Hello Halloween friends! It’s spooky season and if you’re like me, you may be looking for a good and spooky TTRPG to play this month. There are literally thousands out there in about any genre you can imagine which makes it tough to choose. But sometimes you just want to fight (or become) a monster. Whether it’s creeping cosmic horror barely held at bay, a big hairy werewolf, or space survival horror, I’ve got you covered. These are my favorite monster TTRPGs but by no means the only ones out there. These are not in any particular order. Whether any of these suit your table is up to you but I’ll give you a brief run down of what kind of game it is, how you can get started with it, and give you handy links where you can buy the game.
(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)
Honorable Mentions
Dungeons & Dragons
Say what you will about Dungeons & Dragons (everyone does) but at its core, D&D is about fighting monsters. Which edition is best and how adaptable to horror the game is happens to be a matter of opinion. But they have an entire book dedicated to monsters so, yeah it’s a good monster game. My personal recommendation if you are just getting into TTRPG’s is to go ahead and start with the 5th edition, as it’s the current and easiest to obtain edition.
You’ve definitely heard of it and there are tons of different ways to get this game. In order to play the full game, you’ll need the three core books – Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. These all retail for different prices but they generally run from $30-50. The best way to get these books is at your local friendly game store. You can get them on Amazon for a bit less as well. If you want to do that, all you need to do is click the hyperlinked text above. Also, if you want to play exclusively online, I recommend clicking on the image above where you can get Roll20 compatible content.
A free way to get started is to just use the basic rules but there’s a lot more work upfront for that and you’ll be limited in the amount of monsters you can find. Still, if that’s more your speed click here.
Pathfinder
This game is a lot like D&D but there are a few differences. It’s a little crunchier so if you like that, this game is great. One nice thing is that you really can just start with one book. It’s got some cool monsters, great art, and is fun to play. You can also buy this game on Amazon or at your local friendly game store. If you want to get it through Amazon, do me a favor and buy through the image above or by clicking here. This book generally sells for around $45 but a lot of times you can find a good sale.
Now on to the top 5 Monster TTRPGs!
5. Call of Cthulhu – Cosmic HOrror TTRPG
Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook
It can’t be overstated how much I enjoy Call of Cthulhu. It’s a game of cosmic horror where you are faced with a bleak world where you are not likely to survive. The universe not only does not care about you, it actively despises you. But you and your friends can try to be a small shining light in the dark, fight the cosmic evil, or go mad in the attempt. (You’ll probably go mad but it’s a ton of fun).
For this game you can go for the main book known as the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook but there are also great entry points. If you want solo adventures go for Alone Against the Flames. If you want a starter set, that’s a fantastic way to begin and Chaosium, the publisher of the books does an amazing job putting together a starter set.
The prices run from $10 – $50 depending on what you want. If you just want PDF’s use my links above. But if you want hard cover books then your best bet here is actually going to the Chaosium website. (By the way all their games are fantastic and worth the money in my opinion)
4. Vampire the Masquerade – Blood Sucking TTRPG
Vampire the Masquerade
And now we enter the World of Darkness. Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition is a game where you are the monster. You are a vampire in a world much like our own. But you are most decidedly an undead creature of the night. You need to do all the things you think vampires need to do. You need to drink blood, avoid sunlight, and you get some really interesting powers. But, there is a world out there ready to destroy you in any way you can imagine. You’ll have to navigate a world of intrigue, secrecy, stealth, power, politics, violence, despair and every single vice you can imagine. And you’ll want to try to suppress the constant hunger you feel which could reveal to the world just what you are at any time.
Vampire the Masquerade is definitely on the mature side of gaming and it makes absolutely no apologies for that. But you and your group will want to be sure to make exceedingly clear lines on how to safely role play in this game so you only traumatize characters, not players. It’s a bit of a fine line but good game masters (in this case called Storytellers) can handle this no problem.
This is a great game full of narrative possibility and I highly recommend it. You can get this book on Amazon or at your local game store. A less expensive option here is to get the PDF version by clicking one of the links above. The PDF will run you around $30 while the Amazon book is often priced closer to $50. I just use the PDF and I find it just fine.
3. Monster of the Week – Monster TTRPG
Monster of the Week
I mean, the title kind of says it all here. You know the shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and Supernatural where there is a monster every week and the good guys fight them? Yeah, this is that. It’s a heck of a lot of fun and it’s pretty quick to learn too. It’s great to use both as just a one off game night or for a bit of a longer campaign, but of course, you’ll still want to have a monster to fight each week.
You can get Monster of the Week on drivethrurpg and it’s currently on sale for just $12. This is just the PDF version but it’s a great deal and gives you perfect Halloween month vibes.
2. Werewolf the Apocalypse – Wolf TTRPG
Werewolf the Apocalypse
If you have a list of monster games and you have vampires in it, well, you’ve got to have werewolves too. Werewolf the Apocalypse is the newest title on this list although there have been several versions of this game already. This also takes place in the World of Darkness so it sits adjacent to Vampire the Masquerade and chances are if you like that game you will like this one. However, there are definitely some differences.
As the name implies, things are getting dire for werewolves, not to mention the rest of the world. There tends to be a bit more action and a little less intrigue than VTM but the players are definitely shape changers who have a big battle to fight. This is a newer edition so I have not fully played it and can’t tell you how it compares to older editions. But so far, the rules seem fairly clean and the gameplay is easy to pick up if you have played any Storyteller system game before. Also, like VTM this is for mature audiences so be forewarned.
The PDF sells for $38 and you can get that by clicking the hyperlinks or image in this post. If you want the hardcover book it’ll cost you closer to $55. For this one, I recommend going to your closest gaming store for the hard copy.
1. Alien – Space Horror TTRPG
Alien Starter Set
In space no one can hear you scream. I mean, unless you are playing a TTRPG with your friends on earth and then you can all hear one another scream. Alien the Role Playing Game is a fantastic game of space survival horror. And if you think you know all the bad things you can find in a game like this, well, you are underestimating what is in store for you here.
In my opinion the best way to get started here is with the starter set. This set gives you a rulebook, a scenario, five ready made characters, a big ol’ map, a bunch of game markers and custom cards to use in the game.
There are two good ways to get the starter set. First, you can grab it on Amazon for around $40 here. This will give you all the stuff mentioned above in a neat, slick box. If you don’t mind printing stuff on your own, you can save a good bit of money to get the starter set as a PDF on drivethrurpg for $20 right here.
Well, that’s my list. Now, go out and get yourself something to play for a good old spooky time and have fun!
A Friday the 13th in October?! You know what that means! You gotta watch a Friday the 13th movie tonight. But where do you begin? What’s the best one? Do I have to watch these things in order? How many movies are there? Good news! I have already done reviews of all 12, yes one less than 13, films. Check them out below to find out which ones are worth watching. Honestly, I think they all are but each one will give you a different sort of experience. If you want the scariest ones, go with the first three. If you want the best of them go with the fourth one and if you want the most ridiculous experience watch the one where Jason goes to space. Yes, you read that right! Jason goes to space.
Anyway, check out my reviews below. There are spoilers here so be forewarned.
And because I really want there to be 13 things on this list, here’s a bonus. A fantastic documentary about the whole Friday the 13th series. It’s a long watch but for a big fan, totally worth it.
Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittney Snow, Kid Codi, and Owen Campbell star in X
Hello Halloween pals and gals, and everyone in between! Slick Dungeon here and I’m back to review another spooky film for my favorite horror movie month. This time I watched a surprisingly decent film with a small cast just called X. No, not the artist formerly known as Twitter, the movie called X. There are going to be some spoilers below but they will be fairly mild. Still, if you are averse to spoilers watch the movie first. It’s a good one so it’s worth your time.
