Psycho the Remake (1998)

We’ve finally reached the last movie in the Psycho series.  I bought this DVD through Amazon for only $3.99.  It was directed by Gus Van Sant.  95% of the movie was shot by shot like Hitchcock’s although this version is in color.  Hitch’s daughter, Pat Hitchcock, gave her approval. She played the secretary in the original movie.  Vince Vaughn plays Norman Bates (he had died from HIV complications by this time), Anne Heche played Marion Crane, and Julianne Moore played Lila Crane.  Van Sant wanted the actors to say their lines as each of them thought they should and not to mimic the original. At the Razzie Awards in 1999, Van Sant received the award for Worst Director (it tied with a Godzilla remake for Worst Remake), and Anne Heche was nominated for Worst Actress.  She had never even seen the original before being cast.  Based on the Razzies, it’s not looking too good but let’s dig in because it IS interesting.

The movie was purposely shot in 37 days (just like Hitch did it) and in the window scene in front of the office, Van Sant placed himself outside the window just like Hitch placed himself in the original.  Also the word “inordinately” is used.  Marion was asked, “Are you unhappy?” and she replied, “Not inordinately.”  Curious why this word is in several of the movies.  What do you think it means?  Why would this word be specifically chosen?  It means excessive so maybe it’s a play on words about excessive behavior.

There are some differences between the two movies as well.  In the original Marion stole $40,000.00 but in the remake, $400,000.00 (got to keep up with the Jones’s)!  Lila was extremely hardened in the remake and she came on strong with a Walkman in her ear to modernize it.  When Lila finds mother at the end of the movie, in the cellar, mother is facing a huge cage of birds.  Nice touch in remembrance of Hitchcock’s fascination with birds.  When Sam gets to the cellar just in time to save Marion from Norman, Norman is much more spasmatic.  They also built a new house in front of the old house and you can see both of them on the Universal Studios tour. 

Now of course we have to talk about the shower scene and what Van Sant did with that.  The buttons on Marion’s dress matched the shower curtain.  It was sparkly and geometric as opposed to the plain somewhat filmy looking first one.  They used a cantaloupe again for the sound of the knife splitting through her flesh but instead of chocolate syrup for blood, they held a spoon of blood to drizzle over her and then added more digitally.  They kept the frenetic music that went so well with that scene.  When Marion died and fell to the floor, there was a knife wound in her back (no wounds were shown in the original) and when they closed in from the drain to her eye, the camera actually went in a circle as well (nice touch).

I’m rating the remake with two ** stars.  You just can’t compete with the original although they made a good effort.

We have finally reached the end of the Psycho series.  I’ve reviewed the book, Psycho, Psycho II, III, IV, and the remake.  It’s been an interesting journey that I have enjoyed and it all started just by going into Blockbuster and renting Hitchcock (2012).  You just never know where you are going to go and what journey life will take you on.

By the way, Psycho IV was called a chilling “prequel” within the sequels of the Psycho series.

The Mermaid series is next!  There are books and movies to talk about and I can’t wait.  I’ve been collecting mermaids and mermaid books over the years, and I have ordered 3 mermaid movies from Amazon.  The first movie will be She Creature.  It’s actually a horror mermaid movie which I think is a good transition from Psycho.  I haven’t watched it yet but I will this weekend, I can’t wait!!  Stay tuned…

 

Psycho IV–The Prequel, The Beginning, and The End

Psycho IV was written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Mick Garris in 1990.  Anthony Perkins wanted to direct this one as well but the studio didn’t agree with him.  Stefano ignored the storylines from Psycho II and III so it doesn’t follow the sequels perfectly.  We do get to see why Norman was the way he was.  His mother was a schizophrenic psycho who believed sex was sinful and dominated Norman which led him to murder lust.

As I watch this version I suddenly noticed Norman used the word “inordinately” frequently.  It means excessive.  Oh no, he wasn’t excessive at all was he?  His mother also used the word and it is a popular word in the original and remake of Psycho.  At least this version carried some of the Psycho history but not much.

So as we continue to move through the movie, Norman is still on the phone with Fran the radio host. He tells her that his wife deserves to die because she got pregnant.  His child would be a monster like him with his mother’s genes.  We are nearing the end of the movie and it is raining (of course).  His wife is on her way home, not knowing that she is about to be murdered, or will she??  He tells Connie to meet him at his mother’s house.  He retrieves a the knife out of the cobwebs.  No one has been in the house for years.  Connie comes in and notices the change in Norman.  “No kids Connie!” he shouts.  She starts to run down the staircase (watch out, a lot of people have toppled to their death on that staircase).  He notices his reflection on the knife blade and it stops him.  Connie says, “No more blood Norman, please!”  They hug it out.  Sure, why not?

