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The Psycho File: A Comprehensive Guide to Hitchcock's Classic Shocker

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Joseph W. Smith's THE PSYCHO FILE is exactly what its subtitle suggests: A Comprehensive Guide to Hitchcock's Classic Shocker. The book begins at the beginning - with Ed Gein (Norman Bates' inspiration) and Robert Bloch's novel - and continues with a production history overview, a scene by scene analysis that synthesizes several other authors' insights (with several offered by Mr. Smith himself - and even those of his high school students!) - the book then continues with a chapter analyzing the film's main themes and concludes with a look at the sequels to the 1960 classic. Highly readable, highly insightful, this book is a page-turner. I loved it and can't recommend it enough to anyone interested in PSYCHO and its deeper implications.

One error that should be pointed out and corrected in future editions. Minor, perhaps, but the book is rich because of its meticulous attention to detail and symbolism in the film. On page 126, Norman's LP is not of Beethoven's ninth (which is the "Ode to Joy" symphony which perhaps would have been a better choice for the film - since Norman knows so little true joy in his sad existence - but rather it is Beethoven's 3rd Symphony. And in the 3rd Symphony one of the movements is a funeral march.)

Also, I have yet to see addressed in any Hitchcock or PSYCHO books I have yet read the great affinity between PSYCHO and an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" entitled "The Morning of the Bride" written by one Neil Boardman. This fourth season episide aired in February of '59. Simon and Schuster published Bloch's novel in the summer of '59. Bloch's story has more to do with the episode I mention than it does with the Ed Gein case! Bloch's story also owes much to the 1943 Val Lewton movie entitled "The Seventh Victim" which features a sister looking for a lost sister (given over to Devil worship) and also features a scene of Kim Hunter in a shower and a sinister shadow approaching on the other side of the shower curtain. Very scarey and very akin to the scene in PSYCHO. Now, no murder takes place at this point in the film, but the shadowy figure talks to the naked and vulnerable woman taking her shower of a stabbing and murder. Given Bloch's love of horror and the bizarre, I can't help but believe that the Lewton film influenced his writing of the shower scene in his book, whether consciously or not - and the bigger mystery is what (if any) part did "The Morning of the Bride" play in Bloch's writing? In the episode, a likeable young man talks and talks about his mother as though she were alive - and keeps putting of his fiancee for one reason or another regarding his mom. He tells her she's sick, etc. In the end, he finally marries the girl, takes her home to meet mom - and in scenes remarkably like the climax of the film PSYCHO - the new bride enters mom's Victorian bedroom only to find a press clipping detailing her death years before. The son then enters the room and talks to his mother as though she were there and holds up a sweater for her lest she catch a chill. How ironic that Norman is cold at the end of the film PSYCHO and asks for a blanket. Also, featured in this episode is Pat Hitchcock. Also there is a scene where the waiting fiancee sees someone from a distance that she takes to be the mother - but it is in actuality the maid. And there is a bit about the nervous bride-to-be forgetting her shoes before her beau comes to dinner - similar to John Gavin's forgetting to put his shoes on before leaving the motel in the film's beginning. These parallels are too great to ignore, both for the book and the film. But especially the film which was also a Hitchcock production. I'd love to know more about the true story behind the episode and its influence on Bloch, an influence he may have buried by focusing his inspiration on Gein moreso. And its great congruence with the film PSYCHO scripted and then filmed not long after this episode aired.

One other thing that always made me scratch my head: if Hitchcock was so anxious to preserve the mystery of his film, and the shocking shower scene....why would he then do the absurd trailer wherein he tells the future audience where the two murders will occur in his film? That in itself is somewhat schizoid, psycho-like behaviour from the Master of Suspense. I never did understand why he blew the whistle on his own shock sequences.

Anyway - back to this book - it is a must for anyone who has ever been fascinated or captivated or trapped by the classic film PSYCHO.

This is a comprehensive guide to Hitchcock's horror/thriller classic. Joseph Smith, the author, does a great job compiling "everything you wanted to know" about this seminal film, including background on the "true crime" story of Ed Gein, the real-life model for Norman Bates; the adaptation of Bloch's novel Psycho to the screen; the back story of the film's production; the critical and scholarly treatment of the film (including my book, Psycho in the Shower); and the cultural and social impact of the film. The book's style has a light touch that makes it accessible to both fans and more serious students of the film. If you want just one book on Psycho, this is the one for you.