It’s Art
Still with me? Okay good. X is a movie about a group of filmmakers trying to break into the adult film industry in the 1970’s. This rag tag bunch of eccentric folks who cut against the mainstream want to capture the success of the famous adult film Debbie Does Dallas. Our heroes in X are also from Texas so it makes sense they might want to capitalize on this trend. They have a cast, a producer, and a director and they’re all ready to go. The group even has a location. The plan is to shoot the film on a little farm out in the middle of nowhere. The farm lets people rent rooms on the property for a fee. The only catch? Our movie makers have chosen the wrong farm. Also, they haven’t told the farm owners what they’re up to.
If there is any one particular protagonist here it’s Mia Goth’s Maxine (spelled with three X’s in her stage name version). She wants to be a sex symbol and rich and famous and this movie is supposed to be her start.
I don’t want to spoil the movie too much but as this is a slasher film, well, let’s just say things start happening and bodies start dropping. As the audience we have a pretty good idea of who is doing it although how believable that is can definitely be up for debate.
The movie knows what it is and makes reference to Psycho more than once, acknowledging and subverting its predecessor in several ways. The movie is superbly acted with great performances from everyone in the cast but Mia Goth stands out here. It’s rare that anyone can outshine Jenna Ortega in a horror film so that’s saying something.
The movie also has some great cinematography and is very well directed. There are definitely some moments that stretch the imagination but when you get right down to it, this movie knows it’s just dumb fun. And that usually makes for the best of slasher films.
Why the 1970’s?
Did this have to be set in the 70’s? Not at all. But putting it there actually does a lot for the film. First, the 70’s and early 80’s is when a lot of the greatest horror films were made. Second, we don’t have to deal with cell phones and the internet which make a serial slasher killer going around for hours without being caught much less believable. And with such a small cast and low budget, the time period really works. They did a fantastic job mimicking the look and feel of the fashions from the decade.
More to Come
One thing to note is there is a prequel movie to X called Pearl. I happened to watch this in release order but this is a rare instance where I really think it does not matter which movie you watch first. I’ll have a separate review for Pearl soon.
However, there is apparently a third film coming. To give you the name of it would actually spoil something from this film so I’m not going to say the title but if it is as good as both X and Pearl are, I’ll be watching for sure.
In conclusion
If you want a fun slasher flick that doesn’t talk down to the audience, is smart enough to keep things tight and short, and has excellent performances, X is a great choice. If want a great double feature experience, throw on Pearl as well. And truly, it doesn’t matter which one you watch first. I’ll say I am slightly more partial to X but it’s a really close call.
A Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition One Shot Scenario for 2-4 Players
Happy Halloween month folks! After years of thinking about it, I’ve finally taken the plunge and written a scenario for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition. It’s a scenario appropriate for 2-4 players and should take about 2-4 hours to play.
Investigators have come to the Miskatonic University music festival for some well deserved down time. Too bad! Because once they are there, strange things start happening in the sky, and before you know it, there is a dead body. What happened? That’s for you and your group to figure out!
If you want to check it out, you can buy the scenario for just $2.99. Just click on the image above or click here.
I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did writing it!
Anne Heche stars as Marion Crane in the 1998 remake of Psycho
Hello, hello, hello Halloween friends! Well, it’s that time. We’ve reached the 1998 remake of Psycho starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen and William H. Macey. The project was directed by Gus Van Sant who is a big time admirer of Alfred Hitchcock. There are spoilers for this movie below but if you have seen the original Psycho, that whole thing spoils this one, so enough said. Let’s get into the review.
What was that?
This film is practically a shot by shot remake of the first one. It’s in color, it has different actors, it’s slightly more explicit, and there’s some dreamy imagery here and there. Otherwise, this is the same film as the one Hitchcock made.
I have no idea why anyone thought this was a good idea at all. I guess putting it in color, it might be argued, allows some people who can’t stand black and white films to see the story. Here’s the thing though, no one can out Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock. Gus Van Sant is a competent enough director but he didn’t make the original so this can practically be called plagiarism.
I’ll be honest here, I am probably biased. I’m a long time fan of the original Psycho so I already think a remake is a bad idea. But, I get the urge to want to modernize a classic. Still, if you have to do this, I don’t think Vince Vaughn is the guy to play Norman Bates.
Should You watch this?
If you’ve seen the original, there is no need to watch the remake. It’s… fine. But you’d be better off just watching the original again. If you’re dying to know what Psycho looks like in color this is your best option. But the modern color and the fact the setting is 1998 instead of 1960 makes some of the story feel really dated. In 1998 it’s really not such a big deal that two people are having an affair as it was in 1960. Also, the amount of money taken is increased for inflation.
Every time I watch this I simply can’t wrap my head around why in the world it was made at all. What is the point here?
My opinion, don’t waste your time with this and just go with the original. But hey, if you just gotta watch this, you do you, I’m not here to judge.
In Conclusion
I find this film to be the most pointless of all the Psycho films. The acting and directing is fine and all, but it’s no Hitchcock classic. And it’s obviously something we’ve seen before considering how close it is to the original. While I really think the only essential film in all of the Psycho franchise is the original, the remake is absolutely the most skippable.
Henry Thomas and Olivia Hussey star as Norman and Norma Bates in Psycho IV
Hello Halloween pals! It’s Slick Dungeon here, back again to review yet another of the movies in the Psycho franchise. In the fourth movie, which was actually made for television, we take a look forward and back as this is both a sequel and a prequel and, kinda confusing. Still, it’s a thing that exists and it’s Halloween-ish so I might as well give you my take on it. Be forewarned there are spoilers for this movie but then again, if you never see it, and you still read this review, I don’t think your life will be much altered one way or the other.
I Just Called To Say…
The central premise of this movie is a bit odd. A radio call in show is having a conversation about a rather controversial subject. Boys who kill their mothers. They have on a psychologist and a guest who killed his mother. It’s got a fairly Jerry Springer quality to it but whatever. The show is, I guess, standard for the time as people just call in and make comments. But this show gets interesting when perhaps the most famous mother killer of all time dials in. Yep, good ol’ Norman Bates has something to say.
There’s a lot that happens in the movie here but I’ll sum up this part pretty briefly. Norman has just found out that his wife is pregnant. Yep! He has a wife! When did that happen? Unclear. When did Norman get out of the institution? Also, unclear. This makes the timeline here pretty murky. To add to the complication, while he is on the phone, Norman tells us about his past and how he started killing in the first place. In addition to all that, he’s planning to kill his wife who had promised him she would never allow herself to become pregnant.
The best scenes of the movie are definitely the ones with Anthony Perkins as he still plays Norman Bates to absolute creepy perfection. The only real tension in the movie though, is if Norman will or will not kill his wife since we know the rest of the murders already happened.
How did Norman Get that Way?
The other half of the movie has Henry Thomas playing a young Norman with Olvia Hussey playing his deranged mother, Norma. Thomas does an adequate job with it but it’s not a stand out performance. Hussey is enjoyable but way too over the top.
We see lots of uncomfortable incidents between the two of them, which ultimately lead Norman to become the homicidal person he was destined to be. Norma makes Norman dress in girls clothes, is weirdly intimate with him far after she should be, and is utterly unhinged and violent a lot of the time.
The movie basically gets the story across, but I’m not sure demystifying Norman in this film helps all that much. Yes, we get some background but he seemed a bit creepier when we weren’t sure why he did what he does.
To get a much better origin story of Norman Bates, I highly recommend the show BatesMotel which had the room to lay the groundwork for the psychosis of Norman Bates. That show is able to subtly balance the awfulness of Norma and the nice guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly but still is capable of violence routine of Norman. It’s five seasons long though, so it’s a bit of a commitment. Still, it’s a far superior prequel than this one.
What Does Norman Do?
