A recording of the introduction of PSYCHO by DAVID THOMSON, recorded October 29, 2010, at Film Forum

Summary: PSYCHO: “Mother’s not quite herself today.” After trysting with her married lover, Janet Leigh embezzles 40 grand and heads South of the Border, but stops for a rest at taxidermy buff Anthony Perkins’ Bates Motel, where guests check in, but... Hitchcock’s legendary, blackly comic shocker (author Robert Bloch’s first ambition was to be a comedian) was shot fast and cheap by the regular crew of his TV series, after original releasing studio Paramount — weary of this hot potato — graciously allowed him to finance it himself. In the wake of its path-breaking promotion (no one was allowed in the theater once the picture began and viewers were cautioned not to reveal the ending), Psycho packed theaters with white-faced patrons, vaulted its title into the non-Freudian mainstream, turned comfy shower stalls into places of terror, and sent Hitchcock chortling all the way to the bank. By virtually inventing the modern horror film — aided by Bernard Herrmann’s shrieking all-strings score — the Master more than fulfilled his stated 1947 ambition: “I aim to provide the public with beneficial shocks.” This podcast episode is a recording of the introduction of PSYCHO by DAVID THOMSON, recorded October 29, 2010.