yeah, and
in the remake you lose that
Ethan (36:30):
which talk a little bit about the origin of psycho, the
book. Yes. Movie. Where thiscomes from? Yeah. So goes goes
back to my my hometown. My homemy stomping grounds. Wisconsin,
Wisconsin.
Sage (36:44):
This is a little bit disturbing. Yeah, this part so
yeah, just a heads up about areal serious No, who add to gain
is he was a serial killer fromWisconsin
Ethan (36:57):
litter. And I'm not joking. Like, probably. He's
like a stone's throw from thetown I grew up in not more than
maybe 30 minute drive away.
Sage (37:05):
Yeah. So little disturbing, but his case is
pretty famous. Yeah. Because ofthe things that they found in
his house after he was caught.
This is the part that's reallygets kind of gory. In his house.
They found objects made out ofhuman skin.
Ethan (37:24):
Yeah. It was basically it was like taxidermy and
Sage (37:27):
stuff like famously lampshade. Yeah, like tights
made out of someone's skin. Itwas pretty disturbing stuff. He
said in his that he was tryingto become his mother.
Ethan (37:42):
So this serial killer inspires many different films.
Yeah, psycho Texas ChainsawMassacre, Silence of the Lambs.
Like there's a whole series offilms, because a minute is a
horrific events, which reallybecomes kind of seared into the
American psyche.
Sage (37:57):
Because it's hard to imagine how anyone could it's
Ethan (38:01):
it's horrific. It's like, absolute horror. You know, one
of the ways I think that we doprocess the horror of real
events is through fiction isthrough cinema. Right? So this
is sort of our collectivedreaming and processing of
terrible events that thathappened.
Sage (38:19):
Yeah. And it produces things like psycho. Yeah. And in
psycho. Obviously, it's muchmore tainted. Now. The biggest
similarity, I think, is betweenhis relationship with his
mother. Right. And that's a bigpart of it is that he is
becoming his mother. Yes, hedoesn't skin people. He doesn't
do anything like that. He justdresses up as his mother. And
Ethan (38:40):
although he does, he did taxidermy his mother. Basically,
were trying to show her body
Sage (38:45):
yeah, to preserve it, and he act as if she's alive. He
speaks in her voice. Thecreepiness is that he really
does believe that he is hismother. There's a scene at the
end. That's yeah, let's talkabout the sleep debated. After
Norman Bates has been caught,the psychiatrist is talking to
(39:08):
who is I think it's just Sam andMarian sister. Who else is
there.
Ethan (39:12):
The cops were there?
Yeah. Probably the districtattorney is there is anything
like it's a whole mess of Yes,Sam in the in Marion sister
there as well. I believe. It's aweird scene. It almost feels
like a courtroom scene.
Sage (39:25):
So the psychiatrist is just explaining everything.
Yeah, much that has gone on inNorman's mind and
Ethan (39:34):
monologues for like 510 Min. It feels like a long time.
Sage (39:37):
So when I first watched it, I didn't particularly notice
that seen as something thatseemed off about the movie plays
I understand where some peopleare coming from with their
criticisms of it. It's like howin some movies, they hold your
hand and they explain
Ethan (39:54):
what's going on through dialogue. Watch this movie. Now
we're going to explain whathappened.
Sage (39:58):
I mean, maybe it was different than I The time maybe
some audiences needed that, youknow, what he's saying is pretty
much like Norma has a splitpersonality. He thinks he is his
mother and he had at times heasked for her. And then there's
also a whole part about hismother's backstory about how
Norman's father died. And thenhis mother finds someone else.
(40:18):
And Normann kills them both.
Ethan (40:20):
It basically lays out the entire backstory, but it does it
in very scientific or at leastpseudo scientific language. My
read on that is twofold. So one,I think there's a little bit of
explaining stuff going on whereyou're just like, Okay, we're
gonna tell this audience nowwhat they just saw. I think
there's a little bit of that.
Yeah. What's interesting is thatscene with a psychiatrist was
shot basically, in one take, theguy gets up does the whole
(40:41):
monologue, which is actually Ithink well acted.
Sage (40:46):
Yeah, no, I think the actor is good in that scene.
They have criticisms of thescene, not the performance, you
know, if Sure,
Ethan (40:53):
exactly. Yeah. He's done all that. He finishes the
monologue, the crew breaks intoapplause. They're like, wow,
that was really good. Good job.
I'd be impressed, too, right.
Alfred Hitchcock says, you'vejust saved my film, I think, you
know, him saying that is notlike it while everything else
was trashed. But this, thisperformance is really gonna save
it. I think what he's saying myinterpretation of that was that
you're saving up from thecensors, because you could look
(41:16):
at the film, if you cut out thatscene, you could look at the
film as just sort of like verysensationalist kind of
exploitation cinema where it'slike, Ooh, there's like some
sexy stuff in the beginning. Andthen we have some bloody murder
stuff and what's titillating?
And if you just leave it atthat, I can imagine the sensors
getting their back up and beinglike, whoa, I'm a little you
know, this is too much. Yeah.
But if you then say, Oh, by theway, it's all very
(41:38):
psychological. Very scientific.
Yeah. Then it sort of makes itokay. And more palatable in a
way for the sensors, becauseyou've then set it in, in sort
of like, scientifically, yeah.
Sage (41:49):
And the end the monologue at the end of Norman. Well,
actually, it's not Norman. It'shis mother.
Ethan (41:56):
Right. So after the psychiatrist does his monologue,
the scene cuts to Norman alonein a cell talking to himself in
his head, basically. Yeah. Butit's his mother talking to
herself.
Sage (42:06):
Yeah. And it's really interesting. And I think your
relationship with your mother isvery important in your life, and
especially for a boy alone,shout out
Ethan (42:17):
to front of the show, say just mother.
Sage (42:20):
You know, there's this whole thing with like Freud.
Yeah.
Ethan (42:26):
Like, you know, fried.
Sage (42:29):
When you say Freud, they
Ethan (42:31):
think of Mother issues.
Sage (42:34):
Yeah, that's that whole thing, the idea that he had
about the relationship between aboy and his mother, mind you,
this was based off of a realstory. That's what's kind of so
disturbing about her. So whosaid it, we were watching the
making make the making ofsomeone said that is what makes
it so horrifying is that it wasbased off of something real and
(42:57):
that it kind of solidifies it inthe audience's mind.
