Currently Watching Psycho🔪😱

[PurgatoryGirl]

Even though I missed most of the movie (mostly because I was taking my midnight shower and watching 120 Minutes on MTV Classic), watching the last few minutes of Psycho never gets old.

I remember that epic scene of Norman Bates' mother sitting in the chair. Her corpse looked so fake. It looked like a skeleton made out of plastic mold wearing a wig. The acting was also so contrived. It's still hilarious to watch, years later.😂

Edited July 16, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[PurgatoryGirl]

Psycho was on Epix again an hour ago. When I originally posted this thread, I forgot to share Mike Mozart's vlog review about Madame Alexander's Psycho Doll. LMAO at "Master Bates!"

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[Raptorpat]

It's definitely corny now, but I kinda wish I knew what it was like to see it at the time when it was totally groundbreaking.

There were a few movies from that general period that my parents totally "oversold" on us because what was groundbreaking then was corny or fake for children who grew up with our own groundbreaking films and effects (for example, Jurassic Park).

[PurgatoryGirl]

According to my grandmother, Psycho was controversial during the 1960's because the plot and characters were "immoral." Technically speaking, Psycho gave birth to the Slasher Horror sub-genre.

In most Slashers, the serial killer is considered "The Moral Villain" because he usually serial kills immoral teenagers.

Even though Psycho doesn't have the stereotypical tropes found in most Slashers from the 1980's and '90s, the film from the '60s does have the killer and "slashing" elements to it.

Psycho is mostly considered to be a Thriller. However, it also has the ability to cross genres and sub-genres such as Murder Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, and Horror.

This scene always makes me laugh so hard. Most may have been freaked out decades ago, but I always find this scene to be hilarious.

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[Raptorpat]

I totally get the scene, it moves a whole lot of plot and a major twist even though it's almost entirely nonverbal. I can def understand why it's so groundbreaking even if it doesn't exactly hold up in the effects side today.

The movie was also controversial at the time because, for example, it killed off it's star actress in the beginning of the film, and the shower murder scene itself broke all sorts of ground in terms of what had never been depicted on screen before.

[PurgatoryGirl]

Ah, this is very true. SCREAM was somewhat similar in that aspect. The creators of SCREAM wanted Drew Barrymore to be the star of the movie.

Then, she suggested that killing her character would leave a long-lasting impact on their audience because she is a major star, and it did. With that being said, I can actually see why killing the star of Psycho contributed to the film's controversy.

The camera's pan zooms of the characters' faces mainly their eyes and eyebrows makes Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho really creepy. That's along with the film's score setting a creepy tone to it all. Otherwise, Psycho wouldn't have been as scary. At least not to me, anyway.

Then again, I am desensitized to most Horror film's except Gremlins. Those creatures that were based off of Mogwai in Chinese Folklore still scare me 3 decades later. It's mostly because their eyes are so hideous. LOL!😂

Edited August 22, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[Raptorpat]

I think that raises a good point - half of the "aging" that makes a classic like Psycho less scary is actually us having been desensitized, partially because these barriers were broken when they were.

[PurgatoryGirl]

The acting also could've been much better. By the acting being so cheesey and contrived, watching Alfred Hitchcock's movies and TV shows makes it hard to take them seriously.