He sees the light, so to speak, and decides to kill all the reminders of his past by setting fire to the house.  As he tries to get out of the house, he runs into ghosts from the past, his mother, her boyfriend and the others he has murdered.  As he is facing his ghosts and running from the house, HE falls through the banister of that murderous staircase (those damn stairs).  He is the fruit cellar and “stuffed mother” falls on him and burns.  He finally reaches the cellar doors that lead to the outside where Connie is nervously waiting for him.  He tells Connie he is free (but he said that last time, remember?).

In the last scene, a voice comes from the fruit cellar, “Get me our of here Norman!”  Who is that you ask? You know, it’s mother.  Then the screen goes black and you hear…a baby’s cry.  Norman’s baby is born and that’s where it ends.  But I say, that opens up a whole new chapter.  This movie came out in 1990.  It doesn’t look like there would be a sequel but I think they would have a lot of material to work with.  What do you think?

My rating for Psycho IV is ** stars out of five.  The plus was getting to know the background, the beginning of Norman’s dual personalities and why he became that way.  We got to meet mother and boy, what a whacko she was.  But they didn’t stick with very many of the original Hitchcock themes.

Now we are ready for the Psycho remake.  Do you think it will mirror the first or will they take it in a different direction?  Until next time…it won’t be inordinately bloody, or will it?

Psycho IV–How Norman Killed Mother

Haven’t you been wondering about how the killing of Norman’s mother occurred in the first place? He loved her so much so why? Well, we’ve seen how crazy and inappropriate she was so let’s see what broke the camel’s back.

The movie continues as Norman is on the phone with Fran, the radio host to whom he has been telling his tale.  Mother was either sweet or mean to Norman.  He never knew what would happen.  Several times she referred to how difficult it was to give birth to him and actually screamed at him, “I should have killed you in my womb!”

So here we go down the path to mother destruction.  Norma started dating and a boyfriend moved in.  Norman was jealous of course after being the only “man” in her life.  This boyfriend, Chet, was rude and mean to Norman.  At one point, Norman took down the picture to look through the peephole that his father had made years before.  Who did he see in the shower, the very same shower? Chet.  Did he kill Chet in another shower scene? No, but I think that would have been perfect.

One day Chet got out some boxing gloves to try and teach Norman how to stick up for himself.  He and his mother laughed at him when he fell to the ground, “You aren’t a GIRL are you?” asked Chet.

So one day Norman brought them mother’s favorite iced tea with vanilla…and one more oh so special ingredient.  Strychine!! Room service is here a la Norman.  Yummy!  (But I wonder, why they had Strychine in the kitchen cupboard??)  Anyway, they drank it, started vomiting, and mother said to Norman, “You’re dead!” but then she died.

Chet fell down the good old infamous staircase (it sure has seen it’s share of dead folk falling).  Mommy’s dead and so is Chet!  But Norman missed her so deeply that he got her out of the coffin, took her home, and stuffed her taxidermy style (just like his birds, it had been good practice apparently).

Norman murdered another women while in his teens.

He was making out with an older woman in a convertible at the motel.  He stopped and told her that he needed to give his sick mom some medication and that he would be right back.  While she waited she heard arguing from the house but ignored it.  He came back as Norma and strangled her, put her in the car trunk and shoved her into…the…you guessed it, the swamp.  As it began to sink she came to and was banging and yelling from the trunk as she drowned.

Tomorrow we’re going to wrap it up.  We will find out if Norman holds true to want he told Fran, “I’m going to kill again.”

 

Psycho IV Continues

So Norman is in his kitchen talking to Fran the radio host.  As he talks, he uses the knife to cut tomatoes and accidently cuts his thumb.  He brings it over to the sink:

And what does that remind you of? Of course, the original movie shower scene where blood (or chocolate syrup) is circling the drain.

As he talks to Fran he says, “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”  His father died when he was six.  He was stung by a massive bee swarm.  At the funeral, mother was tickling Norman and of course, he couldn’t help but laugh.  She hit him for laughing.  Okay, mother is a bit twisted it would seem.  We will see HOW twisted as we go through this movie.  No wonder Norman was confused and had issues!!

In another scene, it is raining (as it does in all the series), and his mother is scared of thunderstorms so she tells Norman to take off his wet clothes and get in bed with her and hold her (he’s a teenager for goodness sake, very inappropriate).  Soon after, he starts to feel “boy things” and jumps out of bed, runs off to his room and gets in his bed.  She comes to find him and sees an erotic book on his desk.  She goes into a rant, “You dirty pig!” 