The last bit of the movie is Norman getting his wife to come over to his mother’s house where he plans to kill her. Dude, I don’t care if you are married to the guy or not, do not go over to Norman’s mother’s house. It will end badly.
Anyway, Norman is about to kill his wife but he sees his own reflection in the knife and hesitates. She convinces him that he is capable of love, he will love his child, and he should not kill anyone anymore. Norman does stop himself this time. Then he burns down the house but sort of traps himself in it. He’s confronted with the ghosts of his past (but only from this movie not from any of the others) but does make it out of the house. The next day at the burned down house he declares himself free.
Ah, but not so fast. He didn’t burn down the fruit cellar and we see the doors bang and we hear Norma’s voice yelling at Norman just like usual. We fade to the credits to hear a baby crying. We’re meant to assume this is Norman’s kid.
The Troubles with this Movie
While there is some good here, this movie needs a bit of work. Are there worse slasher sequels? Yes, by far there are. But, the fact we can’t really place the timeline here is problematic. If it’s after the events of Psycho III why does Norman never reference those events? If it’s during the time Norman was freed but still killing people, why was his wife never brought up in the other movies? It’s as if this movie wants to skip from Psyho to this movie. This is not the best technique if you ask me (I’m looking at you, Halloween franchise). And if that is the case, well, fine but at least tell us that going in.
The prequel part is not quite long enough to truly immerse us and the sequel part is mostly a phone conversation. And oddly, the phone conversation is much more interesting than the prequel portion. If they could have just decided either prequel or sequel here it would have worked better. For my money, I would have preferred sequel with Anthony Perkins as Norman because I can watch that dude performing that character all day long.
In Conclusion
In the end, this is a skippable film that didn’t need to be made. But if you want to find out a little more about Norman it’s worth a watch. Still, in my opinion, you are better off watching Bates Motel instead. Those performances are a lot more subtle and do a good job establishing a young Norman. But even with that show, there is still only one true Norman Bates and that is Anthony Perkins. Since this is the last film with him in it as the character of Norman Bates, you may want to check it out just to see that.
We’ve only got one more Psycho film to go and it’s a remake. Come back next time to see my thoughts on that.
Anthony Perkins is not only back as Norman Bates but directs Psycho III as well
Hello Halloween pals, it’s Slick Dungeon back again! We’re here for the third turn in the Psycho series. This also makes the third time of Anthony Perkins playing the character and the first time he directs one of the films. As usual, there will be spoilers in this review so if you care about that sort of thing, watch the movie first and then come on back here to read the review. Fair warning for anyone who needs to know this, but there is mention of suicide in this review as it’s one of the themes of the film so if that is an issue for you, skip this review altogether.
We Start With Nuns
This film starts off with something we haven’t seen before. There is a blonde woman who is at a church surrounded by nuns. This woman is proclaiming there is not God. She goes out onto a rooftop ledge and gets pretty close to throwing herself off. But before she jumps, a nun grabs the woman. In the process the woman is saved but the nun falls down from a ledge and dies. Now the woman, Maureen, is left to find her own way in the world. She grabs a suitcase with her initials, M.C. on it and hitches a ride.
The guy who picks her up is no prize and gets really grabby really quick. Needless to say, Maureen’s situation is pretty dire and things are not looking up.
What about Norman?
We then switch to Norman Bates. He’s living what you might call a mostly normal life, despite, you know, having a dead woman in an upstairs bedroom. He is running his motel, although it’s a little worse for wear. He’s back at doing his taxidermy with birds. The only unsettling thing for him is the fact people are still looking for Mrs. Spool who revealed to Norman in the last film that she was his real mother. That’s not good for Norman since he knows exactly where she is. She’s just sitting up there in that bedroom where he put her.
The scumbag who picked Maureen up rolls into the Bates Motel looking for a job and Norman hires the guy on the spot. In town, there is a journalist who wants to get Norman’s point of view on being released on his own recognizance. This is Tracy Venable who tells him she wants to get the other side of the story.
While the two are talking, Maureen shows up with her suitcase and Norman sees her. To him, she’s the living embodiment of Marion Crane. Same blonde hair, same frightened demeanor, and the exact same suitcase.
Mother’s Watching
Duke, the scumbag musician who now works at the Bates Motel gives Maureen cabin 1, the same cabin where Marion Crane died. And, yes, Norman’s mother is watching. Norman does his usual routine of watching someone in the shower, only this time, she takes a bath. And Norman does what he usually does and goes into the bathroom with a big old knife. He’s wearing the old lady outfit and everything. But when he gets there, he’s in for a surprise because Maureen has slit her wrists. Instead of killing her, Norman saves her life. And Maureen actually sees Norman as Mary right before he saves her.
This makes him a bit of a hero in town and Maureen is certainly appreciative of him. Norman just tells the cops he was there to give her fresh towels.
But, while this is going down, Duke finds out about Norman’s background from Tracy. Duke then goes back to the motel with a date he picked up at the bar. They have a good time for a while but then get into an argument. And this complete jerk throws her out of the room without her clothes. She does manage to get Duke to toss her top to her. Then, she goes to make a phone call at the phone booth. And that is the end of her. Mother stabs her and we hear Norman talking about the blood once again, just like he did in the first film.
Norman offered for Maureen to stay in his hotel free of charge for a while so she does. Duke finds Norman cleaning up the phone booth early the next morning but doesn’t think anything of it. But, he does see a bill the woman had the night before and wonders if something happened to her.
Maureen tells the local priest about how she had doubts and hesitations before taking her vows.
Tracy tries to catch up with Norman again but he pretty much tells her to take a hike. There’s a bit of activity at the hotel because there is a big football game in town. But, Norman and Maureen seem to be hitting it off a bit.
Tracy Continues to Dig
Being a good journalist, Tracy Venable is determined to find out what happened to Mrs. Spool. She goes to her apartment and discovers the number for the Bates Motel written down. She calls the number and Norman answers. She’s smart enough to just hang up.
Meanwhile, Norman is still talking to the dead woman he has upstairs. He has a bit of a date with Maureen. The two have a bit much to drink and when they get back to the hotel there is a raucous party going on. Maureen sees the silhouette of a woman in the window of Norman’s house. You’d think by this time Norman would have installed thicker shades or something but I guess he didn’t think of that.
Bodies keep Droppin’ at the Old Motel
Norman seems to have a good time with Maureen but they go back to the hotel. There’s a moment when it looks like Norman and Maureen are going to get a lot more intimate but Norman says he can’t. Maureen suggests they just hold each other for a while. Norman agrees. But then Maureen wakes up and Norman is gone.
See, Norman was a little busy ending the life of yet another young woman. This one he apparently hides in the big old ice chest right outside the motel where anyone can grab ice. The sheriff comes looking for the missing woman. And he proves to be the most unobservant cop ever because he literally grabs ice from said ice chest, dripping red with blood but doesn’t look at it. He also doesn’t see the body parts peeking out of the ice. Norman squeaks by once again, not becoming the prime suspect.
But while she is there digging into the story, Tracy lets Maureen know what Norman’s past is. Maureen decides she’d rather go hang out with the priest who keeps lecturing her than with the guy who has committed multiple murders. Can’t say I blame her there.
Duke is a Moron
So, this scumbag Duke, who won’t shut up about how he’s a musician and needs money has the dumbest plan ever. He’s figured out Norman’s got Mrs. Spool. What does Duke do about this? Well, he knows if he turns Norman in, he might get a pat on the back but not much else. He also knows if he tells Tracy Venable what is going on, he’ll get five minutes of fame but no money out of it. Duke’s idea is to extort a man who has killed about ten people at this point, as if Norman wouldn’t just kill him.
And… Duke gets his brains bashed in with his own guitar. Norman does his usual routine of driving a car to the swamp to sink the bodies but it turns out he hadn’t quite finished the job on Duke who tries to choke Norman. But, Norman drives the car into the swamp and since Duke is wrapped up in plastic and Norman is not, Norman gets away while Duke drowns.
