Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.
Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock
Edward Gein
Janet Leigh, announcing her death
Robert Bloch, Official Web site
How to write a Constructed Response
Constructed Response Assignment
Robert Bloch, author
The following additional topics and scene analysis are linked for your viewing. Special thanks to Dr. Glen Johnson from the University of California and his course on Hitchcock's work.
From the Universal Studios website, 1999
"For one particular Alfred Hitchcock thriller, the script called for Janet Leigh's character, Marion Crane, to drive up a long and lonely road on a dark, rainy night, and search for a place to stay.
Ms. Leigh found more than she bargained for when she stopped at a tiny motel with twelve rooms and twelve vacancies, run by a very odd man named Norman Bates. Of course the film was Psycho, and the house that Norman lived in above the motel has become one of the most recognizable in Hollywood.
As you approach the front steps of the house and take a close-up look you will be struck by the fact that, unlike many of the one-sided sets or façades on the Back lot, the Psycho house actually has four sides and a roof.
And, if you look really carefully, you may still be able to spot Norman's mother peering out of the upstairs bedroom window, still rocking in her chair. "
The Psycho house was one of the big draws of the Universal Tram Tour back in 1964, and continues to be instantly recognizable even now. The links below explains some of the history of the house and its frequent moves, along with some exclusive photos.
(Source: thestudiotour.com)
Upon completion of filming Psycho, Universal Studios, wasted no time putting the standing exterior sets to good use. In fact, Hitchcock, himself, used his house and motel facade in his own TV series. Using the former Psycho House group at yahoo and countless emails from eagled-eyed viewers we have managed to locate some obscure appearances.
Psycho House TimeLine
1959 The Psycho House and Bates Motel are built on the back lot in an vacant area of the back lot, on a hill on Laramie Street next to (the then) Singapore Lake (which is now used as 'Jaws' on the tour). Originally the house was constructed with only 2 walls - the left and front facade.
December 1959 Filming commences for Hitchcock's Psycho. The Psycho House and Motel are left as 'standing sets' after filming completes.
1960 The house is used for exteriors in 'Boris Karloffs Thriller' TV program, episode 7 "The Purple Room" starring Rip Torn, Richard Anderson and Patricia Berry. This is probably the first use after Psycho.
1961 The "Psycho" house interiors (staircase, etc.) were used in the episode, Masquerade of the "Boris Karloff's Thriller Show," It had a vampire theme. Tom Poston and Elizabeth ("Bewitched") Montgomery played a couple whose car breakdown leads them to an old house...
1961 The house is used in Wagon Train, episode titled Eleanor Culhane airing May 14th. Flint McCullough finds his former girlfriend living alone in the house (with only a housekeeper) after she has become isolated from the town because they believe her husband has become a gunman and murderer. The episode starred Robert Horton and Felicia Farr.
1964 Universal Studios open the studio tour on July 15th one of the key attractions is the Psycho House. The Bates Motel (although still in place) is not seen by the original tour.
1964 The house features in the Yul Brenner western, Invitation To A Gunfighter. The house has a right- hand side wall constructed for the movie. The house still has no rear wall - and would remain so until the house was "boxed in" for Psycho II in 1982.
1964 The exterior of the Motel's office appears in the Ronald Regan film, The Killers.
1965 The exterior of the house is in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour "An Unlocked Window." Several nurses are trapped in the Psycho house (different interiors) with a psycho on the loose trying to get in. It
has a very "Psycho" twist at the end.
1965 The original Bates Motel exterior is used in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour "Off Season." This was the final Alfred Hitchcock TV show ever made, and starred John Gavin!
1965 The house features is The Virginian, the episode,” Farewell To Honesty" .
1966 The house is featured in The Virginian, episode 107, Men With Guns, guest starring starring Telly Savalas.
1967 The house features in the Western TV Series , Laredo, Episode Fifty-Two,
"Small Chance Ghost".
1971 "Night Gallery" episode, A Question Of Fear, in which Leslie Nielsen spent the
night in a haunted house on a bet used the Psycho house exterior.
1971 The house features in episode 14 of Alias, Smith & Jones, screening April 15th 1971 titled, Never Trust an Honest Man.
1972 Emergency! uses the house in the episode Brush Fire airing 19th February. John and Roy rescue an elderly woman and her sister living in the Psycho House.
