5 BEEN Aca time when Hollywood was pumping out nas to better compere on, “Psycho” was a low- 1d-white oddity filled wich Boise sears. Even its ploc risked Despite a long career spent slicneting. moviegoers by violating probing the finer points of murder, °\1=! commaninen: of ocmacic storytelling: Thow shalt not kill thy pro “Psycho” was Alfred Hitchcock’s =: 8. rier shan gesting buried (as the nervous suits at only near-death experience. 2097: predicted), "Psycho" slayed at the box office. A smash hit with 24 | mental tossBEHIND THE SHOWER CURTAIN ee a Ce ROC Cette, ity re without actual en ncy standards in 19 ee ea breast, a buttock, or a knife punctun Real Peri in. The a Tels aur) ee nena eer en pe eret pare Se enn Leora 1m 70 different oer are eee Ry eet eee ern et ery. epee aT. ees of life Imitati ee corer erm rere cone Cerne, rer rene Hitch eer famously reclusive mama's boy Psycho” killer Norman Baees—rest assured young Hitch’s interests leaned nd drawing than bird-stuffing and lady-stabbing. In fact, his hobbie A uidiences, i¢ not only became the his fiese jobs—designing title cards for movie for which Hitch is best remem. silene films. That quickly led co gigs a bered, but i also gave birth to a new an assistant director, a set designer, and, ind beloved gente: the slasher film. i at the ripe old age of 23, his fist ful fledged directing assignmen Poor reeurns on Hitchcock's first ewo Born on Auguse 13th (noe a Friday), solo he technically accom 1899, co a middle-class family in plished, if forgettable, potboilers “The London, Alfred Joseph Hitchcock Pleasure Garden” (1925) and “The rew up quiet and sheltered, And at Mountain Eagle” (1926)—ehteatened 14, when his father died, Alfred's to end his brilliane career before i had already incense bond wich his mother started. Fortunately, che master-in ‘only deepened. If chis sounds suspi training stumbled upon his true calling ciously like the story of anocher with his thitd film, he silene thriller aoe) daugh The Lodger” (1927). Visually inven- tive and genuinely disturbing, it roved that Hitchcock had a knack 1 exploring humanity's dark side Pethaps inevitably, Hollywoo% beckoned. Relocating his family co sunny Los Angeles in 1939, Hitch speedily established himself with horror classics such as. “Suspicion (1941), “Shadow of a Doube” (1943), and “Spellbound” (1945). Always popular wich audiences (though rarely with critics), his signature style make him one of the world’s most recogni able direc Hitchcock was ors. Bur ter storyteller and obsessive techni- an, he was so good at making films that—as if co keep from geteing 25 ‘mentalfloss.comeo Fr eect ee sere ee errr en ent aN fe) ps S) bs nH re rr) =) iw [= 4 ra fe) a im] ) 4 fa) Creer oar bored—he began to issue himself extreme creative challenges. “Lifeboat (1944) confined che camera to a small raft adrift in che Atlantic, just as “Rear Window" (1954) locked a voyeuristic invalid. Bue Hitchcock's greatest challenge was yee ‘0 come: making what Paramount execs called “the impossible film 26 | mental toss Psycho novel b was based on a pull A charming litele bed time story about a serial killer with complex, the book had a 2 oedipal plotline the brass at hated. So when the rotund master insisted on finishing out his studio contract by .dapting the novel for the big make ie wih almost no money To their great surprise, Hitchcock said, “All right, I'l make do, ‘And make do he did. Avoiding big-name stats and using the TV Alfred Hitchcock he made "Psycho" for Presents, mere $800,000. Tt was his least expensive film in 20 years hands, turned out Psycho” might’v just as studio heads had feared. cheap-looking piece of trash with zero audience appeal. OF course Hitch had a slightly. differene From ies first shot—into the open window of a seedy motel room— Psycho” announces that we are in he hands of a virtuoso, Inside, secretary named Marion C dresses after a midday eryst wich ner lover, Sam, who would marry her but for his desperate financial sieuation. So when a wealthy brag. gare at Marion’s office encrusts her 1,000 cash deposit, sh pockets ie and skips town instead. She drives through the night, but torrential rainstorm forces her off he highway and into yet another seedy lodge—the Bates Motel. There, she meets Norman, an odd bird who spends his life cat nis invalid mother and the failin motel. Marion and Norman share propensity to become victims of their own wild impulses. “We all tle_mad_ sometimes, Unforcunately Norman confesses or Mal madder than others. In one of the ‘most iconic scenes in film histor she's stabbed to death chat evening. Soc