Ethan (43:10):
Speaking of the so the book and the, you know, the real
events and everything, one ofthe things I wanted to mention
about the book is that afterHitchcock bought the rights to
the book in California, at leastYeah, he bought up every copy of
the book, you could find it sointeresting, because his goal
like this is not like there wasno Amazon, it was like, you
could just go and just like, buyup all the books. And he did
(43:31):
that so that it wouldn't beavailable to read. Because he
felt that the mystery Thesurprise was so critical to the
success of the film. Yeah. Andhe had like, advertising when
the film was released, he waslike, Please don't tell what
surprises. Like it's amazingthat you could do that. Like,
yeah, please don't say Don'ttell anybody. Okay. Yeah, no
(43:51):
spoilers. And it worked, Iguess, you know, and oh, and the
other weird thing about that,just as long as we're talking
about the marketing, is that itwas not uncommon for theaters is
kind of like play the same film,like, again, and again and again
during the day. And people kindof wander in and out of the
theater, not necessarily at thelike, top of the hour top of the
showing. And so they might gointo the film like partway
(44:12):
through, right. Yeah. And he wasadamant that they couldn't do
that, that they wouldn't beallowed into the theater. And he
had signs to that effect and allsorts of stuff. They had like a
special record album that theyhad pressed, that would play in
the lobby of the theater, and itwould be like 10 minutes to
psycho time, five minutes, apsycho time. He was like really
focused on people going in atthe right time to see the film.
(44:33):
And again, it's because he waslike, I'm playing the audience.
The audience is my instrument.
Sage (44:38):
Yeah. And it's because you know, people will go in and
they'll expect a Janet Leemovie. And if they go in after
she has been murdered, theywon't be here.
Ethan (44:50):
Yeah, I mean, also, I think, you know, he wanted them
to really experience that whole
Sage (44:54):
arc, but I'm really I'm really glad that he was. He was
adamant about that because Yeah,it is such a big part of the
movie. It's it's a seriousmovie. You know, it's not a
movie that you could just wornup
Ethan (45:07):
laying around here. Yeah.
Yeah. No, it's It's that'sneeded. I think it had a huge
impact on just the way peoplesaw movies after that. Yeah.
became more of a thing to go inand see the whole movie. Yeah.
Sage (45:18):
Because now it would be unthinkable to go in just
halfway through and then wanderout, you know, right. There's
specific times specificshowings, you know, to see a
movie from start to finish.
Ethan (45:31):
Yeah. It's true. I can't stand it when people wander in.
Sage (45:36):
I have the knee that I feel like I need to go over and
explain to them what hashappened. I did catch
Ethan (45:42):
up just a couple minutes.
But I'm here to help. Yeah. Allright. I think that wraps it up.
Sage (45:50):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the teen horror
cast. You can follow us onTwitter and Instagram at teen
horror cast where we'd love tohear from you. Let us know what
films you'd like to hear usreview. See you next episode.
I'll see you then. Bye bye.
Ethan (46:14):
Who has pled out before $2,000?
Sage (46:19):
So something you're not telling me
Marion's boss asks her to take it. Did you just delete
something?
Sage (00:03):
It said back at "the work." Is there only "one work"
in the world?
Ethan (00:08):
Yes, there is "the job"
Sage (00:10):
The one office.
Ethan (00:11):
I am going to "the job" now. The work at the office.
Sage (00:16):
It's ours.
Ethan (00:17):
Okay.
Sage (00:28):
Hello, and welcome to Episode Nine of the Teen Horror
podcast where we watch anddiscuss horror movies from a
teen's perspective. I'm yourhost Sage, and I'm joined by my
co host and unpaid intern, mydad.
Ethan (00:41):
Greetings everybody.
Sage (00:43):
This week, we watched a movie that changed horror and
taking showers forever. Psycho.
Ethan (00:49):
(makes EEE EEE EEE noises like the Psycho soundtrack)
Sage (00:51):
What was that!
Ethan (00:54):
That was my soundtrack.
Okay, so maybe a quick contentwarning. This movie does feature
subjects including bothfictional and real serial
killers and murder. Well, Iguess the movie doesn't contain
real serial killers, but ourdiscussion of the movie will
contain discussions of realserial killers and murder. Yep.
Sage (01:12):
One other quick note, we will be spoiling this film. So
if you haven't seen it, pleasewatch it first and come back for
the discussion.
Ethan (01:21):
be keeping things family friendly and avoiding cussing in
both the banter and movie clips.
Of course, in this episode, evenwithout F bombs, the subject
matter is still pretty intense.
So probably not appropriate foryounger kids. We wanted to thank
(01:42):
everyone for listening and beinga part of the show. So thank
you, dear listener, we do havelisteners right now on all
continents other thanAntarctica, we figured that's
only because everyone inAntarctica has already been
turned into The Thing and TheThing doesn't listen to
podcasts, evidently. So but ifyou do know somebody on McMurdo
Station, hey, you know, mayberecommend us? Speaking of
recommendations, we do reallylike to get reviews and ratings
(02:05):
on Apple podcasts. So if youhave a chance, please review us
there, Apple podcasts inparticular. But really any
podcast platform is great if youwant to just leave us a review.
It also just makes us feel greatto know that you guys are
listening and how you feel aboutthe show and what your thoughts
are. We also wanted to give aspecial shout out to friend of
the show Rich at Scarecrowvideo,
Sage (02:25):
Who, by the way, has met David Lynch.
Ethan (02:27):
Yes, he's actually been in the same room. Yes, it's
pretty amazing. I suspect, notjust David Lynch. Well, I think
he's probably met a whole passelof directors.
Sage (02:37):
Do you just make that up?
No, I think passle isthe word for when directors are
all?
Ethan (02:42):
Yes. A group of directors is a passel of directors. Yeah,
he's met a bunch. Rich is afriend of the show a friend and
he gives us greatrecommendations on movies that
we like to watch. And you know,we actually watch, we try to
watch most of our films on Bluray. And it's just so great to
have Scarecrow here in Seattle.
I think it's the biggest videostore in the world right now.
