Inside Psycho

A mild and meek man who was unusually attached to his domineering mother. That’s the story of Ed Gein, who murdered numerous middle-aged women in and around Plainfield, WI in the 1950’s, and whose story inspired the character of Norman Bates. The story of Psycho begins in a dingy, remote cabin, where Gein collected bits and pieces of his subjects and fashioned them into chairs, lampshades, or worse. All his victims were chosen because they reminded him of his mother. When he was buried, this was engraved on the headstone beside his: “Augusta Gein: Mother.” Gein’s story is a chilling beginning to one of the most famous stories in movie history.

When a struggling writer, Robert Bloch, discovers the story of a strange man in Wisconsin who killed and mutilated his victims, he transforms it into a story about the twisted relationship between a man and his mother: Psycho. Later, he realizes his fictions come closer to the dark truth than he ever could have imagined. That’s when his book is optioned by an anonymous Hollywood buyer for next to nothing. That buyer turns out to be Alfred Hitchcock. We meet Hitch on his deathbed, rewind through key moments, and end with Hitch savoring only one of the 2,400 submissions his office had reviewed. This would be his next picture: Psycho.

What do you do when your studio hates your next picture? If you’re Alfred Hitchcock, you put up your own money and risk everything on it. Psycho was a movie everybody in town said couldn’t get made - it would be the movie that would ruin Hitchcock’s career, they said. Or would it? Hitchcock casts his Norman Bates and his “perfectly ordinary” Marion Crane. Hear how the voice of Norman’s mother evolves from a series of hilarious celebrity prank calls, how Hitch navigates the performance of one actor he called “the stiff.” Then, he swears the cast and crew to secrecy, and production begins on the biggest bet of Hitchcock’s career.

It’s the inside story of the legendary shower scene, from the nudist on set, to Janet Leigh’s unending efforts to maintain some decency, to the answer to the longstanding question: Do you actually see the knife disappear into a body or not? We review the sounds of stabbing, the practical jokes that had everyone in stitches (except Janet Leigh), the novel introduction of a toilet to an American movie, the did-she-or-didn’t-she blink moment, and the very real possibility that the entire shower scene could have played in silence. Plus, you meet the famous child actor from the 1950’s who helped glue hairs into the head of Norman’s mother’s corpse. All the while, Hitchcock is convinced that the picture he’s making is, in a word, awful.

Hitchcock’s nightmares haunt him as he readies Psycho for release. He tussles with the censors to keep his precious shower scene - the one which does or does not contain nudity, depending on which censor’s opinion you’re listening to. Hitch maps out an elaborate and unprecedented publicity strategy and in the process reinvents the way America goes to the movies. He suffers a rash of scathing reviews from big name critics, one of whom calls Psycho “a very minor work.” Then, Psycho opens - and the world will never be the same. Hitchcock marvels at the lines around every block all across the country. Perhaps his fears were all wrong...or maybe this will be the huge success from which he will never recover.

Psycho fever overtakes America, and Alfred Hitchcock is suddenly a very rich man. And with this stunning success comes one haunting fear: What will I do for an encore? That question plagues Hitchcock for the rest of his career, through only six more films, a humiliating defeat at the Academy Awards, the specter of young directors vaulting past the old master, and a final appearance to accept a life achievement award that’s too little and too late. Meanwhile, critical admiration for Psycho grows, and the film’s legacy spawns sequels and remakes and a web of pop culture signposts, even today. We leave you in the cellar of terrifying old house on a lonely hill. Do you hear something?

Time for a deep dive into all things “Psycho” with Rob Galluzzo, Sr. Editor at Blumhouse Productions, co-host of the SHOCKWAVES podcast, and creator of the documentary “The Psycho Legacy.” Rob and host Mark Ramsey swap some stories, including things that didn’t make the cut for Inside Psycho and tidbits about other films in the series. It’s a great way to generate chills even in the steamiest of summers.