The movie cuts back to Norman in current day, in his kitchen telling Fran that his problem is genetics, that he’s a bad seed.  You see, he says he’s going to kill again because dear audience, his wife is pregnant.  They agreed not to have children because he was sure a child of his would carry on these crazy genes.  By the way, we also see live birds in a cage.  I was waiting for some bird references!!

He continues to talk to Fran and tells her what happened the summer before he killed his mother.  It was hot!  Mother said she was gonna die from the heat.  (Yea, she would later).  She’s in her robe and she wants Norman to “blot her” with her orange flower water.  She directs him to start at her ankles and she is enjoying this VERY much.  Next thing you know, they are rolling on the floor, laughing, and while he is on top of her, she feels something:

She realizes something and she yells, “You filthy thing!  I’ll make you forget about that filthy thing and make you a girl!”  She forces him into a dress and puts lipstick on him and tells him he is a girl, a little girl, and she calls him “Norma”.  Then she locks him into a closet.

“Look at yourself you little girl!”

Well no wonder he was wondering around in women’s clothes, talking in a woman’s voice, and killing people.  His mother was nuts, crazy, a complete wacko.  More of this proof tomorrow.  Stay tuned…

 

 

Psycho IV–The Beginning/Let’s Begin!

So here we are with the last Psycho in the series.  At the end of the last one, the Sheriff was telling Norman he would be going away for life but not so.  He got out of the mental institution in just 4 years.  This movie is set up where Norman is living in his wife’s house (that’s right, he got married to someone who worked in the psych ward).  It’s a very nice house and the movie takes place as he is in the kitchen, preparing his birthday dinner while his wife is at work.  He is talking to Fran, a radio show host called Talk of the Town.  The topic?  Matricide!  Boys who murder their mothers!  Perfect for Norman but he says his name is Ed.  He is reflecting on the past and it is through this process that we come to know why he did what he did, so let’s dig in.

The first girl he murdered was when he was a teen.

She came on to him but before anything happens, he goes into mother’s room and she is laying on the bed but we can’t see her face.  Mother says, “Get that whore out of my house!  Kill her!”  He says that he can’t and she whispers to him.  Then he goes to the closet and puts on a dress and wig.  You know what happens next:  he murdered her with his knife of course!

Mother looked like this back then, not so bad:

Then he yells out what he yelled every time for every movie, “Mother, blood, blood!!”  Oh Norman, get used to it!

More tomorrow…

The End of Psycho III–Mother????

Here we are at the end of Psycho III and there’s some very interesting new information about mother that will come to light but first….

Maureen goes into the house to find Norman.  As she walks up the staircase, they meet and hold hands but mother yells out, “Norman!!” and Maureen accidentally falls backwards and tumbles down the stairs just like Mr. Arbogast, the doctor, and the suitcase.  Norman is devastated and yells back to mother, “I’ll get you for this mother!”

Tracey comes into the house and finds Maureen, laying dead on the couch, surrounded by candles:

Norman suddenly appears dressed as dear old mom:

He races after Tracey throughout the house.  The whole time Tracey is telling Norman the truth about his mother.  It’s done very quickly and it’s distracting and she’s talking so fast, but here’s the gist of what her research uncovered:

• Ms. Spool was his aunt and she was in love with his father but his mother stole the father away from her
• Ms. Spool killed his father in a jealous rage and kidnapped Norman
• When she got caught, she was placed in a mental institution and Norman was given back to Norma, his real mother

Norman finds “stuffed mother” and proceeds to stab her with sawdust flying out of her!  He is arrested but thinks out loud, “I’ll be free now.”  The sheriff is saddened and tells Norman they’re going to lock him up forever this time. But Norman has a little treasure that he snuck under his coat to keep him company.  Look closely; it’s mother’s hand. Isn’t that sweet?

Good bye Norman.  I wonder if we will ever see you again…

He looks so innocent doesn’t he?  And this concludes Psycho III.  But don’t despair because there is one more, Psycho IV~what in the world do you think that will entail?

Movie trivia:  this film only grossed $14,000,000, the lowest of any in the Psycho series.  Anthony Perkins was diagnosed as HIV positive and he died of complications in 1992.  He did his best work as Norman.

I am only rating Psycho III as a 2 star  ** movie.  I enjoyed the clever comments that were peppered throughout the movie but this one relied on too much blood, gore, and nudity.  What was most disappointing of all for me was that this version broke tradition–there was no secretly planted shadow of Hitchcock in the movie unless I missed it.  If I did, please point it out to me!