Tracy is Still Digging
Starting to put some pieces together between Norman and Mrs. Spool, Tracy finds out Spool worked at the diner where Norman did, and that Spool had been in an institution before being hired there. Tracy also figures out that Spool is only claiming to be Norman’s real mother because she was in love with Norman’s dad.
What are you Doing MaUREEN?
Okay, now get this. Maureen has convinced herself that Norman Bates is actually her true love and she’s going to go back to the hotel to be with him. You were so close to being fine, Maureen! Ah well. Maureen goes to the house and shares a nice moment with Norman. But then, Norman hears his mother yell at him from upstairs.
Next, one of the least believable things in the film happens (even less believable than the ice chest). Norman is holding Maureen’s hand on the stairs but when he hears his mother he lets go. Maureen falls down the stairs and impales herself on a cupid statue at the foot of the stairs. Yep, total accident that Maureen dies. But what I want to know is, who in the world puts a super sharp object at the bottom of a staircase? Like who in their right mind thinks this is a good idea ever?
Anyway, Norman shouts at his mother that he is going to get her for this.
What are you Doing Tracy?
Tracy shows up at the house, with no one else with her. This is a woman who is an intelligent journalist, knows Norman’s past, has dug further and further into his story, and still shows up alone? Why? Why Tracy would you do that?
But, show up alone she does. And she finds not only Maureen dead on the floor but Norman, wearing the “mother” outfit and wielding his old trusty kitchen knife. Tracy is basically locked in the house at this point so her only chance is to try to reason with Norman. She uses the only thing that might get her out of this mess, and tells him his family history. Emma Spool is not his mother, she was his aunt. Norma Bates really is Norman’s mother. Emma was in love with Norman’s father and killed the guy. She killed him because she thought Norman was the child she should have had with the man and wanted to raise Norman as her own. She even ended up kidnapping Norman and running off. That did not work out so well for her as she was caught and put in an institution.
Luckily for Tracy, this does the job. Instead of stabbing Tracy, Norman stabs the dead body of Mrs. Spool.
The sheriff shows up and arrests Norman for all the murders and whatnot and tells him he’s never getting out of the institution again. Norman replies, “But I’ll be free… I’ll finally be free.”
The last shot of the movie reveals Norman holding Emma Spools severed hand and smiling in the creepy way only Anthony Perkins can pull off.
In Conclusion
A lot of this movie is overly gratuitous and unnecessary. The plot does move along but there are things that just seem kind of odd and confusing here. The twist in this one is basically to undo the twist of the last one which doesn’t make a ton of sense. While the directing is fine, it’s not the most brilliant slasher film by any stretch of the imagination. In some ways, this movie feels like it’s trying to imitate the more popular slasher movies of the 1980’s rather than lean into its legacy as being one of the first slashers. Norman is creepy, no doubt, but other than that we’re not seeing anything too groundbreaking here.
This is not an essential film to add to your collection. But it’s still fun to watch and has a few interesting kills and a bit of surprise here and there.
Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates in Psycho II
Hello Halloween friends, Slick Dungeon here! Did you know there are sequels to Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Psycho? Yep, that’s right, the story of Norman Bates continues decades later than the events of the original film. And, not only that but Anthony Perkins himself is back as Norman along with Vera Miles as Lila Loomis.
Whether or not this film ever needed to be made is highly debatable but since it’s a thing, I figured I would watch it and give my thoughts here. There will be spoilers in the review below but I won’t give as strong a spoiler warning as I did for Psycho. In all reality, you don’t need to watch this film but if you are curious about the fate of Norman Bates and Lila Crane (who apparently marries Sam from the first film at some point to become Lila Loomis) you should watch the movie first and then come back here to read the review. There’s a lot going on here so let’s get into it. Spoilers follow.
It’s Based on a Book Right?
Wrong. The first film, Psycho was, in fact, based on the book Psycho by Robert Bloch, the second film did not adapt Bloch’s novel Psycho II. That book was a scathing take down of Hollywood society and apparently Hollywood society didn’t want to, you know, put that up on a screen for everyone to see. Instead, they hired Tom Holland to write a screenplay which ultimately is nothing like the book. Still, this screenplay convinced Anthony Perkins to return to the series. Guys, we almost had Christopher Walken as Norman Bates. Christopher Walken! I like him as an actor but he is not Norman Bates.
Anyway, to even try to attempt a sequel, whether based on a book or not, seems like a huge gamble to me. After all, you can’t outdo Alfred Hitchcock so why even try? But try they did.
This film is in full color, except for the parts that flash back to the original film. And while there is a lot wrong with the movie, there is still some stuff here that is worth watching.
Wasn’t Norman Bates Locked Up?
Yes. But, he was put away in an institution, the very thing he railed against in the first film. The movie starts off with the audacity to show us the shower scene from the first film as if we had all somehow forgotten it. But the very next scene in the film has Norman in a court room. He’s dismissed on his own recognizance as a psychiatrist named Dr. Raymond (Robert Loggia) declares Norman returned to sanity. This is over the protests of one Lila Loomis. Lila is the sister of Marion Crane, the woman killed in the famous shower scene. And we know from the last name Loomis that Sam, Marion’s boyfriend, must have married Lila between films. Lila does have good reason to want Norman to remain put away and she does see him as a threat to society. But, we’ll get more into her deal later.
It’s been 22 years since Norman killed his last victim and presumably he has spent the rest of this time working on himself and trying to understand that he is not his mother. Dr. Raymond seems to be a firm believer that someone restored to sanity should have just as much opportunity as anyone else in society. Lila is more concerned with Norman’s victims. Dr. Raymond also points out Norman was found not guilty by reason of insanity so he has every right to live like a normal person. We can argue about how likely this is to happen in the real world but for the sake of the movie we can go along with the premise.
One thing to note here, which I believe is a mistake but might not be, is the number of victims ascribed to Norman in the courtroom. If we do the math of the last film, Norman killed his mother, her lover, two tourists, Marion, and the private investigator Arbogast. That totals six people. But in the courtroom scene Lila asks what about Norman’s seven victims. Either they miscounted, or Norman killed someone at the institution, or they found yet another body in the swamp. This seventh victim is not explained in this film so we have to leave it as is but I seriously think this was an unintentional mistake by the filmmakers.
Along with this release, Norman is expected to work at a local diner where he has been given a job. In addition, he’s able to have control of the Bates Motel once again, although, it is currently being run by the medical board in Norman’s interest. Legally speaking Norman is still full owner though, so he can hire and fire staff there as he wishes.
Dr. Raymond isn’t too keen on Norman moving back to the old place considering its potential for triggering Norman into a setback is huge.
Norman Makes a Friend
At the diner where Norman works, he covers for a coworker named Mary. She’s a bit frazzled and breaks a dish. Norman says it was his fault. Mary later tells Norman she’s recently had a fight with her boyfriend and has nowhere to stay. Norman owns a hotel, so being a nice, normal, guy he offers to let her stay there free of charge.
But when Norman gets to the hotel and sees the state it is in, he’s pretty pissed. The current hotel manager, Warren Toomey, has allowed the place to become a party hotel where guests rent by the hour, drugs and sex are commonplace, and it’s everything Norman (and his dead mother) would hate. Bates fires the guy and tells him to leave the next day.
The next day at the diner, Norman gets a note on the order wheel from his dead mother. He knows this must be some practical joke. And guess who one of the patrons was? Yep, Toomey, drunk and as unpleasant as can be. Naturally, Norman suspects this guy of being the one to leave the note. Norman’s definitely tempted by the sharp cutlery around the place but he does not do anything to Toomey.
The bodies start dropping again
The next time we see Toomey, he’s packing up his crap to leave the Bates Motel. But then a person dressed in black, wielding a knife stabs Toomey to death.
