We all go a little mad sometimes...

A tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Plus: BBoF #3

Hey there - 

We’re one week out from the big launch for BLAZING BLADE OF FRANKENSTEIN #3.

More details plus cover reveals coming soon, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, give us a follow by clicking the killer image from Eric Nguyen below…

…or…

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW BLAZING BLADE OF FRANKENSTEIN 1-3 ON KICKSTARTER

Meanwhile, in honor of spooky season, I’m going to take a deep dive into one of my absolute favorite movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO.

Like any revolutionary piece of art, it may be difficult for someone who’s only familiar with the works it influenced to understand its impact.

So, here are some things I love about the movie… and the great storytelling lessons anyone can learn from this masterpiece.

Needless to say, 63 year-old spoilers ahead…

Lesson 1: A GREAT TITLE SEQUENCE AND SCORE GO A LONG WAY. Check out those amazing visuals courtesy of Saul Bass, and the exciting, driving score from Bernard Herrmann, whose work on PSYCHO has influenced pretty much all horror movie music since. Both set the tone for what’s to come.

Lesson 2: MAKE YOUR OPENING SCENE COUNT. Hitchcock starts with an establishing shot and then, in a brilliant camera move, delivers us to a hotel room where we meet our protagonist (Marion Crane). Hitch doesn’t waste any time introducing us to her main problem...

...she wants to be with Sam, who lives in another state and has too many debts to marry her. All of this is revealed actively through conflict, as Marion tries to convince him that “respectability” is better than meeting in cheap hotel rooms.

Note the location of the scene: a sleazy hotel. Hotels and motels will (obviously) play a big role in this story, and Hitch introduces this element immediately. Also note Marion’s underwear: “good girl” white. He's telling us a lot with a little.

Lesson 3: MAKE YOUR INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS AS SPECIFIC AND ENTERTAINING AS POSSIBLE. In the scene at the bank, Pat Hitchcock doesn’t play generic “Employee #1”. She’s Caroline, a woman whose self-absorption is hilarious. We all know people like this.

Similarly, the character of the rich oilman is a loose-lipped, horny lech. His creepy come-ons to Marion make the scene come alive, capped by Caroline’s (very much in character) comment that he must not have flirted with her because he saw her wedding ring.

See also: the cop with the mirrored glasses and the woman who's looking for a "humane" pest control solution right after the shower scene.

Lesson 4: IT’S A VISUAL MEDIUM, SO USE IT. Notice Marion’s wardrobe as she decides to run off with the money: Bad Girl Black, a visual contrast to her Good Girl White earlier.

Also notice how the shower looms in the background, foreshadowing one of the most famous scenes in movie history.

Lesson 5: VOICE-OVER IS DANGEROUS. The v/o here is one of the few things in the movie that feels a little hokey to me… but establishing that we can get into a character’s head pays off handsomely later (see lesson 11).

Lesson 6: CASTING MATTERS. Putting Janet Leigh, a star, in the role of Marion Crane immediately made her sympathetic—which is good, because, honestly? She’s a thief. But we like her and want her to succeed, even if we know she’s doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.

And casting Anthony Perkins as Norman? Genius.

Watch this scene and see how sympathetic Norman is. You like him! This is a huge change from Robert Bloch’s (brilliant) novel, where Norman was a physically unattractive, middle-aged, mildy creepy slob.

Casting the boyish, handsome and charming Perkins makes the surprise twist even more shocking. Compare that to the Gus Van Sant remake. Vince Vaughn is a great actor, but he’s miscast as Norman. This guy is obviously a creep:

Lesson 7: This is a biggie: AN ENTIRE MOVIE CAN BE BUILT AROUND A FEW SET PIECES. The first 45-minutes of PSYCHO exists for the sole purpose of getting Marion into the shower. Everything drives us towards this moment...

...It is the hinge moment on which the rest of the story turns. It’s the scene we remember most… and everything else that happens is a direct result of this scene.

