Psycho… Yes, Thank you.

Psycho. That’s all you have to say and millions of horror fans wax nostalgic about black and white film, scream-queens, and the Bates Motel. Then, thousands of those same fans will check the walls in their motel rooms for little “eye holes.”

Director Alfred Hitchcock became famous for his thrillers including Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest. His hands in a film rarely ever failed. Such is the same with his 1960 accomplishment, Psycho. As much as his direction made this film a success, the actors he employed also added the final touches to a thriller masterpiece.

Anthony Perkins, though not in his first role, but definitely his most memorable, plays Norman Bates the owner of a small, out of the way motel. (Since this movie the “Bates Motel” has become synonymous with really crappy, down-and-out motels some see by the roadside.) He lives with his constantly harassing mother on top of the hill in the scary mansion. Soon, Marion shows up, played by scream-queen Janet Leigh (and mother of Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween fame). She’s running away from her life with $40,000 stolen from her boss. She stops to spend the night at the Bates Motel, where she meets Norman. Thus sets up one of the most memorable scenes ever filmed in a movie… the shower scene. It was so simple, yet so fantastic that even people who have never seen the movie, know that scene.

Knowing Marion is in the shower, because you see the eyeball peeping at her through a hole in the wall, a motherly figure sneaks into the bathroom and stabs her. Hitchcock plays it brilliantly so as you never see the actual stabs on the body, but you do see the downward strokes of the large knife, Marion’s hand grasping the shower curtain and pulling it off its hooks, and the blood running down the drain. Not only do these visuals add to the suspense of the scene, but the music Hitchcock overlays with the scene makes it so much more dramatic. It’s just a simple screeching of violin strings with each downward stroke of the knife making us cringe each time the blade hits home.

A police investigation, sparked by Marion’s sister, soon begins leading the police to the Bates Motel. I don’t want to give away the key points of the movie like who killed Marion and what is Norman’s nagging mother is really like, but the ending is a complete surprise and a must see for any movie fan.

(This film spawned several sequels and even a remake of the original in 1998: Psycho II, Psycho III, Psycho IV:The Beginning (a prequel), Psycho (1998) )

a little movie named Halloween

It only makes sense, when talking about Halloween and movies, to talk about the holiday’s namesake, Halloween. It is one of the genre’s turning points. Halloween became the first mainstream, box office success of horror movies.

The formula was so good, it was used over and over for not only it’s own sequels, but an entire slew of slasher flicks for years to come. One dark and stormy night… a great, scary start if you ask me… Mike Myers, locked away in a mental institution for killing his sister on Halloween night when he was just a young kid, escapes from a mental institution. The movie follows his movements as he returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, dons a plain mask, and begins to kill a string of people. Of course, many of the people he kills are teenagers who decide to have sex spawning the notion that virgins will not be killed (as spoken in the first Scream movies). Eventually, his psychiatric doctor, Dr. Sam Loomis played by Donald Pleasence, a classic British actor with over 200 screen credits, brings him down… supposedly. This film started the trend of scary serial killers who can never truly die. They just go into hiding until they can recuperate and come back after those pesky teens.

Of course, the person who really sparks Myers interest is teenager Laurie, played by Jamie Lee Curtis (daughter of actor Tony Curtis and scream-queen Janet Leigh, the unfortunate young lady to meet her demise in the shower of the original Psycho movie). This is Jamie Lee’s first major role and the movie that really put her on the map. It also began a short list of other scary movies for her including: The Fog, Prom Night, and other movies in the Halloween series.

Director and writer John Carpenter employs several great horror movie techniques which keep us on the edge of our seat: a lot of voyeuristic shots giving the creepy stalker feeling, background music simplistic yet eerie, inventive, new ways to die, and dark and shadowy scenes. But probably the one thing that keeps us on the edge is the killer. Mike Myers, and the many serial killers of horror movies to come, is a tall, dark, and imposing individual. And we never truly see his face. This simple technique just makes us more interested in this individual and keeps us wondering about him. It also makes him more mysterious and, intentionally, scary.

The odd and completely mind-boggling question for the whole series is… what happened with Halloween 3? The Halloween series has had ten movies including two official remakes of the first two films, yet number three has nothing to do with Mike Myers! Besides the fact that they get away from the successful formula of the first two, the third movie was very poorly written and with cheesy effects. If you decide to watch the others, don’t even bother with this one.

Halloween is a film which keeps us coming back for more. From the popular actors to the tried and true horror format we want to experience that fright again and again. Indeed, it’s a horror classic!

(Sequels: Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloweeon: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, Halloween Resurrection, Halloween (2007 remake), Halloween II (2009 remake) )

31 Days of Halloween!

OK. Here goes. October is just one day away; and that means Halloween is 31 days away! Halloween is that wonderful time of year where the nights are growing longer, the days are growing colder, the world around us is dying, (fall and all that stuff ya know), and things are beginning to go bump in the night. What better way to celebrate than 31 days of horror movies!

Over the next 31 days, leading up to Halloween, I’m going to explore 31 different films to celebrate the coming holiday. Don’t worry. this ain’t your everyday top horror films. Heck, they aren’t even all scary. Sure, there will be some good slasher flicks, but there will also be some good thrillers, suspenseful chillers, maybe a tv show or two, and even some comedies. Life is like a box crunchy eyeballs, you never know whose eye you’re gonna get.

So, stay tuned. I hope you’ll be pleased. 🙂