Mary and Norman get to know each other a bit better. Norman is still pretty damn creepy as he’s drilled a hole in the wall to the bathroom where he can observe Mary undressing, just like he does in the first film. We get a shower scene here that’s fairly uninspired, shows a lot more than we saw in the first film in the way of nudity, and ends without anyone getting killed. Still, really creepy that Norman is watching like that.
To make matters worse, Norman keeps getting notes around the house from his mother, and he’s even received a phone call or two from someone who is claiming to be his mother. Mary seems to be getting a bit nervous at this but she doesn’t leave.
One night, Norman looks in his mother’s old bedroom to find it restored to exactly how it was in the first movie. A sound in the attic draws his attention and he goes to investigate but someone locks him in there.
Meanwhile, a pair of teenagers are messing around in the fruit cellar where Norman’s mother’s body was famously kept. And, yep, one of them is killed. We can probably assume it wasn’t Norman considering he was locked up in the attic but we’ve had unexpected twists in this series before so who knows?
The other teenager escapes and she tells the sheriff. Mary finds Norman in the attic and lets him out but she says the door was unlocked the whole time. Norman tries to show Mary that someone messed with his mother’s old room but when he opens the door, it looks like it did in the start of this film, with all the old stuff covered up and put away. Either Norman is hallucinating or someone is pulling off a really elaborate stunt.
The sheriff shows up to question Norman, considering there has been a report of a murder. Mary covers for Norman and gives him an alibi saying they were walking in the fields at the time. Norman knows she’s lying for him but obviously if he tells the sheriff that he’ll implicate himself.
The First Twist
While the original Psycho has an incredible twist in it, this made things a lot more difficult for a sequel. First off, the audience is likely expecting something to be a twist. Reveal it too early, and it’s pointless. Make it not as consequential, and you’re going to be told you are poorly imitating the original. Don’t have any twist and then it’s boring. So, what does this film do? Basically it flips the protagonist and antagonist. In the first movie, the antagonist was definitely Norman Bates. But here, we’ve spent some time building up some sympathy for him. We’re meant to believe he’s at least trying to change, or has changed. Norman had an illness, and that kind of illness has been cured here so we want to see him succeed. But then again, this is a horror movie so we want to see him fail.
The first of the big reveals of this movie was a bit surprising but fairly logical. It turns out Mary is actually Mary Loomis. She’s Lila and Sam’s daughter. Lila and Mary have been setting Norman up for failure. They have been leaving the notes and making the phone calls. Mary even dressed up in Norman’s mother’s clothes at least once, to give Norman the impression she was in the window. And it was Lila and Mary who set up the room, locked Norman in the attic, and restored the room once again.
Why are they doing all this? Lila’s convinced Norman will never change, and if she can set him off again, he’ll be locked up once more. Of course, she doesn’t seem to care that this will mean someone is likely to die.
However, Mary has had second thoughts here. She’s spent enough time with Norman to think maybe he has changed. And also, that it would be unfair of them to continue torturing him in this way. Mary tells her mother she’s not going to keep up the ruse.
Also, Mary knows someone else must be in the house because someone killed the teenager, yet the fruit cellar remained free of evidence. Lila asks Mary to just go along one more time but she refuses.
Dr. Raymond puts some pieces together and figures out that Mary is Lila’s daughter and the two are in cahoots. He tells Norman but, of course, Norman doesn’t want to believe his friend would betray him. He’s also sure he’s been hearing from his, “real” mother. He believes he was adopted.
Norman eventually confronts Mary who admits she was in on the scheme to put him back in the institution but tells him she’s done with all that. And she warns him her mother is not done so when he gets phone calls they must be from her.
More bodies drop
Lila Loomis retrieves the “mother” costume from Norman’s fruit cellar but as she is doing so, she’s killed by a female figure.
The police dredge the swamp and come up with Toomey’s car which will directly pin the blame on Norman. Mary tells Norman about the situation and encourages him to run but Norman knows he’d just get caught.
A call comes in and Norman picks up the phone. He has an eerily strange conversation about killing Mary, while Mary is listening. Mary picks up the other phone to listen in and no one is on the line with Norman. If the goal was to drive Norman back to insanity, it seems they were successful.
In a desperate attempt to gain control of the situation, Mary goes and gets the “mother” costume and tells Norman he’s not talking to his mother. Norman doesn’t seem to buy in to whatever Mary is saying so she runs up the stairs. There, Dr. Raymond grabs Mary. But, she’s startled and has a knife. She accidentally stabs the doctor who tumbles down the stairs and dies.
Now Norman is looking at what he thinks is his mother, standing over a dead body, holding a bloody knife. If he had any shred of sanity left, well, that’s all gone now. Norman tries to clean up the scene and put Mary in the fruit cellar. There, Mary stumbles over the body of her mother. She assumes Norman has killed her and so she tries to kill Norman with the knife she still has. But before she can finish the job, the police show up and shoot Mary.
The police have evidence of Mary and Lila arguing about how they are setting Norman up and they come to the conclusion that Mary was the killer. Norman is seen as the victim here, being framed by a family out for revenge, for a past misdeed. They obviously don’t have the whole picture and at this point, it’s not entirely clear to the audience who has done all the killing.
There’s another Twist
So, if you can’t outdo an original twist, and flipping protagonist and antagonist only goes so far, what more can you do? Throw in another twist of course!
As the audience we’re not sure if Norman actually killed anyone in this film. He probably couldn’t have killed the teenager since he was locked in an attic. But he definitely could have been the one to kill Toomey or Lila Loomis.
Turns out what we all thought was a complete delusion on Norman’s part was based in reality. A waitress from the diner, one Mrs. Spool, shows up at Norman’s house after he is released by the police. She tells him she is his real mother. Her sister was who Norman thought of as his mother. And Mrs. Spool had been in an institution herself. She’s fairly vague about why but we can infer it was violent and bloody and probably similar to what happened with Norman.
While the two are there, Norman offers her some tea which she gladly accepts. Mrs. Spool also tells Norman she did all the killing. She was just looking out for her son.
Welp, that’s certainly enough to set Norman off. He gives Mrs. Spool the poison tea, whacks her on the head with a shovel and kills her. Norman hauls that body up the stairs to the ol’ dead mother resting room, and boom, he’s back to the whole split personality bit. The movie leaves us there.
In Conclusion
There are some people who utterly hate this movie. And, of course, there are a few who absolutely love it. Ultimately, it’s not an essential film, or even an essential horror film, but it’s fine that it’s there. You can go your whole life and never watch it and you won’t suffer for it. But if you are a bit curious about Norman’s whole trajectory, it’s worth a watch. Just don’t expect it to be as brilliant as the first film. But then again, most films aren’t as brilliant as Psycho.
Happy Halloween month horror fans! It’s Slick Dungeon here and I wanted to kick the month off by reviewing one of the all time classics of not just horror but all of cinema. We’re taking a deep dive into one of the earliest slasher films, helmed by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. I am, of course, talking about the iconic and masterful film Psycho.
We’re going to dig pretty deep into this one, and this is the kind of movie that is ruined if you hear spoilers about it before you see it, so please, for your own sake, if you have not watched this film, give it a go before you read this review. There will be a heavy dose of spoilers so be forewarned!
A bit of Background
Psycho is based on a novel by the same name written by Robert Bloch. Alfred Hitchcock’s last film had been a full color, big budget, star studded thriller, North by Northwest. Like most of Hitchcock’s films that one is a classic and well worth watching. But in all of Hitchcock’s career there is one film most associated with him. It was shot in black and white and on a lower budget. It still had star power in the form of Janet Leigh but there was a lot less fanfare and attention brought to this film before its release. The film was shot by the same crew who filmed Hitchcock’s television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
At first, when the film was released, this was a critical failure because the subject matter was highly controversial. But box office does wonders for a film and audiences could not get enough of it. This caused a bit of critical reflection and eventually the movie went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, including one for Hitchcock as director and one for Leigh as supporting actress. Sadly the film did not win any of the awards but this film stands the test of time as it is still the film most associated with Hitchcock and is hands down his most popular film.
