I had a friend (Moon Brooke) say that my choice of shirt was very appropriate for this reaction 🤣 I didn't even realize how much it was until she said that! I just picked that shirt because I got it at Spirit Halloween and figured it'd be a good shirt for the first October film! 🤣 Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this reaction! HAPPY SPOOKY MONTH!
Great Reaction!!! And if you rewatch the movie, it's A different experience and almost a different scary movie because now that you know the twist at the end, when you watch it again, it's A whole new level of pshyco and you can see how creepy Norman really is and how he operates (for example, when you heard him and his mother talking, now you know it's him talking to himself)
@@OGBReacts please react to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) An American Werewolf In London (1981) Scream(1996) The Mist(2007) The Cabin In The Woods (2012) The Invisible Man (2020)
@@OGBReacts I saw the film in a theater when it first came out. Yes, the most startling thing was that the lead character (up until then) got killed off half way through. Nobody had ever seen that before.
It's increasingly rare for someone to watch this movie without knowing all the plot twists in advance, and your reaction was perfect. A very enjoyable reaction video.
@@OGBReacts Did you know they used chocolate syrup for blood in the shower? Another of those facts about the movie "everyone" knows... Also, I think this was the first time you got to se an actual toilet on the big screen. Isn't that right? Anyone?
@@OGBReacts Janet Leigh is the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis who is the star of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). John Carpenter cast Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead role because her mother Janet Leigh was in Psycho.
@@jmiyagi12345 Agreed. But the longer Hitchcock could keep you believing the mother was the killer, the more effective the final reveal would be. Aside: your first name obviously gives you a special connection to the movie.
When Hitchcock was a young kid, he was locked in a police cell for a short time as a lesson on "this is what happens to naughty boys" .... He never forgot that experience, and never trusted the police from that day forward
Ah yes... well known in Hitchcock's native Britain as the 'short, sharp, shock' to put naughty boys on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, for anyone who already has received psychological abuse (most children), it causes hatred of authority, all adults and it's fair share of psychoes.
This was a lot of fun, I haven't seen anyone in my lifetime that wasn't spoiled on "Mother". Nice to have someone genuinely surprised as when it originally came out.
in Halloween H20, both Jamie Lee and Janet act in it... as an Easter Egg, they also included the car (that was pushed into the swamp) and a portion of the music from Psycho in it (H20) as well as Janet's character's name was Norma (another nod to Norman Bates)
My favorite line from Psycho (and the one that gives me chills every time I hear it) - "Who's that woman buried out in Green Lawn Cemetery?" A brilliantly-executed rhetorical red-herring!
Hitchcock was very obsessive about getting just the right sound for the sound of the stabbing, and experimented with all kinds of different fruits and vegetables to see which would be the most effective. He ended up going with a honeydew.
I think it's amazing that in 1960 Alfred Hitchcock was able to make the prototypical slasher movie despite how uptight everyone was back then. There's is a lot of transgressive material in this movie. Norman peeping, the multiple views of the toilet, the protagonist who is a woman not only having illicit sex but also stealing thousands of dollars...it's like Hitchcock crammed every bit of triggering elements into this movie that he could get away with.
I liked what you said & your right. There is a book titled "it's only a bloody movie" it goes into detail regarding the film psycho & the issues & problems faced by Hitchcock in making the film. In Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hitchcock in the film Hitchcock much was said about this & the obstacles he had to overcome.
This came out when my parents were newly married. My dad plays the violin. He would stand outside the bathroom while mom was showering and would play the "eh, eh, eh" part on the violin. Mom started locking the bathroom door.
It's always nice to see a reaction from someone who doesn't know the twists. I'd give anything to see how shocking this film was to audiences in 1960. The scariest part of this film to me has always been the last inner monologue by "mother"; the words combined with Norman's facial expressions get me every time.
That scene and the one where the detective gets it scared me the most. Unfortunately, my mother warned me about the shower scene and how many people were scared to take showers afterwards. I didn’t get to see it until years after it came out.
Can you imagine the reaction of the audiences who saw this when it came out? When we were kids back in the 60s our parents wouldn't let us watch this on TV. I was about 10 in 1967 (yes I'm old!) I went to spend the weekend with my Grandma and the movie came on after something else we were watching. At the end when Lila goes down in the cellar and finds Mother it scared me so bad I couldn't sleep. Now that I'm older the movie still creeps me out in so many ways and I hide my eyes at the end even to this day!