1973 An overhead shot of the Studio Backlot is included in the Universal Tour Programme for the first time. The Bates Motel sign is gone. Included is an image of the Psycho House
1977 Universal Studios airs a 25 minute TV Special about the Universal Studio Tour, called, Catch Hollywood In The Act. Hosted by Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman on the Six Million Dollar Man) it features footage of the backlot from the Psycho House, Jaws, Airport 77 Theatre, Runaway Train, Collapsing Bridge, Doomed Glacier, Parting of the Red Sea, makeup demonstrations, special effects stages and interior sets from the Bionic Woman.
1977- 1979 The Psycho House features in 3 episodes of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Mystery of the Haunted House, The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom and The House on Possessed Hill. At this time the veranda is enlarged around the house extending under "mother's" window. It remains attached until the early 80's.
Somewhere between 1978 and 1980 - The Motel is dismantled.
1980 The house features in the Get Smart Movie "The Nude Bomb". (Maxwell Smart becomes a tour guide at Universal Studios!)
1981 The exterior of the house was painted pink and appeared in the Chevy Chase comedy Modern Problems. Through the magic of movies, the house somehow was transported to the beach but cleverly he ocean and the house are never in the same shot.
1982 It's decided to move the Psycho House to a new location on the backlot. (Psycho II director Richard Franklin said at the time, "they built a tour around it so we had to move it to a remote location". The house was rebuilt and about 30 feet of motel was built. The rest was done as a matte painting. If you notice you don't see much of the Motel in the picture.
1983 A TV special, Australian Movies To The World, features a brief segment hosted by Psycho II director, Richard Franklin - he tours the inside shell of the Bates House and talks of directing Psycho II.
1984 Knight Rider episode titled, Halloween Knight (episode 51) which has a Psychoesque storyline.
1984 A two part episode of TV comedy Different Strokes, Hooray for Hollywood, episode 138 features the Psycho House with Arnold getting lost on the Universal Studios backlot and who opens the Psycho house door? Frankenstein of course!
1985 The Jan Michael-Vincent series, Airwolf, features the house in episode 15 in the episode Santini's Millions on 2nd February.
1986 The Motel was fully rebuilt for Psycho III.
1986 The House and Motel feature in episode 28 of Amazing Stories, Welcome To My Nightmare (the interior of Cabin One was re-built for this episode).
1988 With the Bates Motel TV pilot in production, the Motel now has BATES MOTEL painted in white letters along the roof and the Motel is transformed (as part of the story) to a Spanish flavour. A cement rendered wall is placed around the Motel.
1988 Universal build a new Psycho House and Motel in Florida for Psycho IV.
1991 Murder She Wrote films an episode directly involving the House and Motel titled, Incident on Lot 7.
1995 The cement rendered wall surrounding The Bates Motel (from the TV Pilot) is removed.
1995 Janet Leigh hosts a segment on Celebrity Homes for E! Featured is the exterior and interior of the Psycho House.
1995 Universal Studios commissioned a parody of 1950s corporate/industrial films for Seagrams using the talents of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Angela Lansbury is seen painting the Psycho House.
1997 The house features in a few episodes of the TV soap Bold and the Beautiful.
1997 Filming commences for the Gus Van Sant Remake. During the filming of the Psycho remake, the original house is masked by the new house used in the remake.
1999 Universal Studios, Florida dismantle the house and motel built for Psycho IV The Beginning, to build an extension to a childrens play area.
2000 Janet Leigh returns to the Bates Motel for Psycho's 40th anniversary.
2000 Whoville from The Grinch That Stole Christmas is filmed partly behind the Psycho House. After filming is complete the Whoville Houses are moved behind the Bates Motel.
2001 The movie, The Back Lot Murders (filmed on the Universal Backlot) uses the Psycho set as part of the movie.
2001 The red letters (Motel) that sat on the Bates Motel roof in the remake are removed. Whoville remains behind the Psycho House.
2001 The house appears in a black & white television commercial for DiGiorno Pizza.
2001 The House is briefly featured in the Frankie Muniz comedy, Big Fat Liar.
2003 The House featured in the Psycho remake (1998) that sat to the left of the Psycho House is removed.
2004 The house has a refurbishment.
2004 - 2005 Sometime in late 2004 or early 2005 the church seen in the original Psycho is demolished by the Universal backlot department - a restructure of Circle Drive necessitates changes to the backlot and its decided the church isn't worth saving.
2005 With the Region 1 re-release of Psycho II and Psycho III on DVD, the Bates Motel is refurbished back to its original look from the 1960's. A number of set pieces make a familiar return, the icebox from Psycho III, Marion Crane's car (complete with body in the trunk), a suitcase, mop and bucket sitting on the Motel's veranda and a cardboard cut-out of Norman Bates stares from the window of Cabin 1.
2005 The Motel and house are filmed as part of the TV series, Fear Factor.
Psycho House