The music is great right off the bat. It starts off feeling tense. That’s great. I love this film. I have to thank my ex-girlfriend Rachel for showing me this. It’s one of my fonder memories of our time together. This movie starts on December 11th, which I call bullshit on. I was born on December 10th, so yeah, really silly bitterness.
There’s Janet Leigh in her bra, and this girl, she is gorgeous. Back then, I am sure dudes were very happy with that opening. Just a beautiful woman, even in black and white. Janet’s character’s name is Marion Crane, and she is having a fling with a dude named Sam Loomis. Marion is a secretary to like a real estate/banker guy. This awesome rich dude, Cassidy, is buying a place. He gave her $40,000to deposit in the bank. There she is in her bra again. Ole Hitchcock loved his beautiful blondes. Good for him.
I am going to say if you have never seen this film, stop reading, go find the original, and just watch it. It holds up very strongly today, is not boring, is quite excellently paced. You all know the shower scene, the music, but believe me, there is sooooo much more to this film. It’s an absolute masterpiece. There will be spoilers from this point forward, so please stop reading if you haven’t seen it, and go watch it. You won’t be sorry.
Marion is driving with the money, she sees her boss crossing the street, and this startles her. She is up to no good. The night comes and goes as she’s been driving. She pulls off on the side of the road, she was sleeping and an officer checks on her. He is very suspicious. She is rather curt with him, and this makes him more suspicious. She is downright disrespectful at points, like don’t be a dumbass lady considering what you’re up to. She leaves and he follows her for awhile, but then he pulls off on another road. She goes to a used car lot. While there, she gets a newspaper, and the cop finds her and pulls off on the side of the road waiting, stalking. She is wanting to trade her car in. The salesman is funny. He is shocked at how quick that she wants to do business. He is suspicious as well. Oh, I should mention, she still has the 40 grand. The new car will cost her $700. The officer pulls in but doesn’t stop her. He asks the salesman to check some things out. But she is motoring the fuck outta Dodge.
She is imaging how everybody would be looking for her, all the voices in her head. She keeps driving through the rainy night, until she ends up at, well shit you know, Bates Motel. I still need to see season 2 of that. I loved the first season but heard mixed reviews about season 2.
And there’s Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins. Norman is a nice younger dude, just running a little motel. He’s got a little cheesy sense of humor. He shows her around. He offers her to eat dinner with him since it’s too wet to go out to a diner that’s 10 miles away. She accepts. If you think about it, suitcases have not come very far in close to 55 years. Marion can hear Norman’s mom giving Norman hell. Norman comes back to Marion’s room with food. He tells her that his mother isn’t quite herself today. Awww yeah, she is gonna invite him in to eat, but he counters with wanting to eat in the office, better yet, the parlor. Lots of stuffed birds in the parlor and Norman says that she eats like a bird. Hitchcock is like Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story), dropping hints to future projects. Lots of talk about birds.
“A boy’s best friend is his mother” per Norman. Marion finds out that Norman has no friends. He finds out that Marion is running away from something. This conversation is one of those conversations that a good chunk of the remained of the film can look back on as planting seeds. Norman is kinda sick of his mom, the way that she talks to him, but he feels obligated to stay. In the film, he says that his mom had the motel built, but in the TV series, she purchases it. He mentioned something about how a son makes a terrible lover for a mom or something like that. MILF………. that is all I have to say. I know there are bigger, more famous scenes in this film, at least 2 off the top of my head, BUT this movie doesn’t succeed without this entire dialogue filled scene. She gets tired and wants to go to sleep.
Norman is spying on her from his peephole. She has a cone-shaped bra. Still fabulous. Oh boy, she just got in the shower in all of her glory. She turns on the shower and is smiling. I’m sorry, that would be freezing initially, although they are in southern Cali. We saw side boob. We saw damn near everything minus her naughty bits. Shit, there’s Norman’s mom, and the shower stabbing scene. That has to be one of the 10 most famous scenes in film history, like up there with There’s No Place Like Home, and Life is like a box of chocolates, or Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn, or Rosebud, or Live or die, the choice is yours. OK, maybe that last one isn’t as famous. Oh well.