(03:03):
Yeah, I should also mention,this is not any sort of
sponsored message, we justreally like Scarecrow, they're a
nonprofit, actually, they takedonations, you know, if you have
a like, say, I don't know,$40,000 in cash that you just
embezzled from your employer andfled town with their a great
choice. You don't have to belocal to do it. They're really
preserving a very importantmedia. So before we start with
(03:23):
our summary and review, wethought it might be fun to talk
a little bit about some of themovies we've been watching that
we haven't reviewed, how wewatch them and just have a
little casual chat time. How'sthat sound? How does that strike
your fancy?
Sage (03:41):
It strikes it perfectly.
Ethan (03:44):
But not too hard? Right?
Your fancy is ok? Alright, so werented a whole whole passle of
videos recently.
Sage (03:51):
We watched Dawn of the Dead.
Ethan (03:54):
The 1970s version to be clear. Yeah. Maybe we'll watch
the remake as well. What did youthink about I'm just curious.
Sage (04:01):
I think that it's definitely worth watching more
than once. Because I'm surethere's like themes and such
that you would get.
Ethan (04:10):
Is that the first zombie film that you've seen
Sage (04:12):
Define zombie film.
Ethan (04:14):
Film. With zombies.
Sage (04:16):
No. It is not.
Ethan (04:20):
What other zombie movies have you seen?
Sage (04:23):
I don't know. Zombieland?
Ethan (04:26):
Oh, Zombieland for sure.
You've seen Zombieland. Okay, sothis is not your first zombie
movie. Not my first zombierodeo.
Sage (04:34):
You called it a slow zombie movie?
Ethan (04:37):
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because later on. Yeah. So in 28
days later. I think that's themovie that introduces the
concept of the fast zombie.
Yeah. I should watch that too.
Yes. Totally. I actually wantyou to watch a couple more
zombie films when we maybe wejust do a zombie episode.
Sage (04:55):
Yeah, we could do that.
Yeah. I watched Lost Highway byDavid Lynch. I still cannot
believe that Rich has met DavidLynch. That's insane. I don't
know. Yeah, it's crazy. I haveseen someone who has seen David
Lynch
Ethan (05:13):
Through the transitive property of seeing you too have
seen David Lynch. Pretty much.
Maybe if we just sit and talkwith him for a while. And he
just really describes DavidLynch in detail.
Sage (05:24):
So today, we had an interview with David Lynch.
Ethan (05:27):
Sort of. Rich channeled David Lynch.
Sage (05:32):
What else we oh, we watched this, just like kind of
short horror movie. Yeah, like45 minutes long. AM 1200. It was
really good. And there were somebehind the scenes on it. On the
blu ray, they included a deletedscene, which I thought was fun
(05:55):
to see. It's interesting to justthink about how that would have
changed the film. So that thatmovie was really cool. And what
else
Ethan (06:04):
Trying to think what else I have seen recently.
Sage (06:06):
Well, oh, we watched The Life Aquatic. By Wes Anderson.
Ethan (06:11):
We do watch non horror films as well. Yeah.
Surprisingly, I really coverthose in our sister podcast,
teen non-horror podcast.
Sage (06:21):
I really like Wes Anderson. As a director. Yeah.
There's something there'ssomething about his, you know,
so the pace of his his movies.
If you know if a pace can becompared to someone walking the
pace of his movies, it's kind oflike someone walking with a
limp. But in a good way. Youknow, there's just some odd
(06:43):
pauses, you know, and some weirdlittle
Ethan (06:48):
sort of occasional shuffle.
Sage (06:50):
Yeah, yeah. I really like I think it's a unique
Ethan (06:55):
Yeah, what else? I'm trying to think what else we
watched prey? The new predator?
Oh, my
Sage (06:59):
gosh, yeah. I mean, and obviously, I've seen predator.
That's right.
Ethan (07:03):
Yep. But we just recently watched predator, right. Yeah.
Sage (07:07):
I wouldn't want to watch prey without first seeing
predator, because I think it'simportant to appreciate how far
the this battle of eggs havegone. And just see the original
concept. Yeah. A predator. Yeah.
Ethan (07:22):
I mean, also, I mean, the predator is pretty amazing what
they achieved without specialeffects. Yeah. Yeah. Which is
relevant, actually, to ourdiscussion of psycho. Yeah. And
just like go, do you think it'spronounced psycho? Yeah,
probably. But this whole
Sage (07:39):
episode about prey, I loved it. And I think it was
really good that they had afemale lead, and that almost the
whole cast the whole castbesides the like, the Frenchmen
were indigenous. And anyone whothinks that the movie is
(07:59):
unrealistic, because it was awoman can stop listening
Ethan (08:02):
to our podcast. Yeah.
Just turn it off right now.
Sage (08:06):
Because I have heard that criticism of it so many times.
And it is shocking to me thatpeople still have these trains
of thought. I truly cannotfathom that. There are people
out there who still think thatthe movie was bad because there
was a woman as the lead.
Ethan (08:26):
It's a terrible criticism. I know. Yeah. Yeah.
We really liked it. It was Iloved great movie. Super fun.
Love. It's taken predator into agreat direction. Yeah, I've
watched it twice now.
Sage (08:40):
So those are some of our movie recommendations recently.
Yeah. Um, okay, so should we geton to the summary? Oh, do you
have something else
Ethan (08:49):
to say? Oh, no, my thoughts aren't important. Just
steamroll right over everything.
I was gonna say
Sage (08:57):
anything. Okay. So,
Ethan (09:00):
yeah, let's go into the summary A quick note on our film
summaries, we love doing thesesummaries we love including
audio from the film's so let usknow what you think in terms of
like the length of the summary.
(09:22):
We go shorter, longer. Maybewe're hitting the sweet spot
just let us know what you think.
On to the summary. Sycho openswith a wide panning shot across
an American city hundreds ofbuildings 1000s of Windows. The
camera zooms in further andfurther to we're entering one
window in particular. Inside wewatch a steamy love scene
(09:43):
between Marion Crane, asecretary played by Janet Lee
and her boyfriend Sam Loomisplayed by John Gavin
Sage (10:13):
While the couple is interested in more than just
afternoon, rendezvoused and CDhotels, Sam is bound by debt it
doesn't feel he has thefinancial resources to marry her
yet.