Tonight I’m going to watch Psycho IV!  I can’t imagine what this one could entail can you?  I’ll let you know, stay tuned for the last in the series…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psycho III–Dancing, Slashing, Ice, and Swamps

Norman and Maureen decide to go dancing.  They even end up kissing.  Why not?  Norman is becoming a big boy and not the stupid little boy his mother says he is.  He looks so grown up!  He’s just having an innocent date like anybody else.  Well, that’s what he’s trying to do anyway–

Norman decides to go up to the house and when he does he hears mother say, “You dirty boy!”  It leads him to open a trunk where the wig and knife are–not a good sign–

He hesitates as he hears Maureen’s voice.  She has come to the house and is calling his name.  He realizes that he doesn’t want to kill her and he yells for her to go back to her cabin and lock herself in.  She does.  Smart girl.

Not so smart girl is Patsy.  She has left the party in her room and while out, she needs to use a bathroom.  While she is actually sitting on the toilet, “mother/Norman” comes in, dressed in the famous wig and dress, and slashes her throat!  It’s not a pretty sight!

Guess where she ends up? Not in the usual dumping ground that Norman/mother uses.  She is placed in the outdoor ice chest, the kind you use to retrieve ice at a motel. So the next time you’re at a motel, you need to worry not only about taking a shower but also about getting some ice for your drink.  Double check to make sure there isn’t a frozen hand or any bloody trickles in there.   Movie trivia:  the actress was actually placed in the ice and she was freezing throughout filming this scene. That is her real hand that you see below:

The next day the sheriff comes to investigate because people are missing.  The sheriff always stands up for Norman.  They talk and the sheriff opens up the ice chest and reaches in, without looking, to pick up a few cubes to put in his mouth because it’s a hot day.  You might want to look at what you are putting in your mouth!

But he doesn’t look down to see that he is putting bloody ice cubes in his mouth, nor does he see the frozen hand.  Norman is very aware of this and as you can imagine gets a little nervous, but he gets away with it.

During this time, Tracey, who believes Norman is up to his old tricks, tells Maureen Norman’s sorted history and Maureen leaves.  Norman is crushed so he returns to the house and finds a note from mother:

Norman goes to cabin 12 as the note says to see his mother only to discover that Duke has discovered his secret and has brought the “stuffed” mother into cabin 12.  She is facing the TV watching cartoons.  (Norman, say hi to “mummy!”)

Norman throws a heavy ash tray at Duke’s head and they fight,  Norman yells, “No one must know about mother and what she’s done! She can’t help it, she’s a sick old lady!”  So he thinks he’s killed Duke and puts him and Patsy, the frozen one, into the trunk and well, you know where he’s headed.

That’s all the story time we have for tonight.  Tune in tomorrow to see what happens to Maureen and Tracey, and some new information surfaces that differs from Psycho II~~it’s a doozy!

Psycho III’s Shower or Is It a Bath?

So! Here we are again! Norman checks Maureen Coyle into the lovely and super safe Bate’s Motel.  Before you know it, he’s peeping again.  And he gets an idea…an old idea but there’s a twist this time…

He’s dressed up as Mother again but this time, he doesn’t kill his M.C. woman (Marion Crane, Maureen Coyle) because when he opens the shower curtain, she isn’t showering and he runs off.  This is what she is doing:

You see, Maureen has bigger problems that she is running from and she tried to kill herself.  Something called kindness triggered inside of Norman and he came back into the bathroom as himself.  He wanted to help her.  Besides, it was his mother telling him to kill that little slut, not Norman, so he does help her.  Afterwards we get the thrill of some clever comments when Maureen says, “I’m sorry. I left the bathroom a mess.”  And Norman comes back with, “I’ve seen worse.  We all go a little mad sometimes.”  Ain’t that the truth and who would know better than Norman?!

Homecoming Week begins with a bunch of party people staying at the motel.  Duke hooks up with a girl called Red.  She goes to the new ice chest that Norman has installed and she runs into Norman where she invites him to come and party with them.  Of course, he declines due to his social anxiety and awkwardness with Red replying, “Thanks for looking after me!”  Oh yes, don’t worry, Norman will look after you.

Red goes back to the room with Duke.  There is a sex scene and some nudity here (something Hitch didn’t have to resort to):

Some movie trivia here:  The actor playing Duke didn’t feel comfortable totally nude so he used the two lamps to cover his “personal areas”.  When Duke is done with her, he literally throws her out of the room naked.  He is kind enough to throw her clothes out into the dirt.  She pulls her sweater over her head

only to be stabbed to death by “Mother”.  Guess where her body ends up? The usual place, the swamp.