So Norman yells at his mother. Now he has to clean up her mess. Poor Marion, all naked and dead. Here’s a question. If Mother kills her out of jealousy or whatever, how is she ok with her son handling a naked hot chick? I think Mother would have disposed of her. Just my 2 cents. Keep the change ya filthy animal. Poor Norman, he could use some CLR to clean the bloodstains. I have to say, this has one of the best movie scores of all time, possibly my favorite. It’s so well done, and I rarely hear anybody talk about the music. It is so instrumental, nope not gonna say it, to the tension and aura of the whole film. Also, in Eminem’s song Kill You, there’s a sweet line that says “But that’s normal ain’t it Norman”. Great song.
Marion’s sister, Lila Crane, is meeting up with Sam Loomis to find out her whereabouts. And a detective named Arbogast is searching for Marion due to the missing money. Arbogast is a dick. Very accusing, know it all mother fucker. He’s cool. Now Arbogast visits Norman, he’s been to a lot of hotels. Ahhh, Norman talks about the new highway, continuity from the show. Arbogast keeps catching Norman in some lies, very suspicious. Arbogast is such a dick, very condescending. Arbogast is suspicious that Norman is harboring Marion. Arbo is insistent on speaking with Norman’s mother, and that isn’t happening. Norman finally stops his stuttering and puts his foot down. Good for him!
Arbo was hellbent on meeting Mrs. Bates, so he breaks in, gets to the top of the stairs, and Mrs. Bates attacks him, stabs him and he falls down the stairs to his death. Lila and Sam are waiting to hear from Arbo, but that ain’t happening. So they visit the local sheriff. The sheriff drops the bombshell to Lila and Sam that Norman’s mom is actually……dead. Dun dun dun. Curiouser and curiouser. Back to Norman’s house, he is talking to his …..mother? The fuck? Norman is carrying his mother downstairs. So who’s telling the truth, the sheriff or did they bury another woman?
Lila doesn’t want to register for a missing person. She and Sam are gonna register as husband and wife and get a room at the motel instead. Sam is acting awfully suspicious, wanting to sign in, insisting on paying upfront, and Lila is being awfully nosey. They seem to think either Norman or Arbo has the 40 G’s. Now the dynamic duo is gonna go sleuthing. They found a piece of paper that Marion had written on earlier with numbers. So Sam is gonna distract Norman while Lila is going to confront Mrs. Bates. These idiots go through things, but when in the bathroom, the door was closed, they exit and never close the door. Idiots!
So I am trying to blog here, and fucking Raylene is reading my blog and commenting, you didn’t spell this right, there was only one note, blah blah blah. Urge to kill rising. I’m looking your way Raylene. Death threats in blogs are fun.
Sam is talking to Norman about his “mutha”. He is being rude to Norman, very accusatory. Sam just got his ass whooped by Norman, and Sam is much bigger. Utterly ridiculous. Sam, what a pussy. Lila is still snooping, despite knowing that Norman is now in the house. She goes downstairs and finds Mrs. Bates. She has a wig and is a skeleton. Out comes Norman in Mother’s clothes and wig with a knife, the music plays. Sam saves the day. Lila makes zero attempt to help restrain Norman. Women are so useless in these movies, to an absolute laughable degree.
The detective is saying Norman doesn’t exist anymore, but his mother does….in his mind. What a tweest! Raylene just laughed at the word Matricide, telling me it sounds like something to do with a mattress. Sigh. So basically Norman killed his mom and her lover, and then he developed split personalities.
I loved the next to the final shot of Norman playing her voice in his head, and his face is perfect. I mean, that shit had to give people nightmares, that stare. It was great. Even the thing about not harming a fly. It was so creepy. That is how you end a film ladies…..and possibly gentlemen.
In conclusion, this movie is probably the greatest pre 70’s horror movie to my knowledge. The only other one that is close is Night of the Living Dead. This movie moves at a great pace through 90% of the film. It’s not ultra-violent or anything like that, but it was very well executed, and the music really was top notch. I am giving this an 8.0 and without any hesitation telling you that if you like horror, you need to see this. If you don’t appreciate what this film does, then I have to question if you truly get horror. This isn’t like saying I like Freddy over Jason. This is about acknowledging how well done a movie this is, on top of being crazy, on top of showing a surprising amount of skin, on top of the violence, and most importantly, the creepy factor at the end. It absolutely stands the test of time.
Final Rating: 8.0
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