You know a director has done something right when a scene in his movie
is parodied and referenced 50 years later. Even more impressive is the fact said
scene is a murder scene in which the audience doesn't see any blood except the
one it imagines is flowing from the victim. Psycho (1960) is indeed quite
an oddity given it is based on a novel that itself was based loosely on the
horrid crimes of Ed Gaines. Yet Alfred Hitchcock, who apparently never backed
away from a challenge, thought this was just the right material for his next
movie. Good thing, because cinema history was never the same again.
This is one of those movies that you have seen even if you have never
seen it before, mainly because of that shower scene and the titular psycho
doing the stabbing. It has been parodied countless times by everyone from Wes
Craven to Mel Brooks, and even Bugs Bunny. Bernard Herrman's iconic music, which
practically screams in unison with Janet Leigh as the blade strikes, has also
helped immortalize the scene. I must have heard that music quite a few times
before watching the movie from beginning to end after receiving it as a
Christmas gift along some of Hitchcock's other classics. I would have liked to
have watched it with zero prior knowledge, just as the director was asking of
his audience decades ago to keep the surprise, but unfortunately that big
reveal is now part of pop culture. Yet I still admired the movie for the work
of art that it is and was still scared once or twice.
Hitchcock and screenwriter Joseph Stefano start the movie by setting up
a rug pull. If you watched this story with no context, you would think this is
a crime story focusing on real estate secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who
decides to steal $40,000 from her office. You are rooting for her since the
money is to help pay the debts of her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) so they
can get married and start a life together. No one has been hurt by this crime,
so as Marion makes her way from Arizona to California you hope this criminal
will get away with it. There are moments of tension, such as when she gets a
new car at a dealership in order to evade a suspicious patrol officer. Then
wouldn't you know it, it starts pouring rain and she must find a place to stay
for the night.
The motel where she stops is nowadays instantly recognizable to any
horror movie buff, or any hard-core movie historian for that matter. The Bates
Motel seems unremarkable as far as highway motels go, if it wasn't for the
Gothic house on a hill overlooking all of the bedrooms where wary travelers
spend their nights. This is the residence of Normand (Anthony Perkins, in a
career-defining role) and his domineering mother Lila Bates (Vera Miles).
Normand seems like a polite young man, so much so that Marion might take up on
his offer to have dinner together after her long drive, right up until she
hears Lila argue against the very notion of Normand having a woman in the
house. The rug pull finally happens when SPOILER ALERT Marion goes for a shower
in her room and is stabbed to death by an unseen figure.
From there Hitchcock switches to Normand's perspective, who reacts in
horror after discovering the body. Assuming his mother did the deed, he now has
to clean up a crime scene and erase any trace of Marion. Rooting for Marion was
one thing, but now the audience is following the action of a man covering up a
very bloody murder. Yet after he has shoved her car into a swamp, we are
panicking a little with him when he sees the car isn't sinking. When it finally
does, we are relieved right along with him. At that point of course other
surprises about Normand have yet to be revealed, and when they are it is
equally shocking.
This black and white movie has had quite a lasting effect despite its
lurid content and the fact not that many people are killed by Norman. After
Hitchcock's passing, Anthony Perkins returned to the role of Normand Bates for
a few sequels, there was an unnecessary remake in colour by Gus Van Sant in
1998, as well as prequel series that spends more time with young Normand and
his mother. One could also make the argument it is one of the earliest slasher
movies since it pre-dates the Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises. If I'm not mistaken that last one is
also influenced by the crimes of Ed Gaines, which says a lot about the
cross-pollination between America's fascination with murder and the
entertainment industry. Ed Gaines confessed to killing two women, and the way
he did it gave Hollywood enough material to make successful movie franchises
that have lasted for decades.
You can't put the blame solely on Hitchcock for this morbid fascination since
at the time he was just trying to make good cinema. It was actually a pretty
big left turn for him given that he had recently made North by Northwest,
a highly successful big-budget thriller in colour with one of the biggest movie
stars of the time. Then for his next project he decides to make a low-budget thriller,
in black and white, and in which the biggest name on the casting sheet gets
killed half-way through the movie while naked in a shower. By today's standard
that scene is not that violent, especially compared to the torture porn craze
of the early 2000s, but for 1960s America this was pretty shocking and hard to
get pass the censors.
The movie is now dated in the way it deals with mental illness, and in
the era of #MeToo Hitchcock himself has been re-examined regarding his treatment
of actresses. Controversies aside, there is no denying this is an essential
piece of cinema history, and that poor Anthony Perkins really helped sell the
movie as the deranged Normand. Like Anthony Hopkins with Hannibal Lecter, he
will always be remembered for playing a psycho. However, you have to give him
credit for accepting to come back for the sequels, and even directing one of
them. Although not as good as the original, as is often the case, some of them
are apparently good on their own merit. Of course if I ever did get to watch
them part of me will always be wondering, should I and the rest of the audience
be thanking Ed Gains for being the seed of our entertainment?
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