Well the party isn’t over yet, there is more to come and we’ll talk about that tomorrow!

P.S. Of special interest, something happens with blood in the ice chest, the sheriff nibbling on some ice, and cartoons!

 

 

 

 

Hello Psycho III

Onward into Psycho III.  Can it keep us interested as the other two have? We shall see!

This version starred Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates again, of course, as it MUST be.  He also directed this movie in 1986.  Perkins wanted to film it in black and white in honor of Alfred Hitchcock and stay true to the original but Universal said no.  I think they all should have been in black and white but I imagine the studio wanted to keep it more mainstream.

So let’s hop back in the shower and check out this version!  Birds are still a theme in the movie and that makes it fun for me.  I love looking for all the bird references and here they are:

• Norman has a birdfeeder filled with poison so that he can easily collect the dead birds in a paper bag, take them to the kitchen table, and go about his hobby stuffing and sewing up birds. (Nice, on the kitchen table where people always eat sandwiches).
• These are just a few photos below of Norman stuffing and petting his birds.

There is a Help Wanted sign at the Bate’s Motel and a guy named Duke comes along and takes the job helping Norman out.  He tells Norman he just needs to earn a little money and that he won’t be staying long.  Norman answers with, “No one ever does.”  Very true! (This film is filled with clever comments which I consider one of the highlights of this version).

The next scene takes place at the diner.  Tracey Venable (her character is similar to Lilia Loomis In Psycho II) is a writer who is researching serial killers and wants to climb into Norman’s mind (s).  Norman is not interested.  Another new character walks in with a suitcase with the initials “M. C.” on it.  Norman freaks out thinking of “Marion Crane”, the first girl he/his mother killed in the infamous shower scene.  Her name is Maureen Coyle.  She’s another blonde and Norman is interested in her.  Norman gets so flustered as he leaves, he almost forgets to pay for his meal.  “You’re not gonna stiff us are you Norman?”  (another clever comment with dual meanings that I enjoyed).  Norman would never “stiff” anybody right?  Not even a bird! 🙂

So Psycho III has begun.  How many will be murdered? What will happen to Duke?  Norman already dislikes Tracey, trying to but into his life, and we have Maureen who Norman is VERY interested in.  Where is the world will all of this lead?  Until next time…

 

 

Psycho II: Mirrors, Peepholes, Circles, Birds and Such~~The End

So today I will wind it up so that I can move on to Psycho III~~who knew?

Hitch used mirrors a lot in the original Psycho and it was continued in Psycho II.  In the picture above as Norman passes a mirror, he stops and looks at himself quizzically.  He has a lot to think about when he sees himself, don’t you imagine?

Mary is looking in a mirror as she puts on mascara and notices a little light coming through the wallpaper. She gets to do some peeping of her own!

Later she comes across two framed bird pictures and removes the top one only to find…

another peephole.  Lots of peeping in the house of Norman.  And again, as in the first movie, lots of circles:

• plates
• stained glass window
• wallpaper patterns
• peepholes of course
• eyes
• the toilet bowl gushing with blood
• the shower drain and nozzle

Did I miss any? Circles make the world go round.   And then we come to the birds, we can’t forget the birds:

• a stuffed eagle, mallard, owl, and raven
• a clock decorated with birds
• framed pictures of birds
• birds squawking and cawing throughout the movie (listen for them)

And an interesting tidbit~~Anthony Perkins’ real son, Osgood Perkins, plays the young Norman when in the beginning he looks at his mother’s bedroom door and sees an image of himself in the doorknob.  Whenever his mother comes into play, he feels like a scared little boy.

At the end of the movie when they roll the credits this is what you see:

And so the movie ends, with Norman standing between the motel and the house with the vacancy sign.  He is open for business and we are waiting for the next installment in Psycho III.  I’ll be watching it tonight, looking for mirrors, birds,  circles, Hitchcock’s shadow lurking somewhere, and wondering if Psycho III can actually keep up with the previous two.  I can’t imagine that the 3rd sequel could keep my interest and keep my watching but tune in next time to see.

My rating for Psycho II is **** 4 stars out of five.  It really held up and kept my interest the whole time.  I think it should have been filmed in black and white like the original, and it only received 4 stars because Hitchcock could scare us without any blood or gore and this movie included quite a bit.  To compete with Hitchcock you have to be a master of suspense without being obvious don’t you agree?