We’ll get into some of the reasons the film has had such lasting impact below but there were a few factors that set this film apart right from the beginning. One of them was a genius marketing move made by Hitchcock himself. Outside of theaters where the film was screening Hitchcock placed signs telling the audience that it was “Required that you see Psycho from the very beginning.” The cutout then has a big blank space where the theater could write in the time of the next show. And most genius of all were the next couple of paragraphs on it.
“The manager of this theater has been instructed, at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts.
Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes, or ventilating shafts will be met by force.
The entire objective of this extraordinary policy, of course, is to help you enjoy Psycho more.“
Alfred Hitchcock
In addition to the sensational nature of the marketing materials, the controversial topics depicted in the film, the brilliance of the acting, directing, and screenplay there was one other major factor that made this film so successful and so iconic for so long. In case you haven’t guessed it, that was, of course, Hershey’s chocolate syrup. We’ll get into why that was below.
Just as Hitchcock would do, I must now warn you spoilers follow below as we get into the review of the actual film. If you have not seen the movie, “It is required that you see Psycho from the very beginning!” Go do that and then come back to read below if you haven’t yet.
It’s about Misdirection
If you look at the entire body of Hitchcock’s work you’ll notice a couple of themes featured prominently. First and foremost is the idea of an innocent person accused of crimes they didn’t commit. Coming in a close second is an impulsive crime committed by an otherwise good person on the spur of the moment. At the outset of Psycho we’re meant to believe what we are watching is the consequences of an impulsive act and what might lead from there. It ends up going where no one expected.
The very first moments of the film start with a soundtrack so striking as to be unforgettable. It builds an atmosphere of tension and anticipation and brings the audience into the film already on edge.
After the title sequence we are shown what amounts to a fairly bland and boring city view. The juxtaposition of the striking music followed by the mundane is meant to remind us that intense and horrific things can happen in the most common of places. We then see the words Phoenix, Arizona on the screen, giving us a location for where we assume the events of the film will unfold. We then see the date of Friday, December the Eleventh on the screen. Again Hitchcock is leading us into the ordinary here. There’s nothing special about this date. It’s not starting us on Christmas day, or New Year’s day or any other date that has any particular significance. It only stands out if you happen to have a birthday or wedding anniversary or something like that associated with it. For the vast majority of us, this would be a completely boring, standard day. If it seems like I am making a big deal out of how commonplace the date is, you would be correct. Part of Hitchcock’s genius is making the mundane into the memorable. Most of the events in his best films stand out because you can envision them happening to the biggest star, anyone in the audience, including yourself.
The camera pans away from some of the more interesting tall buildings in the shot to a smaller, square building which looks like any typical hotel you could find in any typical city in America. We then see the time of Two Forty-Three PM on the screen. And once again, this is a completely mundane time. It’s not the start or end of a work day. It’s not even lunchtime. It’s just a time that passes for all of us, virtually unnoticed most of the time.
The first sign of anything possibly out of the ordinary is when we zoom into the window of one of the rooms in the building. On the bed is Janet Leigh. She’s wearing a lacy bra and next to her is a shirtless man. While we don’t see anything explicit, the implication of sex is quite obvious. This could be normal. Perhaps the couple is on vacation or newly married. But Hitchcock is only interested in the normal insofar as it makes sense for the background of an extraordinary story.
The shirtless man comments that the woman never ate her lunch, further implying sex. The woman says she needs to get back to the office because it bothers her boss when she takes extended lunches. The man suggests the woman call her boss and take the rest of the afternoon off. The woman tells the man checkout time is 3 pm. And she states they are at the sort of place that is not interested in you when you come in but rather when you check out. This implies a pretty sleazy type of motel for the time. We also find out the man is going to catch a flight.
Soon, if it wasn’t obvious enough, we find out the couple is not married. The man is named Sam and this is a bit of a lurid love affair. He’s divorced and in debt but clearly in love with the woman. We learn her name is Marion. She wants to either cut off the relationship or have it be a more respectable one where Sam meets her family and they have dinner together.
She wants to get married but Sam doesn’t think he can afford to give Marion a good life. Marion leaves with the question a bit unsettled. It’s pretty clear this couple would be together and married if Sam just had enough money.
We next see Marion go into her office. Again this looks utterly mundane. Just a common office where people do everyday business. In fact, the only interesting thing about this building is the man you can see just outside the window. This is where Alfred Hitchcock makes his cameo for this film. When some directors do this, it’s really annoying but Hitchcock always managed it in an understated style that just works. All he does is stand there and only people who know who he is will even notice it.
Inside, Marion mentions she has a headache to her coworker. She then asks her coworker if there were any messages. Again, they’re boring messages. We do pick up one vital piece of information which will be important later. It’s just that Marion’s sister is going to be gone for the weekend. Another mundane fact, but something that will be important.
After a moment Marion’s boss walks in with a client. A wealthy oil tycoon is going to buy a property for his daughter’s wedding. And, this guy is filthy rich. To the point where he not only flirts with Marion but also flashes money in her face, saying he never carries more than he can afford to lose. The wad of bills amounts to $40,000. Marion’s boss points out a cash transaction of that size is irregular. The man doesn’t seem to care.
You’ll notice here that the most unusual thing in the movie so far is the cash itself. Everything else is just a boring day. And, it’s one of the few things that could change Marion’s life.
Marion’s boss tells the client they’ll put the money in the safe and deposit it on Monday. He then whispers to Marion he doesn’t actually want the money in the office over the weekend. He tells her to take it to the company’s safe deposit box. Marion puts the cash into an envelope and puts the envelope into her purse. She tells her boss she wants to go straight home after depositing the money because she has a headache. The client tells her she can go home because he and Marion’s boss are going drinking.
The boss agrees and Marion heads out after telling her boss she’s going to spend the weekend in bed. She tells her coworker much the same.
I’ve seen this film in theaters several times and the next scene is where the first gasp from the audience always happens. We see Marion once again, this time wearing a lacy black bra. More importantly, the envelope with the money is on the bed. She didn’t deposit it. What’s more is Marion is packing up her suitcase. She’s clearly planning to head to Sam with the stolen money.
And here is where the mundane begins to fall into the extraordinary. The money is a huge temptation for Marion and she’s committed an impulsive act. It’s still not too later for her to decide to turn back but it could mean losing Sam.
As the audience we’re now ready for a crime thriller chase film. We’re waiting so see how far Marion will spiral and if she’ll be caught by the authorities.
We see her drive out of town. As she does so, she thinks about the things people will say about her, including Sam’s reaction. While distracted in this way, she sees her boss and the client walk past her car at a stoplight. She nods to them and the boss looks at her with a bit of a puzzled expression.
The audience assumes at this point, this little incident is what will likely lead to Marion getting caught. She clearly lied to the boss and he knows it. Although, he doesn’t yet know about the stolen money.
She drives further and we get more of the iconic soundtrack ratcheting up the tension.
Then we see Marion’s car pulled off to the side of the road in yet another typically boring spot. It’s the kind of place you could drive past thousands of times and have no memory of it.
A police car pulls up and asks Marion what she is doing there. She explains she pulled off to the side of the road because she was tired and fell asleep for longer than she meant to. And in a major bit of foreshadowing, the officer says there are plenty of motels in the area and she should have gone to one of those.
Marion acts extremely suspicious but the officer does let her leave. This certainly feels like a narrow escape for Marion but we’ll find out later getting arrested would probably have been the best thing for her.
