PopHorror Let's Get Scared
While it is hard for me to choose just one favorite horror movie, the original Psycho is at the top of my list. In 1987, I went to Universal Studios California. An attraction that drew me in was the Psycho house. I was ten and I hadn’t seen the movie yet, but that house just intrigued me. When I asked my parents about the movie, my mom immediately said, “Well, showers were never really the same after that.”
Fast forward to 1995 and my senior year in high school. I took a film study class and one of the films we were going to study was Psycho. I told my mom we were going to watch it and I couldn’t wait. She said, “It is a great movie… a shower will never be the same though.”
Finally the day came we began watching the classic 1960 Psycho. The opening titles and music score drew me right in. Hitchcock is truly the Master of Suspense. The build up of her paranoia along with the use of the movie score is pure gold.
Psycho opens with Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh, an original “Scream Queen”) and her boyfriend, Sam, having a lunch date. It is here we learn that Sam, a divorcee, is working as a hardware clerk. He can’t afford to marry Marion, as all of his money goes to his ex-wife in alimony. Afterwards, she returns to the office, where she has been a loyal and dedicated to her real estate boss, George Lowery. Soon after her return, Mr. Lowery and his client come back to settle their business deal. The wealthy client flashes his $40,000 cash payment. Mr. Lowery asks Marion to deposit it in their safety deposit box. It’s Friday and he doesn’t want the money to sit in the office all weekend.
Marion leaves work to deposit the money but never makes it to the bank. Instead, she decides to take the money and start her new life with Sam. She begins her journey from Phoenix to California where Sam lives. During a rainstorm, she meets her fate when she pulls off to the Bates Motel and meets the seemingly friendly and lonely Norman Bates (played perfectly by Anthony Perkins).
Mom was right… showers never really the same after this movie.
By this time, I had seen Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and a lot of horror flicks. But Psycho got to me. I remember taking a shower the day after seeing the infamous “shower scene” and I kept opening the curtain to peek what seemed to be about 100 times.
Psycho began my love for the suspense/horror genre and my love for Hitchcock and his films. Hitchcock sets the genre for suspense and true horror. It isn’t just a slasher movie. It is a timeless classic that takes you on a trip through the minds of Marion Crane and Norman Bates.