(10:36):
Marian seems frustrated by thisshe clearly loves Sam, but how
they can overcome this obstacleis unclear.
Ethan (10:43):
Back at work, Marianne is discomforted by the lecherous
new client her bosses dealingwith.
Keeping his money off the bookshe slaps down payment for a
(11:04):
building and thick wads of cash,Marion's boss asks her to take
it for immediate deposit.
Leaving with a money Marianseize her opportunity to clear a
path for her and Sam to finallymarry. She literally takes the
money and runs
Sage (11:26):
fleeing town with a suitcase and $40,000 in cash.
She drives all night and sleepson the side of the road in her
car. awakened by a policeofficer she handles the
encounter poorly raising hissuspicions.
(11:54):
One bad encounter leads tofurther panic decisions as she
stops to trade in her car at adealership driving off past the
police officer who followed herthere.
(12:18):
She seems unprepared for her newlife of crime and needs to rest
to collect your thoughts.
Finally, in the middle of thenight in pouring rain, she spots
a motel. The Bates Motel fromwhich she will never check out.
Ethan (12:49):
Marian checks in and meets the proprietor Norman
Bates a young charming ifslightly odd young man. She and
Norman bond over a conversationin which they each reveal the
metaphorical traps they findthemselves in.
(13:18):
Marion doesn't disclose details,but Norman goes into depth about
feeling trapped by his mother,whom he still lives with in a
house behind the hotel. Marianand Norman each leave the
conversation inspired, butinspired two distinctly
different action.
Sage (13:33):
Marian returns to her room clear headed for the first time
and days and decides to returnthe money and face the
consequences. Feeling reliefhaving made this decision she
prepares to shower to wash awayher feelings of shame and guilt.
As she just robes she is unawarethat in the next remover. Norman
is watching her throw people. Hedesires her but this is
(13:55):
something his mother cannotabide. And minutes later she
bursts into the bathroom whileMarian showers a dark and
menacing figure who brutallymurders Marian by stabbing her
again and again with a knife.
Marion's life swirls down thedrain as she bleeds out in the
bath.
Ethan (14:15):
After his mother returns to their house, we hear Norman
scream apparently from theblood.
He rushes to the room and uponentering discovers to his horror
that his mother has killedapparently not for the first
time. After the initial shock hetakes action and disposes of
Mary Ann's body and possessions.
A
Sage (14:37):
detective sent to track down Marian and the money
contacts Marian sister andboyfriend Sam and then proceeds
to interview Normanhis suspicions around the
(15:09):
coverup of events lead to hissneaking into the Bates house
and a fatal encounter withNorman's mother.
Ethan (15:48):
Marian sister and Sam loose patients waiting for the
detective and take matters intotheir own hands. Breaking into
Marion's room at the hotel theyfind evidence of our occupancy
and know that Norman is lyingabout something.
(16:25):
Sam keeps Norman busy. Mariansister sneaks up to the house
convinced that the mother knowssomething to finding only empty
rooms she hides in the basementas Norman rushes in.
Sage (16:35):
There she enters the cellar and discovers to her
horror the desiccated remains ofNorman's mother.
(16:56):
As she screams, Norman rushes inwearing his mother's clothes,
acting, and as it turns out,even thinking as his mother
would, his split personality isfinally split no more, the
mother half dominatescompletely, and he descends into
madness alone in a policeholding cell as the movie ends.
II don't do that, again.
Ethan (17:21):
I don't remember any of the other soundtrack. But this
is that that's the only part ofthe scores. All right on to the
discussion.
Sage (17:40):
So for this movie, I actually want both of us I guess
we compiled a list of things totalk about, because there's just
so much that happened with thismovie behind the scenes,
especially because it wasdirected by Alfred Hitchcock.
And he's a little bit eccentric.
Ethan (17:57):
He has big ideas is master filmmaking.
Sage (18:00):
He's a little stubborn.
Yeah, one of the things that Iwanted to talk about was the
iconic shower scene, because youknow, I'm sure many people
listening to this podcast knowwhat we're talking about, even
if they haven't seen the movie.
I knew about the shower scene,even though Yeah, let's
Ethan (18:15):
Okay, so before we get into all that, let me ask you
like, what did you know aboutthis movie before? You You saw
it?
Sage (18:20):
What I knew about the movie, I knew the shower scene.
I knew the iconic scream. Thestabbing. And honestly, that's
pretty much it. I didn't knowanything about women. Yeah, you
didn't know Norman was No, Ididn't know it was Norman. I
didn't know that the mother wasactually dead. Well, I didn't
know anything else about thepotluck, the motel the
embezzlement, her boyfriend, hersister, anything like that.
(18:42):
Yeah. So even though it is insome ways, a hallmark of movies
and pop culture. It's reallyonly one scene that's talked
about heavily outside of horrorcircles.
Ethan (18:53):
We've been joined by our third production associate, new
member of the crew, our cat isjust wandered in. Just checking
things out. Could you get ussome coffee, please? This cat is
useless.
Sage (19:06):
So apparently, back in the day, when it was released in
1960. Obviously, there were alot of things that weren't as
acceptable to show on film. Yes.
And actually,
Ethan (19:18):
what was the issue? The censorship? Yeah. And,
Sage (19:20):
you know, no one had even seen a toilet on film before
before this movie, which I wassurprised by, you know, because
it's so normal now. I'm notreally shocked by it.
Ethan (19:29):
It's nothing but toilets everywhere. Yeah, obviously,
Sage (19:31):
they couldn't show a knife going into a person.
Ethan (19:34):
Yeah, there was a lot of censorship around like, that's
actually one of the reasons thatthis film, he chose to film this
in black and white, which feelslike you know, an iconic and
appropriate choice. But hecouldn't show red blood was like
that taboo. So he filmed it inblack and white so that there
wouldn't be red blood. I guess.
Dark blood is okay. It's likeblood if you like, react to it.
Sage (19:55):
Yeah. But yeah, so he managed to get around that with
lots of little jumps, jump cutsbetween the actual murder scene
yes or no between Marion's facescreaming and then the knife
almost coming into contact withthe torso. And apparently there
is a frame like three, threeframes maybe where the knife is,
(20:17):
quote unquote in her skin. Yeah.