Incidentally, this scene also reinforces lesson one: the score matters. A lot.

BTW, co-Fry-Cook-in-Chief Alexandre O. Philippe directed the definitive doc on this scene, 78/52: HITCHCOCK'S SHOWER SCENE. Highly recommended: https://www.amazon.com/78-52-Hitchcocks-Shower-Scene/dp/B076B7G581

(Fun fact: I provide the voice-over comparing Bloch’s novel to the movie.)

Lesson 8: SHOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR HINGE MOMENTS. In his great book “On Film-Making,” veteran director Alexander Mackendrick talks about how the build up and aftermath of a moment are more important than the moment itself.

Hitchcock could have cut away right after the murder, leaving us in shock. Instead, he ups the squirm factor significantly by making Norman’s clean-up every bit as compelling as the famous scene that preceded it...

I wish I could find a clip of this moment. But you know what? You should really watch the whole movie. It's on Peacock right now.

Lesson 9: GOOSE THE MIDPOINT BY INTRODUCING A NEW CHARACTER… OR TWO. Now we meet Marion’s sister Lila. She’s been mentioned before, but here we are seeing her for the first time. Something new! A reason for the audience to sit up and pay attention again!

Lila replaces Marion’s function in the movie. She has a clear goal: Lila wants to find her sister. So even though Hitch broke a “rule” by killing off his protagonist, he wastes no time giving us someone else to root for. We want Lila (and Sam) to find out what happened to Marion.

But Hitch (and the novel’s criminally unheralded writer Robert Bloch) also introduce ANOTHER character, Arbogast. He's a PI who: a) fills in some information for the audience, b) can plausibly track Marion, and c) is also a "red shirt." Someone else to kill off in our next set piece!

Remember how the first 45 minutes of the movie drove us towards the shower scene? Everything from the midpoint drives us to Arbogast’s death. And then the fallout from that scene drives us to the obligatory scene of the movie: Lila and Sam confront Norman at the Bates Motel.

Which is a great time to mention how much I love Anthony Perkins’ performance. How did he not win the Oscar? Check out his “OK” around the :55 mark. Is he calling their bullshit or what?

But once protagonist and antagonist are at the motel, the story rushes to its conclusion. Lila discovers the truth about Norman and Mother… and again, Hitch goes for maximum visual (and auditory) effect.

So that’s three key set pieces around which the whole movie turns: The Shower Scene, Arbogast’s death, and the discovery. Everything else is either lead up to or fallout from those scenes. It's such a beautifully simple construction.

Lesson 10: A WEAK SCENE CAN BE SAVED BY A GREAT PERFORMANCE. The psychiatrist scene at the end is often called too long and expository. In fact, it was the one thing Robert Bloch said he didn’t like about the movie made from his book.

But some kind of explanation was necessary, especially to a 1960s audience. And the performance, at least, is captivating.

Lesson 11: END ON A GREAT FINAL IMAGE. That shot of Norman smiling, with the image of his mother’s skull superimposed? Brilliant, and it’s what we remember most about the ending.

And now I’m re-thinking my comment earlier about the voice-over. Because it works so well in this final scene… and it doesn’t seem strange because we’ve already seen it. So... that weird thing in Act Two pays off in the final scene.

And, OK, I can hear someone saying it’s not actually the final final shot. That would be Marion’s car being pulled from the swamp, which reminds us of how this whole thing began, closing the circle.

Lesson 12: YOU CAN SHOOT A GREAT FILM ON A TV BUDGET. Paramount wouldn’t give him a big budget, so Hitch shot this whole film like it was an extended episode of his TV show. Kinda like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Both show that you don’t need a big budget to make a great movie.

And that’s 12 storytelling lessons I learned from PSYCHO.

(Hmmm, maybe I shoulda made it 13…)

Anyway, thanks for reading! I’ll be back soon with details on the BBoF launch.

Until then, I’m curious:

What’s your favorite scary movie?

Hit reply or…

Until next time,

Clay