Making people go "WHAT?!" for 60 years... You would never make a movie like this now, the extended prologue explaining at the end feels weird as a modern viewer. But I get that explanation was totally necessary at the time, because audiences hadn't grown up with horror films about serial killers. I don't watch it often for fun, but I think that anyone interested in film needs to see it at least once, it is the OG Horror/Slasher from whence the entire genre grew. The guys that made Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and such in the 70s 80s totally had their minds blown by this as teenagers.
Horror films nothing, audiences back then didn't grow up with mental illnesses being discussed at all. That explanation was about split personality and such.
If you think that the *split* was weird, check out the trailer sometime. Also: only other bait-and-switch moments like that I can think of are the genre shift in From Dusk Til Dawn and the protag change-up in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
CalciumChief is absolutely right. Back in 1960, people like Norman were called crazy, looney or nuts, and that was that. Psychiatry and psychology have come a long way since and the average person today is much better informed on such things.
I couldn't wait to see your reaction to this movie and it did not disappoint. Fun Fact: The woman at the beginning with the headache medicine is Alfred Hitchcock's daughter. She has a bigger role in Strangers on a Train.
Fun fact: The actor Frank Albertson who plays Tom Cassidy (the guy who is giving his daughter the $40,000 for her wedding) is the same guy who plays Sam Wainwright ( the hee-haw guy) in "It's a Wonderful Life."
33:14 "Why she wouldn't even harm a fly." One of my absolute favorite movie moments of all time. Sorry for the ridiculous number of comments. Psycho is one of my top 5 favorites of all time. Poster on the wall of my office and everything. :-) Really enjoyed this one.
Three months later... yes, and I've seen about 4 years of 'newbies' reacting to this film, and all are predictably shocked. Some guess but none 'know'... and so many claim, "Oh no! The main character's dead!" while forgetting the name of this film is not THE EMBEZZLER or WOMAN ON THE RUN. None of them mention 'psycho' as a title or reference point - Hitch's screenplay just takes us so deep into Marion's Tale, and suddenly that's over and all we have 'left' is Norman. And Mother. Arbogast.. I hope all of them have a chance to see film festival showings of this film. They usually occur in October.
When this was first released, women were so terrified, they stopped taking showers and switched to baths. Something similar happened when Jaws came out. A lot of people stopped going into the water. The ones that went in, like myself, had there head on a swivel and kept whipping around looking for shark fins.
Alfred Hitchcock got an angry letter from a parent after this movie, saying that their daughter wouldn't take baths after seeing Diabolique, and now she won't take showers after seeing Psycho. Hitchcock's reply letter: "Send her to the dry cleaners."
Director Alfred Hitchcock bought all of the books from every bookstore so that nobody could know the ending ahead of time. This movie was Anthony Perkins's first movie that Hitchcock casted because he thought he was perfect for the part. It was shot in black and white in order to hide the red color of the blood
It was mainly shot in black & white to save money. Hitchcock wanted to show that a good movie could be made, on a shoestring budget. He also saved money by using the crew from his TV show which was almost a no-no at that time, because television was seen as the enemy by movie studios. They saw television as an existential threat to their industry. The blood issue maybe was an additional rational for black & white, but it would have been done in black & white regardless of the blood. Seems like I remember, that "Psycho" was produced for under $200,000?
Fun trivia: Marion (first girl) was played by Janet Leigh, who was one of the biggest box office names of her generation. She is also well known today as the mother of another of Hollywood's most famous horror actresses and A-lister, Jamie Lee Curtis. Janet is the original scream queen woth the single most famous movie scream and death scenes of all time and her legacy is the woman Hollywood dubbed The Scream Queen.
A movie I wish I could watch again without any knowledge of the story and feel the surprises genuinely like you did. Wonderful reaction and glad you were able to be surprised by the twists.
Never underestimate the power of an "old black and white movie". My mother told me she watched this in 1960 with my dad and she was petrified for days. Great reaction from you!
Also -- the more familiar you are with this movie, the more the show rewards you. Throw-away lines from Norman's conversation with Marion like the highway getting moved or the location of the diner... such good stuff.
I love Hitchcock a lot, my fave of his is probably Shadow Of A Doubt or Strangers On A Train, some fantastically chilling scenes in both! Love that you're doing older movies :D p.s Anthony Perkins is a babe
Love that you had no idea about the ending. Back when this movie came out, the audience was asked not to disclose the ending to anyone, so others could be just as surprised. Great reaction!!
