TV and Movies

[Pearlee]

According to a column in today's NY Post Psycho was released 60 years ago today. 🏚🦇
I remember the summer it was released because everyone was talking about "the shower scene" yet not divulging the surprise ending so as not to ruin it for others. I remember my aunt talking about seeing it with my uncle and "jumping out of her seat."

I love scary movies so my aunt's statement made me really want to see it but my parents wouldn't let me because I was too young.

A few years later I read the book on which the film was based and it scared the **** out of me! When I finally did see the film as a teenager it too scared the **** out of me even though I'd read the book and knew the ending! 🤯 Of course the book hadn't had the screeching violin music to increase suspense.

The column in the NY Post is quite interesting pointing out how different a horror film it was 60 years ago. First off, the hero Janet Leigh dies unexpectedly and brutally in the first 1/3 of the film which was shocking. Also, horror films had monsters in them and happy endings. In Psycho the monster was within and the ending was creepy and unnerving not happy.

Psycho is a brilliant piece of filmmaking by Hitchcock and is one of my top 5 favorite films.
Please on its birthday share your memories of first seeing it. 🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

[Oznell]

@Pearlee,  it was undeniably clever, and eerie and unsettling because of the way it broke the conventions of horror, as you point out...

Putting this in spoiler bar, just in case there's one person on the planet who doesn't know what happens!

Spoiler

I've not watched it often, but apart from the incredibly effective shower scene, the most creep-out factor for me was realizing that Anthony Perkins was both "Norman" and his mother!

I remember also poor Martin Balsam ascending a staircase-- hated to see him go, especially, since he's one of my favorite character actors....

[mspatmac]

I remember jumping out of my seat the first time I saw it, not knowing anything about it.  Brilliant film as most of Hitchcock's are.  They certainly have stood the test of time.  Another brilliant film in the same genre is a French film Diabolique starring Simone Signoret, scared the heck out of me too.  

[Pearlee]

@mspatmac Ditto for Diabolique, the bathtub event made me jump out of my seat. The first time I saw that I never saw that coming. My father loved that film.

@Oznell. The "slow turn around underneath the light bulb" scene near the end is what made me jump out of my seat, not the shower scene or other scenes. Not sure to this day which scene my aunt meant made her jump - certainly several scenes qualify. The film is a masterpiece for sure. Each year it is shown where I live at a movie theater on Oct 31.

[Mombo1]

@Pearlee  Yes that movie scared the life out of me.   Another one was Jaws.  Not as much as Psycho....but a close second.   

[patbz]

I was a teen when it first came out.  The shower scene really freaked me (for years I would remember it as I was getting into a shower (especially if I was in a motel).  They did the blood effect by using chocolate syrup.

[deepwaterdotter]

When I read the title of this thread, I was hoping it was not a comment about my birthday 5 years ago.

[Mz iMac]

                                           

[deedledeedeedle]

Wow, just wow. My mom used to tell the story how she and Dad actually attended the movie on a date. Mom said she screamed like a banshee. LOL Just thinking about it.

dee

[avid shopper]

Thanks for posting...

Saw it when I was seven years old as I went to the movies EVERY Saturday and I guess my parents didn't pay much attention to what was playing.  I thought it was 2 different movies, not sure why.  I have always loved scary movies and Hitchcock!