And we were looking at a websitethat was talking about this we
dove deep. Yeah, so this personhad laid out each individual
frame of that suppose that scenewhere the knife breaks the skin,
supposedly, and they said thatthey thought that it didn't
actually break the skin, it wasjust kind of pressing into the
skin enough to make it look likeit was Yeah. And the way they
(20:40):
were able to make it so preciseand able to stop the knife
before it went in. This personwas speculating that it was
actually a reverse shot. Andthey had started with a knife
pressed into Marion's torso andthen pulled back and they had
analyzed like the water dropletsand the way the shower and the
(21:00):
wit like the water was moving.
To come to this conclusion, thisperson was really serious about
this. So I don't know if that'strue if it hasn't been
corroborated by Hitchcockhimself, because he's no longer
around. So I thought that wasinteresting. Yeah.
Ethan (21:15):
So can we take a step back? That was a lot of good
information. And it's reallynotable that the censorship
played a big role in sort ofshaping a lot of those scenes of
the film. But what what's yoursort of gut reaction to the film
like, did you first of all, didyou like it?
Sage (21:27):
I did like it. I liked the plot, twist the fact
Ethan (21:30):
that the who the person who you think the main character
is dies partway through or theend? Is that
Sage (21:36):
Yeah, and that his mother is dead. And you know, a lot of
movies, they'll talk about howthe audience first reacted when
it was shown, like they werescreaming in the theater in
hysteria. And it was the samewith this movie. I heard a lot
about that. And this is maybethe first movie I've seen, where
I can understand why theaudience was screaming like
(21:57):
that, you know, yeah, I get thatsame feeling. And I wasn't
screaming while I was watchingit, obviously. But I felt I felt
what I thought the audience feltwhen they saw it. And that's
something that can be hard toachieve, even what 60 plus years
later,
Ethan (22:14):
yeah, Hitchcock was doing an interview with Francois
Truffaut, another director,Hitchcock said that he felt like
he was playing the audience likea musical instrument. And I can
see that because by the end ofthe movie, when Marian sister
rushes into the cellar anddiscovers the corpse of the
mother, I felt like I've beendriving up this hill, you know,
(22:36):
just and you just hit the peakthis like crescendo of anxiety
and like tension. Yeah. And itjust bursts at that moment.
You're just like, oh, my gosh,
Sage (22:48):
yeah, it's great. The reveal, and the fact that it's
in black and white too, I thinkis really good, because I think
they didn't have to worry asmuch about making it look super
realistic, because it was inblack and white. And I think
there's also something aboutthat, that it seems to be almost
a restriction. And a lot oftimes restrictions can act to
(23:11):
make you more creative orinventive, or give you more
ideas. And there's this onething that you pointed out to me
was that in the beginning of themovie, Marian is wearing I think
it's like a white bra and awhite slip. Yeah. And after she
decides to embezzle the moneyand take it for herself. She's
wearing a black bra and a blackslip. Yeah. Which is definitely
(23:36):
on purpose. For sure. For sure.
It's symbolism and it's withinthe black and white. And I think
it's really cool.
Ethan (23:42):
And there's there's so many like moments where
characters move in and out ofshadow. And yeah, you know, it's
interesting that AlfredHitchcock actually, so he was
doing his Hitchcock Presents TVshow at the same time. And so he
let me see if I can get all thisstraight. He was with Paramount
at the time, right anduniversal. So this movie was
(24:02):
produced by Paramount but filmedat Universal Studios, because he
was moving there.
Sage (24:06):
Yeah. And also Paramount highly disapproved of him making
this movie, they were soadamantly against it. I don't
understand
Ethan (24:16):
how that happens, where they can be against something
but still contracts in the filmindustry. Seems so complicated.
Sage (24:22):
Yeah. So he had a very small budget, even for that
time.
Ethan (24:28):
It was he wanted to have a small budget. Yeah, it was,
Sage (24:30):
I think 800,000 or something like that. And he
actually decided to forego hisusual salary. What was his usual
salary?
Ethan (24:40):
So like tuner like $125,000.
Sage (24:44):
And he decided that he wanted all the money to go
towards the production becauseit had to because he
Ethan (24:51):
would be like, 25% of the entire budget. Well, yeah. Which
is his money, so he
Sage (24:54):
decided instead to take 60% What was it? Yeah.
Ethan (24:57):
60% of the gross The revenue from the film
Sage (25:01):
and which turned out to be a lot of money. Yeah, so I guess
he's happy he made thatdecision. Yeah, he made a ton of
money off of it. Yeah. And hestill managed to make an
incredible movie with not thatmuch money.
Ethan (25:13):
Okay, so the worldwide box office for psycho, was $32
million. Well, I can't rememberwhat the Blair Witch costume
revenue was. I think it was ahigher ratio. But this is pretty
good. Yeah, the reason Imentioned the Hitchcock Presents
TV show is because he used hisTV crew. Yeah, mind you. I mean,
(25:35):
it wasn't just like they weretalented. Obvious. Yeah, right.
Like it. It's film. It's, itdoesn't feel like a TV show. As
a movie, definitely. Although hedid consider splitting this
movie up into two parts and thenairing it on TV and stuff
releasing it in theaters. Yeah.
Can you imagine? Like, justwhat? I wonder if he would still
be considered as iconic if thathad happened? Yeah, so he used
(25:57):
his TV crew. And it was not ashoestring budget, but it was a
cheap for a film and 60. Part ofwhat he said about that was that
he had seen all these like indiefilms, cheap indie films come
out black and white indie films.
He's like, but what if somebodydid a really good job? Which is
both like kind of a dig, Iguess. But also sort of like,
(26:18):
well, I'm the guy. Yeah. But itwas good. Because, you know, he
was he was doing like big moneypictures. Like I think he just
done North by Northwest. Yeah.
And you know, those were likebig stars, big money, big
production, you know, onlocation, all sorts of crazy
stuff. And it was. So this was abig shift.
Sage (26:38):
Yeah. I think what his assistant said in an interview
was that he had read the bookpsycho. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Robert
Bloch. Yes, I think so. Yeah.
Robert Bork. Yep. So he'd readpsycho. And he said, we have to
do this book. One of the majorchanges he made from the book to
the movie was in the book.
(27:01):
Norman Bates is supposed to be apretty unlikable man.
Ethan (27:06):
Oh, yeah. Right, right.