I always tell people: Not a horror movie. Not a slasher. Hitchcock makes Suspense Dramas. (Then they watch it, and after it ends they hit me for lying.)
Sometimes suspense drama is scarier than a monster popping out at you. Hitchcock could give you nightmares with nothing more than a suggestion. Of course Alien went for both. Lol.
Its such fun to watch young reactors who know nothing about this movie. They are shocked when Marion gets killed off so early & have their mind blown when they discover Norman is Mother. This was fun! My favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie is The Birds. Please add this to your list of movies to watch.
Vera Miles is still with us at 92 years of age. She played Lila --the sister of Marion. The guy who played the deputy sheriff was John McIntire. He was the second trial master of "Wagon Train" --one of the most popular tv series of the 1960s. McIntire's wife was Jeanette Nolan. She supplied the voice of 'Mother Bates.'
I couldn't wait for the end, I knew you were going to lose it, Best laugh I had All year, you're reaction was just as I thought it would be,you didn't disappoint,looooved it
Sadly, Marion Crane died in 1960 and was unable to watch the multitude of horror movies that came after...Had she that experience, , you are right...she would've left after meeting Norman.
That was SO fun! I’ve known this movie’s twists and turns for decades, so while I will always recognize its greatness, the joy of being surprised or scared by it is long gone. But getting to relive all that vicariously was awesome. Nice, nice job! 👍🏻
All time classic, watched this when I was like 10 and it scared the crap out of me, all the imagery of “mother” at the window freaked me out so bad I think because your imagination is so big when you’re a kid things like that can scare you 😂
I really liked your reaction to Psycho. You were really sucked into it just like the millions of people in movie theaters across America seeing it for the first time. Can you imagine what it must've been like back in the day to see this in a crowded movie theater?
Glad you enjoyed!! I feel as though this and Rosemary’s Baby (another 60’s thriller/horror I’ve watched on this channel) had slightly similar public reactions! AKA everybody freaked the hell out 🤣
"I LOVE your reaction the BEST because you LITERALLY didn't see the movie except for snipits here and there and didn't jump ahead of yourself while watching it like some reacters do
This is such a classic! It's my favorite Hitchcock film. Such great twists in this movie. I'm pretty positive that the lead character getting killed part way through had not been done in a movie before, so that threw audiences for a loop. The twist end is great as well. And the transition to mother's skeletal face was a great final touch. The direction, music, and acting are all top notch. Anthony Perkins gives an amazing performance in this. And you actually care about him a bit in the beginning. (before he starts getting creepy anyway.)
Hey Sam. Some facts about this movie. Alfred Hitchcock was told that he was crazy for making a movie where your Main Character is Killed in the first part of the movie. Well he proved them wrong with his genius writing and directing. THIS movie started the show times scheduling in the theater. You have to see the movie from the beginning. Before this movie the theaters just played movies on a loop. You would just buy a ticket and watch the movie from whatever point. May be in the middle or end etc. Then sit there and watch it loop over again and catch what you missed.
Great reaction girl, I remember when I showed this to a friend, like 30 minutes into it he was like "he's the mother" :D Love that you had such a pure reaction to it, in this post-twist modern era where it's really hard to actually still surprise someone with this, you did the job perfectly! I so would have loved to see the audiences reaction back then.
I am amazed how no one notice the way Anthony Perkins( Norman) makes a quirky smile when he mentions: ..And the way he died.. When telling about the death of his step-dad😮.
Somebody may have mentioned this already, but she doesn't blow her cover with the Phoenix/Ms. Crane thing. Her talk with Norman convinced her to go back and try to correct her mistake and make things right. She has a full character arc before she gets randomly killed
A slasher movie whose most terrifying, bonechilling scene is a man sitting quietly in a chair, thinking to himself in his mother's voice, and smiling at the camera.
This is a favorite reaction of mine! Your reactions at the end were pretty much what I was thinking the first time I watched this movie . I really enjoyed this one very much. Thank you and I look forward to more .
Great reaction! Real horror doesn't make you scared of monsters, the dark or ghosts. It makes you scared of other seemingly normal people. That twist in the middle is unsettling. It kind of pulls the rug from under you and leaves you alone in the story, when the obvious protagonist is gone. It's a classic, but far from Hitchcock's best, in my opinion. Hope to see more now that you have had a few tastes.