She drives further until she finds a used car lot. She buys a newspaper and sees nothing about herself in it. However, the cop from before is watching from across the street. Again, this feels like it will be a movie where Marion is playing a cat and mouse game with the law.
Marion seems to almost pressure the car salesman into selling her a car as fast as possible. To say she was acting weird would be an understatement. At this point, she could still walk away without any major consequences. She could decide not to buy the car and just return with the money with no one the wiser. But she’s panicked by the presence of the cop and hasn’t been thinking straight since she saw the money in the first place.
She does buy the car, paying $700 cash for it, and just makes it off the lot before the police officer can really question the salesman.
Marion continues driving and imagines what the cop and the salesman must be saying about her. She hears voices of her coworker and boss as well. Since this is called Psycho the voices here play a bit of a duel role. On the one hand these are reasonable things for anyone in this situation to imagine. But on the other hand, we start to wonder if the Psycho or person who is losing their mind here might, in fact, be Marion.
It gets to be later in the night and it starts to rain pretty hard. Rather than pulling off to the side of the road this time, Marion makes the fateful decision to pull over at the next motel she sees. The Bates Motel.
When we first see the motel, again it is mundane. It’s a tiny little place with a few rooms and an office for check in. The sign is nothing special and it’s no surprise there is a vacancy here.
Marion tries to check in but there is no one in the office. She goes outside and we see the first abnormal thing about the place. There is a little house just up the hill from the hotel. The style is foreboding and doesn’t match the rest of the hotel. There are lights on and we see the silhouette of a woman walk across the room.
Marion honks her horn to get someone’s attention. Someone does come out of the house. This is a young man named Norman Bates played by Anthony Perkins. He immediately apologizes for not hearing her in all the rain.
By the looks of him Norman Bates is as boring and mundane as can be. He’s friendly and genial and freely admits to how little business the hotel gets. The highway was moved so the hotel now sees almost no customers. Norman makes Marion sign the register which was common practice back then. She signs the book with the fake name of Marie Samuels. Did you notice how she put Sam’s name in there? It’s a small detail that comes up again later.
Bates hesitates for a moment and gives her the key to cabin one, the closest to the office. He shows her the room and we get the first hint of something strange going on. He can’t seem to even bring himself to say the word bathroom. It’s a bit of an odd tic but not overly concerning. Still, Marion, thinks it’s odd and she has no hesitation saying the word for Norman.
Norman then asks Marion if she’d join him for dinner. This could seem odd and creepy but given the circumstances it’s not that strange. Obviously Norman doesn’t see a lot of people and talking with someone is probably a welcome distraction. And while Marion is pretty, Norman has been acting so “aw shucks” innocent it doesn’t seem like he has any ill intent. This is further reinforced when Norman says he was about to eat anyway and Marion probably shouldn’t go driving in the pouring rain. To make it even more innocent the dinner he is offering is about the most boring and mundane meal possible. He’s offering her sandwiches and milk. It kind of makes you wonder what grown man would eat sandwiches and milk for dinner but again, nothing feels nefarious here. We’re in the world of the mundane.
Marion agrees to join him, probably more to get him out of the room than for any other reason. Once Norman is gone she looks for places to hide the money. She decides to put the money in the most mundane object anyone can think of. She wraps it up in the newspaper she bought at the car dealer. She’s wrapping up the extraordinary in the ordinary which will turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the whole film.
Mother Dearest
Just after she does this, Marion hears the voice of a woman, presumably Norman’s mother yelling. She doesn’t seem to approve of the idea of Norman inviting a woman to eat at their house. Norman argues back but ends up leaving the house with the sandwiches.
And here is where the movie starts to take an unexpected turn. This starts when Norman says his mother, “…isn’t quite herself today.” Marion tells Norman that since he fixed a supper they might as well eat it and gestures to the open door of her room. Norman takes a step towards there but then backs up.
The way Anthony Perkins plays this is perfect. Norman seems like he has to be innocent. He’s got an overbearing mother and while his first, natural impulse is to go into Marion’s room he doesn’t. Is this because of his mother or because he’s too sheltered or because he doesn’t want to do anything improper? In the end it doesn’t matter because he’s doing what would be the innocent thing to do. This is quite the contrast from Sam who we first see perfectly comfortable in a cheap motel with his shirt off.
Norman invites Marion to eat in the office instead. But then he decides eating there feels too officious and takes her back to the parlor.
Things start to become decidedly unordinary in the parlor. It’s full of dead, stuffed animals. Then, Norman just watches her eat instead of joining her. He tries awkwardly to make small talk. This is fine until he talks about how his hobby is taxidermy. Norman is happy to stuff birds but says he couldn’t bring himself to stuff dogs or cats or anything other than birds.
Marion mentions its a strange hobby and Norman says it’s uncommon too. Much like the money in the newspaper, the uncommon is wrapped up in the common here in the person of Norman Bates.
Marion says a man should have a hobby and Norman says its more than a hobby. A hobby is supposed to pass the time, not fill it. She asks him a little about his life and when she asks if Norman goes out with friends, his answer is decidedly odd. He says, “Well, a boy’s best friend is his mother.”
Norman changes the subject to Marion and seems to understand she’s running away from something. Then Norman says one of the creepiest things in the whole film. “I think that we’re all in our private traps. Clamped in them. And none of us can ever get out. We scratch and claw but only at the air, only at each other. And for all of it we never budge an inch.”
Marion replies that sometimes we deliberately step into those traps. Norman says he was born in his and doesn’t mind it anymore. Marion tells him he should mind it and Norman answers that he does but he says he doesn’t.
Marion kind of tries to get Norman to stand up to his mother. Norman’s next comment is decidedly disturbing. He says, “Sometimes when she talks to me like that, I’d like to go up there and curse her and leave her forever, or at least defy her but I know I can’t. She’s ill… She had to raise me all by herself after my father died. I was only five and it must have been quite a strain for her… Anyway, a few years ago, mother met this man. He talked her into building this motel. He could have talked her into anything. And when he died too it was just too great a shock for her. And the way he died… “
He goes on to say it was too great a loss for his mother and she had nothing left. Marion says, “Except you.” And Norman’s odd answers continue when he says, “A son is a poor substitute for a lover.”
Marion asks him why he doesn’t go away. Norman says he can’t because she’d be alone up there. He then says he doesn’t hate his mother but he hates what she’s become. He hates the illness.
Marion then asks if it wouldn’t be better if if Norman put her someplace. This is an obvious euphemism for what was known at the time as an insane asylum. We’d probably call it a mental health institution today. This sets Norman off.
He leans in and says, “You mean an institution? A madhouse? People always call a madhouse someplace don’t they? Put her in someplace.”
Marion apologizes and says she didn’t mean it to sound uncaring. Norman’s response continues to be very strange.
He says, “What do you know about caring? Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places? The laughing and the tears, and the cruel eyes studying you? My mother there? But she’s harmless. She’s as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.” The comparison to the birds will come back as utterly disturbing by the end of the film.
Marion again tries to apologize and says she meant well. At this point Norman starts to seem off the hinges.
He says, “People always mean well. They cluck their thick tongues and sharke their heads and suggest oh so very delicately… Of course, I’ve suggested it myself but I hate to even think about it. She needs me. It’s not as if she were a… a maniac… a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?”
I’ve watched this movie more times than I can count and every time Anthony Perkins delivers that line, I get chills down my spine. It’s so menacing yet so understated. It’s the longest conversation in the film so far and it’s gripping.
Hitchcock used to say if you film two people having a conversation at dinner it’s boring. But if you have the same two people having a conversation at dinner but show the audience a bomb strapped underneath the table it’s thrilling. At this point in Psycho it seems like the bomb is either Norman or his mother.