Yeah. He's like a slob. And he'slays rose. He's
Sage (27:10):
an alcoholic. Yeah. And he, yeah, he owns a lot of porn
or something in the book, thatthey almost never I mean,
because you know, in the movie,they can't really show that.
Yeah. I think it's just, it'salmost just adjusted once when
Marian sister is in Norman'sroom, and she picks up a book
and it's just a shot of her eyeswide. Right.
Ethan (27:32):
I
Sage (27:32):
forgot about that. Really?
The only time right where it wasin the book is a lot more heavy
handed with that. Yeah. But
Ethan (27:38):
yeah, that's right. It's a book with a blank spine. And
yeah, I guess that was the 1960scode for like, this is a naughty
pictures book or something? Idon't know.
Sage (27:47):
Yeah, I don't know. But so he really wanted the viewer to
be sympathetic with Norman. Sohe made him different, like much
different than he was in thebook. And that's because halfway
through Norwin, becomes the maincharacter, Marian dies, which I
think was a big shock for me. SoI can't imagine what audiences
(28:08):
then thought of that likeswitch. So no one becomes the
main character. And at thatpoint, you have to start rooting
for him. Yeah. And by the
Ethan (28:17):
way, so this was written by Joseph Stefano, who was a
really young writer.
Sage (28:20):
And I think he had only written one thing prior. Yes.
Ethan (28:24):
And it's very unusual for Hitchcock to work with a young
artist.
Sage (28:27):
I think he was reluctant.
But there was some scene thathe'd written was at the opening
scene, I think, I think it was,yeah. And so Alfred Hitchcock
took him home with him. And hecame back and he said, Oh, my
loves it. That's right. Yeah.
His wife. Yeah. We just I thinksomeone I think his assistant
said something like that wascode for it's really good. And
(28:48):
you're hired. Yeah. Yeah. Andit's because I think someone,
someone else prior to JosephStefano had written the, like
the entire script for psycho.
And Hitchcock didn't like,
Ethan (29:00):
Yeah, this is not uncommon, by the way. Yeah,
there's a podcast that I reallylike called best movies ever
made. Which if you like film,you know, it's it's a film nerds
dream, because they talk justabout films that never get made,
or versions of films thatdidn't. Yeah, it's amazing how
scripts get produced inHollywood. So yeah, he worked
with Joseph Stano. They did areally tight story with some
(29:21):
really interesting twists. Theytake their like lead actor and
kill her halfway through. Yeah.
Which is unimaginable, right.
Like it's the kind of theultimate bait and switch.
Sage (29:33):
Right. Something else is that a lot of the parts I think
were written for the actors whoplayed them. Yeah. And I think
it's great. I think especiallyNorman Bates. Really well, yeah.
Yeah. Anthony Perkins playsNorman Bates. He did a really
good job at it. And who playsMary? Generally? Yeah. Okay,
sorry.
Ethan (29:51):
Yeah. Yeah, played by Janet Lee. And, of course,
mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.
Sage (29:56):
I think they were they were both really Good in their
roles, because they're both verynuanced roles. You know, Marian
has committed a crime, but it'snot because she's a criminal.
It's because she wants to getmarried. You know, she knows
nothing about it's not
Ethan (30:14):
because she's a criminal.
It's because she's a person.
Yeah, like, isn't that that'skind of, I think one of the, I
don't know, that's how I readthese characters is like, we all
have a little madness in us. Weall have a little darkness in
us. Yeah.
Sage (30:27):
And Marian is able to overcome that she decides to go
back and deliver the money towhere it's supposed to be right.
And face the consequences ofembezzling $40,000. That's after
she has her talk with Norman inhis parlor, which is a great
scene in the movie, maybe one ofthe best, because you kind of
get a sense that Norman is alittle bit off. Yeah, there's
(30:51):
something inside him that'sdifferent
Ethan (30:54):
in at that point, I think it's still very possible to read
his character as just a littleodd and off. Yes, he's a little
like, overly controlled by hismother, or you know, is
development is stuntedemotionally or something like
that. Yeah. And not necessarilylike, oh, by the ways, it's got
to slip
Sage (31:10):
out. Yeah. One of the great things about the movie is
that at first when we first meetNorman, I didn't guess that he
was the psycho, you know, yeah,I, I asked you and you said
something like, Oh, he's toonice to be
Ethan (31:25):
nice. I didn't say no. I remember, like, very carefully,
kind of want to,
Sage (31:30):
like, oh, and I believe you because he is so nice. In
the beginning. There's no hintthat he, he's crazy.
Ethan (31:37):
I love you know, that performance by Anthony Perkins
is amazing.
Sage (31:41):
I know. And
Ethan (31:42):
you like him immediately.
I
Sage (31:44):
like no ugly. Yeah, he's, he's just a nice guy. And then
Ethan (31:48):
you feel like, within 30 seconds, you are feeling
sympathy for this guy. And likehis hotels on hard times. He's
still chipper about it, andstill trying to like, you know,
keep his chin up.
Sage (31:59):
And that's what helps. I think when Marian dies. That's
what helps the audience to lockon to Norman instead of Marion
is because before earlier in themovie, they've already
established this kind of warmfeeling about him. And even if
that's kind of slipped, yeah,after the parlor discussion, it
comes right back up once Mariandies.
Ethan (32:20):
That's actually a really good point. There's a scene so
Norman Norman mother nominallyright, we hear her voice and
Norman and his mother have aconfrontation up in the house,
he rushes back down, discoversMary's body kind of has a
breakdown. Again, furthercementing the fact that we think
like, oh, this is you know, it'snot him. It's his mom's crazy.
Yeah. And then he like pullshimself together decides he has
(32:43):
to hide the body in order toprotect his mom you assume and
and take care of herpossessions, stuffs everything
to do with her car, and itdrives her car into like a
swamp, basically.
Sage (32:54):
Yeah. And there's a scene where you're watching the car.
Yeah. Sink slowly into the mud.
Yes. And Norman is standingthere watching eating his candy
corn as he does,
Ethan (33:06):
which is which was an improv. Yeah. at Perkins. Love
it.
Sage (33:10):
There's a point where the car stops in the mud. And you
can still see the top of it. AndNorman kind of freezes and looks
at
Ethan (33:16):
it. You freeze as the audience right here.
