Inside Psycho

A mild and meek man who was unusually attached to his domineering mother. That’s the story of Ed Gein, who murdered numerous middle-aged women in and around Plainfield, WI in the 1950’s, and whose story inspired the character of Norman Bates.

The story of Psycho begins in a dingy, remote cabin, where Gein collected bits and pieces of his subjects and fashioned them into chairs, lampshades, or worse. All his victims were ch...

When a struggling writer, Robert Bloch, discovers the story of a strange man in Wisconsin who killed and mutilated his victims, he transforms it into a story about the twisted relationship between a man and his mother: Psycho. Later, he realizes his fictions come closer to the dark truth than he ever could have imagined. That’s when his book is optioned by an anonymous Hollywood buyer for next to nothing.

That buyer turns ...

What do you do when your studio hates your next picture? If you’re Alfred Hitchcock, you put up your own money and risk everything on it. Psycho was a movie everybody in town said couldn’t get made - it would be the movie that would ruin Hitchcock’s career, they said. Or would it?

Hitchcock casts his Norman Bates and his “perfectly ordinary” Marion Crane. Hear how the voice of Norman’s mother evolves from a series of hilar...

It’s the inside story of the legendary shower scene, from the nudist on set, to Janet Leigh’s unending efforts to maintain some decency, to the answer to the longstanding question: Do you actually see the knife disappear into a body or not?

We review the sounds of stabbing, the practical jokes that had everyone in stitches (except Janet Leigh), the novel introduction of a toilet to an American movie, the did-she-or-didn’t-...

Hitchcock’s nightmares haunt him as he readies Psycho for release. He tussles with the censors to keep his precious shower scene - the one which does or does not contain nudity, depending on which censor’s opinion you’re listening to. Hitch maps out an elaborate and unprecedented publicity strategy and in the process reinvents the way America goes to the movies. He suffers a rash of scathing reviews from big name critics, ...

Psycho fever overtakes America, and Alfred Hitchcock is suddenly a very rich man. And with this stunning success comes one haunting fear: What will I do for an encore? That question plagues Hitchcock for the rest of his career, through only six more films, a humiliating defeat at the Academy Awards, the specter of young directors vaulting past the old master, and a final appearance to accept a life achievement award that’s...

Time for a deep dive into all things “Psycho” with Rob Galluzzo, Sr. Editor at Blumhouse Productions, co-host of the SHOCKWAVES podcast, and creator of the documentary “The Psycho Legacy.” Rob and host Mark Ramsey swap some stories, including things that didn’t make the cut for Inside Psycho and tidbits about other films in the series. It’s a great way to generate chills even in the steamiest of summers. 

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