Marion admits she has gone mad and that even just one time can be enough. Marion tells Norman she is tired and going back to her room because she has a long drive back to Phoenix. She stepped into a private trap and wants to pull herself out of it. She also says she is going to leave at dawn. Marion also slips up here and says her last name is Crane, which is not what she put on the register.
Norman waits until she leaves and confirms on the register that it’s not the same name. We then go into full creepy mode as Norman moves aside a painting where he’s able to look into Marion’s room while she changes.
Marion does some quick math on a notepad to figure out how far in the hole she is. She then tears that up and flushes it down the toilet. It’s a little unclear why she does this. Maybe she thinks she can replace the money without anyone noticing or maybe it’s just because she doesn’t want to get caught if she does change her mind and go to Sam like she intended. Either way, it comes up again later int he film.
The Iconic Shower Scene
There are a few scenes in cinema history which are absolutely unforgettable. There’s the moment when Dorothy steps out of her destroyed house into a world of color, there is Rhett Butler saying, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” there is Orson Welles whispering, “Rosebud” and there is the shower scene from Psycho.
Janet Leigh, who was a big start at the time, and one of the main reasons people came to see Psycho in the first place gets in the shower. As she is showering, the silhouette of a person in a dress with gray hair tied back in a bun comes into view. This person pulls back the shower curtain and the camera shifts its focus back to Marion. We see her murdered with a knife.
There are a few extraordinary things about this scene. To this day, people swear they see the knife penetrate Janet Leigh’s body and that they see more of her body than censors at the time would have allowed. They are a little less convinced of it now, but at the time, people also swore the blood swirling down the drain had to be real.
The reason people think all these things is because of the quick cuts, shifting angles, and menacing music used in the scene. It comes down to the fact that Hitchcock was a master filmmaker. And part of that mastery was using the right tool for the right job. The reason the blood looked so real at the time was because Hitchcock had a can of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. They watered it down a bit but this was part of the reason Hitchcock chose to shoot in black and white. He didn’t want to show tons of blood in color. And the chocolate syrup worked perfectly.
The other really striking thing about this scene is we’re only about 45 minutes in and they main star of the film was just killed. This was utterly unheard of at the time. Absolutely no one expected this, especially not after the whole build up of Marion running away with the money. What in the world was the rest of the movie going to be about?
Here’s where it Gets Interesting
At this point the whole film shifts perspective. We’re now following Norman more than anyone else, even though several characters are interested in Marion’s whereabouts. Norman cleans up the crime scene, mops up the blood, gathers all of Marion’s belongings and puts them, and Marion’s body, in the trunk of her car. And he very nearly misses the most important item in the room. The very last thing Norman gathers up is the newspaper with the money in it. He doesn’t even open it to find the money. It’s literally too mundane for him to care about. And it might be argued this is what gets Norman caught later in the film. After he’s done the cleanup, Norman drives the car to a swamp. He pushes it into the swamp and there is a moment where it almost doesn’t sink. Thankfully for Norman it eventually does go to the bottom and the car disappears from our sight.
About a week later, Marion’s sister has finally figured out that Marion is missing. She does the most obvious thing possible, she goes to confront the boyfriend, Sam. We know Sam is completely innocent of any crime here but Lila is sure Sam must know something. While she is confronting Sam, a private investigator named Arbogast shows up. He’s been hired to track down the money.
Arbogast goes up and down the coast looking for any sign of Marion when he eventually happens upon the Bates Motel. Norman starts out just as genial and friendly as he did with Marion. But Arbogast can see past the nice guy routine pretty quickly. And with just a little bit of poking around, Norman’s answers to questions start to become inconsistent. Furthermore, Arbogast notices on the hotel register that Marion signed in with the last name of Samuels. He is able to match the handwriting up and he’s pretty sure Marion was at least seen at the Bates Motel.
Arbogast gives Lila a call and updates her on the situation and lets her know he’ll be in touch soon. Arbogast then makes the fatal mistake of going back to the hotel. He learned that Norman’s mother lives in the house by the motel and Arbogast figures she might have seen something. So, without Norman’s permission, the private investigator goes into the house. The same figure we saw in shadow stabbing Marion, does the same thing to Arbogast. And we can assume Norman disposes of the body in the swamp once again.
Meanwhile, Sam and Lila are waiting for Arbogast’s call. Lila is understandably worried and while Sam asks her to be patient, he also knows things are not looking good here. Eventually Sam takes the initiative and goes to the Bates Motel where he knows Arbogast was last seen. In the window of the house, he sees the silhouette of an elderly woman. Sam plays it smart and he and Lila go see the local sheriff to tell him about the missing people. The sheriff is pretty dismissive but he does mention that Norman’s mother and stepfather died in a murder suicide involving strychnine. The sheriff also somewhat resaonably assumes Marion just left with the money.
Lila and Sam are still suspicious and not knowing what else to do, they go back to the Bates Motel. They feed Norman a line about being a married couple and get checked in. Sam and Lila then plan to distract Norman while Lila goes to talk with Norman’s mother. But, this doesn’t work out too well as Norman catches on and knocks Sam out cold.
Meanwhile, Lila has made it into the fruit cellar of the house where we know Norman threatened to put his mother earlier in the film. Lila finds what looks like an old woman in a rocking chair but when she turns the chair, it’s the mummified remains of Norman’s mother. This is a scene that still makes audiences jump in theaters to this day. Immediately after, Norman shows up, in women’s clothing, with the same knife we can assume he used to kill Marion. There’s a bit of a fight but Sam comes to and rescues Lila just in the knick of time.
Ten Boring Minutes of Cinema
The scene then cuts to the police station. Here, we find out from a psychiatrist what exactly is going on with Norman Bates. It turns out Norman’s mother was impossibly overbearing. And at a certain point Norman had it with her and decided to kill her and her lover. But because he felt so guilty about this, he started taking on the personality of his own dead mother.
In all honesty it’s kind of a long and boring scene and I’m not sure the explanation truly holds up. It’s probably the least talked about scene of the movie and while it does provide an explanation, it’s not nearly as engaging as the rest of the film. It probably needs to be there but it definitely brings us back to the mundane.
The very end, however, does give us a close up shot of Norman as he’s thinking in the voice of his mother and that part is pretty compelling. You definitely get the impression we have not heard the last of Norman Bates (or his mother).
Long Term Influence of Psycho
Taken as a whole, Psycho is a brilliant film. It twists audience expectations in a way that had not been seen previously and there are great films which come later that echo a lot of what is found here. The whole Scream series owes a great deal to Psycho and even more recent movies such as X make direct mentions of the film.
Whether or not this is actually the first slasher film is highly debatable but it’s the first one with such mass appeal and one of the few that truly stands the test of time. About the only way to ruin this movie is to have it spoiled for you, or have sequels made of it, or to do a remake. And… yeah all of those things have been done.
Still, this film stands out as one of the greats and I can’t imagine a 100 best films list that doesn’t have this movie on it. I don’t think you can really overstate how influential this movie is. It’s perhaps not perfect but it is damn near close to perfect. If you have never watched this movie then I hope you are not reading this right now because I would hate to be the one to spoil it for you. But if you have seen the film, you know just how good it is. There is an entire subgenre of horror that flat out would not exist if not for this film. For that reason alone, Psycho is one of my favorite movies. And, if you are ever in a place where you can watch it with a live audience, do yourself a favor and go. You’ll be able to spot anyone who has never seen it because their reactions will still happen right where the movie wants them to more than sixty years after the initial release. That’s good filmmaking and great for Halloween.
I thought long and hard about what kind of horrors to drop on you on Halloween. There was so much to choose from, I decide to give you everything but the kitchen sink horror!
Visitors to the new Creepshow maze will be guided by The Creep, the skeletal namesake of the comic book. (Courtesy of Universal)Jack Nicholson walking through snowy maze in lobby card for the film ‘The Shining’, 1980. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