Sage (33:19):
You're waiting your breath to keep going. Yeah. So at this
point, you're with Norman. Yeah,
Ethan (33:24):
I think it's that pause that just that to me. That's
Hitchcock's mastery. Yeah.
Right. It's like if the if thecar had just like sunk straight
down, you might still kind of belike, this guy. But because
there's like, literally justlike five seconds where you're
like, waiting for the car tocontinue sinking. Yeah, I saw
that. And I'm like, oh, maybe hecan cover the car up. Maybe he
can. What can you do? Maybe ifyou get some brush or some
(33:48):
branches or something, you know,like I'm like strategizing what
he what he can do. I'm like, allof a sudden, I'm in his mindset.
All the sudden I'm on his side.
Yeah, five seconds. Hecompletely gets us to switch
allegiance. Yeah, amazing.
Sage (34:00):
So we watched the remake a little bit of that. But one of
the criticisms we had is howstiff the actors seem, because
it is a shot for shot line forline remake. Yes, there's no
there's no originality. Andbecause those parts are not
written for the actors in theremake. It doesn't work.
Ethan (34:21):
I like Gus Van Sant. I don't like that remake. And it
is it's exactly for that reason.
We talked about constraintsbefore like, you know, you can
be constrained by budget, youcan be constrained by format
film stock, you know, black andwhite. In a way you could say,
well, Gus Van Zandt, you know,wanted to do an homage here and
the constraint was to do a shotby shot word by word
reproduction of psycho, and youcould still find ways to be
(34:45):
creative within them. I justfelt like if you're gonna try to
have that as your constraint youreally need to excel or exceed
in other areas. And it didn't,you know, really didn't Yeah,
the actors did feel wooden. Theyseem constraint, like, you can't
do any I mean, you're acting Iguess, but it's like doing
Shakespeare almost. Yeah. And Iguess there's an argument to be
(35:06):
made for do it, treat it likethat and just say, Well, we are
it's like we're doing, you know,a Shakespeare play. We're just
gonna be very loyal to theoriginal material. Yeah, but,
but the point is that in theoriginal material, a lot of it
was
Sage (35:20):
improv. Yeah. And one of the other things that shouldn't
say improv
Ethan (35:23):
that makes it sound to off the cuff, but it was like
they really made the scenestheir own, and they did
improvise a lot of them. Andthere were a couple scenes
actually, like Arbogast andNorman Bates, the detective and
Norman Bates when they'rethey're talking for the first
time. Yeah, like that. seen thefilm twice. And the second one
was the one that they used,because they both wanted to
Sage (35:44):
improv a little bit. Yeah, and they can't do that in the
remake and one of the otherthings in the remake that I
don't know whose choice it wasmaybe the actor or maybe they
thought it would just be betterthis way. But Norman right off
the bat is creepy. There's nowarm sense of companionship or
anything he does is the actordoes this thing where his laugh
(36:04):
is a little was kind of astereotypical metaclass. Yeah,
so right away, you get a weirdfeeling from him, which I think
one of the great parts of theoriginal movie is that he's not
like that at first. Yeah, youlike him? He's like, Yeah, and
in the remake you lose that
Ethan (36:30):
which talk a little bit about the origin of psycho, the
book. Yes. Movie. Where thiscomes from? Yeah. So goes goes
back to my my hometown. My homemy stomping grounds. Wisconsin,
Wisconsin.
Sage (36:44):
This is a little bit disturbing. Yeah, this part so
yeah, just a heads up about areal serious No, who add to gain
is he was a serial killer fromWisconsin
Ethan (36:57):
litter. And I'm not joking. Like, probably. He's
like a stone's throw from thetown I grew up in not more than
maybe 30 minute drive away.
Sage (37:05):
Yeah. So little disturbing, but his case is
pretty famous. Yeah. Because ofthe things that they found in
his house after he was caught.
This is the part that's reallygets kind of gory. In his house.
They found objects made out ofhuman skin.
Ethan (37:24):
Yeah. It was basically it was like taxidermy and
Sage (37:27):
stuff like famously lampshade. Yeah, like tights
made out of someone's skin. Itwas pretty disturbing stuff. He
said in his that he was tryingto become his mother.
Ethan (37:42):
So this serial killer inspires many different films.
Yeah, psycho Texas ChainsawMassacre, Silence of the Lambs.
Like there's a whole series offilms, because a minute is a
horrific events, which reallybecomes kind of seared into the
American psyche.
Sage (37:57):
Because it's hard to imagine how anyone could it's
Ethan (38:01):
it's horrific. It's like, absolute horror. You know, one
of the ways I think that we doprocess the horror of real
events is through fiction isthrough cinema. Right? So this
is sort of our collectivedreaming and processing of
terrible events that thathappened.
Sage (38:19):
Yeah. And it produces things like psycho. Yeah. And in
psycho. Obviously, it's muchmore tainted. Now. The biggest
similarity, I think, is betweenhis relationship with his
mother. Right. And that's a bigpart of it is that he is
becoming his mother. Yes, hedoesn't skin people. He doesn't
do anything like that. He justdresses up as his mother. And
Ethan (38:40):
although he does, he did taxidermy his mother. Basically,
were trying to show her body
Sage (38:45):
yeah, to preserve it, and he act as if she's alive. He
speaks in her voice. Thecreepiness is that he really
does believe that he is hismother. There's a scene at the
end. That's yeah, let's talkabout the sleep debated. After
Norman Bates has been caught,the psychiatrist is talking to
(39:08):
who is I think it's just Sam andMarian sister. Who else is
there.
Ethan (39:12):
The cops were there?
Yeah. Probably the districtattorney is there is anything
like it's a whole mess of Yes,Sam in the in Marion sister
there as well. I believe. It's aweird scene. It almost feels
like a courtroom scene.
Sage (39:25):
So the psychiatrist is just explaining everything.
Yeah, much that has gone on inNorman's mind and
Ethan (39:34):
monologues for like 510 Min. It feels like a long time.
Sage (39:37):
So when I first watched it, I didn't particularly notice
that seen as something thatseemed off about the movie plays
I understand where some peopleare coming from with their
criticisms of it. It's like howin some movies, they hold your
hand and they explain
Ethan (39:54):
what's going on through dialogue. Watch this movie. Now
we're going to explain whathappened.