we hear Norman's shouts echo from a nearby house Mother! Oh, god! Mother! Only then do we realize ehae the movie we've just been watching, about a good n and het moral dilem and a much darkerInvestigating Marion's disappear arrives at the motel. But when he, coo, ‘goes “missing,” Marion's sister, Lila, and lover, Sam, decide to pay the hocel a visit. While Sam distracts Norman, Lila finds Norman's mother lefe of her—rorting in the fruit cella. Whar follows is a famously effective triple climax: one visual (recoiling in horror, Lila smacks a hanging light bulb with her hand); (Norman bursts in, dressed like his mother and wielding a knife); and one musical (those screeching violins now inextricably linked with stabbing motions). But before Norman can claim another victim, Sam arrives 10 save the day Then, in an ending that even Hitchcock described as a “hae grabber, ‘we are treated £0 a dey, lengthy mono- logue by a psychiatrist. The doctor explains chat Norman was a schizo- phrenic (yeah, we know), whose “Mother side” caused him co murder the women a snoopy private investigator he coveted in fits of jealousy (got ie. Forcunately, all che yadda-yadda is ren: dered obsolete when Hitchcock cuts to Norman in a holding cell, grinning madly with his mother’s dead face super imposed over his own. Norman is gone ‘naw; there is only Mother. Believing the film’s strengest selling peint was its twist ending, Hitchceck went HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING Brilliant as “Psycho” is, i¢ owes much, of its success to an equally brilliant marketing campaign. Believing che film’s strongest selling point was its twist ending, Hitchcock went co enormous lengths to keep it secret He bought every copy of the Psy novel he could find. He made his cast His casting directors even held auditions for the pare of Norman’s mother, to berter conceal the fact that no such role existed. and crew take oaths of silence the coup de g putting Hitch’s paranoia ae che heare Psycho” publicity blitz. In che trailer, he comically begs viewers not ¢o reveal the ending. (“I's the only one we have,” he pleads.) In addiction, HiewspapePwesrrrredaucis efceeethatte'no one NO.ONE = will be admitted into the theater | ater the start of each pertormance of teRsfdho's” (Latecomers could easily miss Janec Leigh's encire performance, of the he reasoned.) Moviegoers, unaccus- comed to waiting in line, suddenly found themselves in long queues. While they waiced, they were treated to a prerecorded apology from Hirchcock: “You see, ‘Psycho’ is most enjoyable when viewed beginning ac te enermeus lengths te keep it secret. He beught every cepy ef the Psyche nevel he eceuld find." the beginning and proceeding co the end, I realize this is a evolu: tionary concept, but we have dis- covered that it is unlike most motion pictures and does not improve when run Hitchcock's backwards. marketing strategy worked. The same Paramount executives who doubted “Psycho could break even suddenly had a smash hie on their hands, radical CASTING A LONG, ROUND SHADOW ‘Any time a filmmaker tells a story that ventures into the world of sus- pense,” said director Curtis Hanson, “they are laboring mous shadow of Alfred Hitchcock In face, chat may Hitchcock himself under the enor. we been true for Many critics argue that he never surpassed the greatness of “Psycho.” Bur whac about its imitators? While the did kick-start the slasher genre, ‘The Friday the 13¢h’ sics such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and don't begin co approach the ingen ity of the original. Even Gus Van Sant’s 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Psycho,” starring Vince Vaughn as an unlikely Norman Bates, is miss- ing one ingredienc Hitchcock behind the camera, Hitch followed “Psycho' “The Birds” in 1963. Ie was his last unequivocal masterwork, after which both his health and his cre- output steadily During his prolific career, spanning, six decades and more than 50 films, Hitchcock helped transform ehe role of director from hired hand co cre- ative auteur. He countless younger filmmakers and established himself as a brand name in suspense films. Despite five nom- inations, he never won an Academy Award for directing (although he’s in good company, along with Stanley Kubrick Martin Scorsese), instead Irving Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968. With classic Hiechcockian essential ative declined also influenced and receiving an drollness, he delivered che briefest acceptance speech the Academy had ever heard: “Thank you. mentafoss.com | 27 JOOOOCCOCCOCCOCOOQO000000D0D0DCTCOO