Great Reaction! And well done for spotting the books! I haven't seen any other re-actors get the significance of the books. What sort of books have no title on the spine or the cover? I always wondered. That's what I like about Classic movies they can't show everything so things have hidden, layered meanings. I am reminded of the book shop in the equally awesome The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall. CCCP
7:49 The thing that Alfred Hitchcock was the most brilliant at was simply building suspense. You're starting to see that at this point of the movie and it will only continue. Nothing has happened yet, but our anticipation that something is about to happen just keeps growing and growing. One of my favorite descriptions he ever gave of his theory of suspense was in a talk show interview. He described a group of people having a boring conversation around a table for 5 minutes. Then a bomb goes off and kills them. 5 minutes of boredom and 10 seconds of excitement. Not very effective. But take that exact same scenario and let the audience know that there's a bomb under the table. The dynamics of the scene change entirely. He lastly said that you must also never let the bomb go off. Something has to happen at the last second to stop it. He said that if you let the bomb go off, people don't enjoy the scene it just makes them angry. Also, the other secretary in the office was his daughter (Patricia Hitchcock). And he made his regular cameo as the man standing on the street outside the office window.
Awesome reaction for such a great movie! Hitchcock actually ran a marketing campaign to keep what happened "Psycho" from being spoiled and audiences respected that, in 1960, something that would be impossible to pull off now. I'm looking forward to more October reactions! This was a great opener for this month's reactions! :D
Love this movie...couldn't take shower without locking door securely! Been to house Universal City, it was a set, but still CREEPY!Have you seen The Birds, also good classic movie! I afraid of birds too😉
Loved your reaction to this! The movie tricked me the exact same way the first time I saw it. Before watching the film, the only reference to it I was familiar with was an old DiGiorno Pizza commercial that showed the outside of the Bates Motel and had Norman and his mother arguing, with her scolding him for letting a pizza delivery person come to the property, and him explaining "It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno!". Then it showed him, as his mother, from about the same angle as the shot in the film where the detective was killed, but instead of attacking a person with the knife, he was slashing the pizza in half. The screen then faded to black, as the mother chuckled and said "Such a good boy!"
It must take an old goat like me to recognize the "indent" in the bed as being normal for a feather bed. I don't think most people these days knows what a feather bed, with an honest-to-god feather tick, really is.....or how they sleep, especially one with lots of down in it. Gives old goats like me a chuckle.
Hey Bo, this movie was a huge sensation in 1960, the way "Jaws" or "The Exorcist" would be a decade and a half later. Other firsts in this movie: you never saw a toilet in an American movie before this, seeing Janet Leigh in a bra was also not the norm, and the entire shower sequence, of course, legendary. Now you see why Hitchcock is called the Master of Suspense!
Congrats! You are the first reactor that didn't mention that this was a black and white movie, as if that somehow means you should lower your expectations.This was a shocking movie in its time, but more importantly it was the virtuoso movie-making that makes it stand the test of time.
15:47 With everything in this movie the one thing that Hitchcock had to fight to keep in the movie ... showing a toilet on camera. Honestly. There were such weird-ass rules about stuff like that for movies and television shows back then.
$40,000 in 1960 could buy three houses. The rich man was either buying a very big house for his daughter or he was given her enough to buy a house plus have money left over.