Sage (39:58):
I mean, maybe it was different than I The time maybe
some audiences needed that, youknow, what he's saying is pretty
much like Norma has a splitpersonality. He thinks he is his
mother and he had at times heasked for her. And then there's
also a whole part about hismother's backstory about how
Norman's father died. And thenhis mother finds someone else.
(40:18):
And Normann kills them both.
Ethan (40:20):
It basically lays out the entire backstory, but it does it
in very scientific or at leastpseudo scientific language. My
read on that is twofold. So one,I think there's a little bit of
explaining stuff going on whereyou're just like, Okay, we're
gonna tell this audience nowwhat they just saw. I think
there's a little bit of that.
Yeah. What's interesting is thatscene with a psychiatrist was
shot basically, in one take, theguy gets up does the whole
(40:41):
monologue, which is actually Ithink well acted.
Sage (40:46):
Yeah, no, I think the actor is good in that scene.
They have criticisms of thescene, not the performance, you
know, if Sure,
Ethan (40:53):
exactly. Yeah. He's done all that. He finishes the
monologue, the crew breaks intoapplause. They're like, wow,
that was really good. Good job.
I'd be impressed, too, right.
Alfred Hitchcock says, you'vejust saved my film, I think, you
know, him saying that is notlike it while everything else
was trashed. But this, thisperformance is really gonna save
it. I think what he's saying myinterpretation of that was that
you're saving up from thecensors, because you could look
(41:16):
at the film, if you cut out thatscene, you could look at the
film as just sort of like verysensationalist kind of
exploitation cinema where it'slike, Ooh, there's like some
sexy stuff in the beginning. Andthen we have some bloody murder
stuff and what's titillating?
And if you just leave it atthat, I can imagine the sensors
getting their back up and beinglike, whoa, I'm a little you
know, this is too much. Yeah.
But if you then say, Oh, by theway, it's all very
(41:38):
psychological. Very scientific.
Yeah. Then it sort of makes itokay. And more palatable in a
way for the sensors, becauseyou've then set it in, in sort
of like, scientifically, yeah.
Sage (41:49):
And the end the monologue at the end of Norman. Well,
actually, it's not Norman. It'shis mother.
Ethan (41:56):
Right. So after the psychiatrist does his monologue,
the scene cuts to Norman alonein a cell talking to himself in
his head, basically. Yeah. Butit's his mother talking to
herself.
Sage (42:06):
Yeah. And it's really interesting. And I think your
relationship with your mother isvery important in your life, and
especially for a boy alone,shout out
Ethan (42:17):
to front of the show, say just mother.
Sage (42:20):
You know, there's this whole thing with like Freud.
Yeah.
Ethan (42:26):
Like, you know, fried.
Sage (42:29):
When you say Freud, they
Ethan (42:31):
think of Mother issues.
Sage (42:34):
Yeah, that's that whole thing, the idea that he had
about the relationship between aboy and his mother, mind you,
this was based off of a realstory. That's what's kind of so
disturbing about her. So whosaid it, we were watching the
making make the making ofsomeone said that is what makes
it so horrifying is that it wasbased off of something real and
(42:57):
that it kind of solidifies it inthe audience's mind.
Ethan (43:10):
Speaking of the so the book and the, you know, the real
events and everything, one ofthe things I wanted to mention
about the book is that afterHitchcock bought the rights to
the book in California, at leastYeah, he bought up every copy of
the book, you could find it sointeresting, because his goal
like this is not like there wasno Amazon, it was like, you
could just go and just like, buyup all the books. And he did
(43:31):
that so that it wouldn't beavailable to read. Because he
felt that the mystery Thesurprise was so critical to the
success of the film. Yeah. Andhe had like, advertising when
the film was released, he waslike, Please don't tell what
surprises. Like it's amazingthat you could do that. Like,
yeah, please don't say Don'ttell anybody. Okay. Yeah, no
(43:51):
spoilers. And it worked, Iguess, you know, and oh, and the
other weird thing about that,just as long as we're talking
about the marketing, is that itwas not uncommon for theaters is
kind of like play the same film,like, again, and again and again
during the day. And people kindof wander in and out of the
theater, not necessarily at thelike, top of the hour top of the
showing. And so they might gointo the film like partway
(44:12):
through, right. Yeah. And he wasadamant that they couldn't do
that, that they wouldn't beallowed into the theater. And he
had signs to that effect and allsorts of stuff. They had like a
special record album that theyhad pressed, that would play in
the lobby of the theater, and itwould be like 10 minutes to
psycho time, five minutes, apsycho time. He was like really
focused on people going in atthe right time to see the film.
(44:33):
And again, it's because he waslike, I'm playing the audience.
The audience is my instrument.
Sage (44:38):
Yeah. And it's because you know, people will go in and
they'll expect a Janet Leemovie. And if they go in after
she has been murdered, theywon't be here.
Ethan (44:50):
Yeah, I mean, also, I think, you know, he wanted them
to really experience that whole
Sage (44:54):
arc, but I'm really I'm really glad that he was. He was
adamant about that because Yeah,it is such a big part of the
movie. It's it's a seriousmovie. You know, it's not a
movie that you could just wornup
Ethan (45:07):
laying around here. Yeah.
Yeah. No, it's It's that'sneeded. I think it had a huge
impact on just the way peoplesaw movies after that. Yeah.
became more of a thing to go inand see the whole movie. Yeah.
Sage (45:18):
Because now it would be unthinkable to go in just
halfway through and then wanderout, you know, right. There's
specific times specificshowings, you know, to see a
movie from start to finish.
Ethan (45:31):
Yeah. It's true. I can't stand it when people wander in.
Sage (45:36):
I have the knee that I feel like I need to go over and
explain to them what hashappened. I did catch
Ethan (45:42):
up just a couple minutes.
But I'm here to help. Yeah. Allright. I think that wraps it up.
Sage (45:50):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the teen horror
cast. You can follow us onTwitter and Instagram at teen
horror cast where we'd love tohear from you. Let us know what
films you'd like to hear usreview. See you next episode.
I'll see you then. Bye bye.
Ethan (46:14):
Who has pled out before $2,000?
Sage (46:19):
So something you're not telling me
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