Mocking Halloween: Psycho

It was really nice to see Psycho on the big screen, up until the middle of the movie it’s pretty much a crime drama or just a romantic drama but it was still fun to look at. Universally regarded as a classic horror movie, it does have a lot of moments where I cocked my head in puzzled glaze and asked myself, “What the hell is wrong with this person.” That person was Marion Crane. With the exception of a lot of talking and few scenes involving Mama Bates, Marion sort of got what was coming to her. No, not getting killed in the shower but rather having a police car tail her. In fact, Norman was guilty of the very same thing. I’ll explain.

After stealing the money Marion is confronted by a police officer asking why she was sleeping in a car on the shoulder of a desert road. Right off the bat she is acting extremely suspicious and then becomes ignorant as the cop is asking her questions. Why is she doing this? If I were her I would cool it down and answer the questions the cop asks in a polite manner. It gets worse when she buys a new car, right as the same police officer is watching her from across the street. Oh and if that’s not enough, she keeps looking over at him so now she is pretty much assuring him that she is up to something. At that point I was like, “Okay, I want you to get caught just to teach you to be more inconspicuous.” It annoyed me and from the get go she didn’t seem like that smart of a person.

Unfortunately, Norman is guilty of the same thing. When the detective asks him questions about Marion he starts off acting normal and giving a lie. When he is caught his lie transformers into the truth but he sticks with the fact that Marion left the hotel. I was wondering why didn’t he just tell the truth to begin with but say that she left real early in the morning? However, he began getting impatient and very snarky. I said to myself, “Are the people in this movie that bad at handling cops.” I can only imagine what would happen if a cop came up to Sam to ask him where the bathroom is:

“Where is the bathroom?”

“It’s um…” His eyes began to shift. His throat clenched up. His breathing was very heavy. “It’s over by the… um…” He stared into the officer’s blank black sunglasses. “By the… back door… next to the coolers.” His heart was racing and as the cop left, Sam bolted out of the building not knowing where to go since he didn’t do anything in the first place.

Soundtracks - Re-Animator (1985)

After re-watching “Re-Animator” I finally realized why the beginning theme to the movie sounds so familiar. The entire piece, which was composed by Richard Band, is identical to that of the ‘Psycho Suite’ by Bernard Herrmann. Although the only things that are identical in the “Re-Animator” theme is the beginning notes and the beginning notes of the bridge of the theme, the rest is very original but still sounds like it was taken from something else. I don’t want to say that it is a rip-off, because I don’t know what the history behind the theme but I will say that it should have been revised.

Even though the theme is similar I still enjoyed the movie and the theme really worked with the movie. It’s very tedious and a bit nerve racking, which compliments the movie. The theme is played over the opening credits in which several multicolored diagrams of the human mind are layered over each other.

Perhaps, in some way, “Re-Animator” was inspired by “Psycho” but I can’t see how.