How delightful to find someone who doesn’t know Psycho and it’s twists! Your reaction was awesome! What I’d give to see this film for the very first time again. Because mine, and just about every ones reaction the first time they see this movie and are unfamiliar with “mother” 😂, is to be utterly blown away. Just like you were. Not many film makers can really pull off the “never saw it coming” technique with a wicked twist, even today. Hitchcock mastered it 60 years ago. Hitchcock was a master of suspense you see, but also a master of the “red herring” technique - a term for a purposely misleading element in a story to throw off the audience from seeing the actual plot or lead character, in order to add more suspense, shock, and a “never saw it coming” response when the truth is finally revealed. He begins the film masked as a crime thriller, then half way through eliminates who we thought the film was about and it’s plot line, only to reveal the ACTUAL plot of what’s ACTUALLY a horror film and psychological mind F$&@😂...one that builds the tension to a fever pitch, with brilliant camera work and directing, incredible music and unforgettable performances (Anthony Perkins and Janet Lee -Jamie Lee Curtis’s scream queen Mom- are tremendous). It’s simply a perfect film and was the first of its kind in many ways, groundbreaking and revolutionary for its time and genre. And continues to be so to this very day. It set a standard in the horror genre that has rarely been met since. Hitchcock made many incredible films, such as Vertigo, Dial M For Murder, Rebecca, Shadow Of A Doubt, The Birds, and North By Northwest. But My all time favorite of his films has to be Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart and the exquisite Grace Kelly in very memorable performances. I watch it at least once a year I adore it so much. That film is a master class in voyeuristic film making, and utterly engrossing, filled with great characters, perfectly crafted dialogue, lots of claustrophobic suspense and thanks to the premise and set of circumstances, great, GREAT, tension. You’d love it. 👍
I'm so glad this mostly didn't get spoiled for you, it's such a famous film. The only part I don't like is the detective 'falling' backwards down the stairs, so fake. The shower scene was best spoofed by Mel Brooks in his Hitchcock tribute film "High Anxiety". I'd wait until watching "The Birds" and "Vertigo" before watching that one, I think it's Brooks' best although it gets little recognition. It has several cast members from his other films: Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman. Very well made.
The thing that bugs me most about this movie is that there’s no freaking way voices would carry from the house all the way down to the motel in the pouring down rain. But, you know, I do love the movie.
The falling backwards down the stairs scene wasn't meant to seem real. It was meant to seem surreal. The same technique was used in a scene "Jaws", for instance.
@@MsAppassionata The one where Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) is sitting on a beach chair watching as a shark attack happens. The camera is on him to show his reaction and there is sort of a mismatched zoom of the background, like when the private detective (Martin Balsam) falls backward down the stairs in "Psycho". I'm sure, that there is a term for this type of camera/shot technique/effect, I just don't know, what it is. It's surreal nature adds to the in frame character's own shock or disbelief, in what is currently happening.
Can you imagine seeing this movie in 1960, way before anything like we see today. No real gore and special effects, just suspense and mystery with plot and dialog. That's why Hitchcock is the master of suspense. Try 'Vertigo', ' Rear Window' and 'North by Northwest' for more suspense. Murder, intrigue and suspense in unlikely places.
The thing I always found funny was the fact that the sensors at the time didn’t have a problem with the murders or incestuous themes, they had issue with Hitchcock, not only showing a toilet, but also hearing it flush! He had to justify it by having Marion dispose of her math in the toilet. Sensors were weird!
Hitchcock Knew how to make movies. Even moments when nothing is really happening can be stressful. I love that. No special effects, no highspeed car chases, just great storytelling. Hope you react to more of his movies.
It’s easy for later generations to not grasp the impact of this film, especially after we’ve been desensitized from over the top jump scares/gore and twists that modern films took from this film to try and have the same impact on modern audiences. Janet Leigh’s mid-movie death was so left-field, unexpected, and shocking. One minute you’re following the plot of theft and paranoia, the next moment your taking a turn into a motel where everything rapidly spirals into madness. Some folks who had the “honor” of going to the cinema when this released actually fainted during the infamous shower scene, many reports say about 50% of the audience actually just stood up and walked out, unwilling to accept what they had just witnessed on the screen. And millions of viewers haven’t been able to shower comfortably for decades! The only scene in modern horror to come close to replicating it was the opening scene of Scream, which boosted the popularity of CALLER ID by 900% between 1996-1997.
I saw this movie late at night in the 70s & the only thing I knew was that it was a famous horror movie. To have the main character murdered in the first 30 mins was mind blowing. I think there's a trope about it now - "anyone can die" - it's unsettling. Now you're scared because anything can happen.
Sam, watching your reaction, you looked like a Looney Tunes character who freezes upon the realization that a piano is falling inexorably toward your noggin...completely stunned. I literally almost fell out of my wheelchair. Your face was a meme, this was your best reaction yet. Keep up the good work and I'll see you on Twitch next week for some Resident Evil: 2, peace.💙
I have laughed so hard watching your reaction! I watched this about 55 years ago (It feels so strange saying that). I was way too young to be watching this but I wasn't scared. Anyway, no one expects Janet Leigh (Jamie Lee Curtis' mom) to be offed that soon in the movie.
There are two biopic films on Hitchcock. One goes behind the scenes on how the Birds were made with Toby Jones as Hitchcock. The other one goes behind the scenes on how this movie was made with Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock.
