John Landis on PSYCHO

[@zetectic7968]

Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack adds so much to this classic. Being in black & white has more impact than colour would have done.

[@jerryrichardson2799]

I love when Hitchcock looks at something and just looks at you for a second and then goes on with that slightly disapproving deadpan expression. Also, when he starts to explain something and then just drops it. Yet another great TFH from Landis, thanks.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Yes,Hitchcock says more with his looks and silence than other people say with a lot of exposition.

[@bh8365]

remember three big scares at the theater. The shower, the stairs, and the reveal in the chair.

[@nickstoli]

These videos are wonderful. Landis appears to have an encyclopedic knowledge of movies. And his enthusiasm for them is obvious.

[@linkfan160]

He's great. One of my favourite Directors.

[@poetcomic1]

Encylopediac knowledge? When someone points out how carefully John Anderson was chosen to play the used car dealer - a major TV actor of the period - and how flawless each of his expressions and intonations was... THAT is interesting and, to use your word 'encyclopediac'.

[@brianheistan9859]

0:01 I was really anticipating for him to have the balls to say "Good evening, I'm Alfred Hitchcock & this is Trailers from Hell."

[@PatrickSilent]

At least he could have said he was Brian De Palma.

[@bassliveevil]

I loved that every time Hitch gets to a certain plotpoint, he leaves you wanting to know more,because he doesn't tell you every detail

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@Daniel-Rosa.]

Why are Trailers from Hell not better known?

[@SirSmoldham]

I cannot praise this film enough. I saw it when I was seven and it warped my mind. This after I swore to myself never to see another film by this man after Vertigo. Bernard Herrmann is the greatest.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Wow,l’m amazed that you were so affected by “Vertigo” that you swore to yourself that you would never watch another Hitchcock movie.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

I’m amazed that at the tender age of seven you were watching Hitchcock movies.

[@SirSmoldham]

@@BarryHart-xo1oy Well, I was just a kid... and raised Catholic. It was one of the early movies on television and I saw it in black and white.

[@chuckselvage3157]

A masterpiece. I like Hitchcock's sense of humour. He's great.

[@RedTango]

This was also the first movie to ever show a toilet.

[@PatrickSilent]

So was this trailer the first trailer to show it?

[@benemlaw6428]

It wasn't the first time a toilet was shown. It was the first time a toilet flushed on screen.

[@SuperWidemouth]

Great music cues from Psycho--totally unforgettable.

[@deadpan80]

you can just tell Hitch is having the time of his life making the trailer - great stuff

[@Music--ng8cd]

Not really sure it ruined his career. In the early 60s he went to Europe and made films with Ingrid Bergman, Sofia Loren, Brigitte Bardot and Orson Welles.

[@johnscanlan9335]

I had the good fortune to have seen Alfred Hitchcock in NYC in about 1974. I was having lunch with a friend at the then well-known Manhattan restaurant Autopub, on the lower level of the General Motors building which is now occupied by the Apple store. We were already eating our lunch when Hitchcock was seated by himself at a corner table!

[@nathanforester5993]

To this day the twist is iconic. I believe you can still see a replica of the house at Universal (used to be on the other side of the Grinch set).

[@scotthill8787]

Greatest trailer, ever!

[@wishmaster7438]

I read Robert Bloch's novellette where the character of Miriam (Mary in story) is decapitated in the shower scene. I assumed this was too gruesome for audiences in those days. Norman Bates was a middle age bald fat man not a young man.

[@AnthonySmith-ty7ij]

A modern American Classic. This would make a great double bill with Hitchcocked about during the making of this film. The first time you see a toilet was actually Disney's The Shaggy Dog in 1959. Anthony Perkins steals the picture, but sadly became typecast after this film. Other great films by mr. Perkins include Catch-22, The Trial, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and The Black Hole. One more thing the famous shower stabbing scene was made at the same stage as The 1925 film version of The Phantom Of The Opera.

[@PatrickSilent]

Wait, this is John Landis? I thought it was Raquel Welch or Klaus Kinski or Cecil B. DeMille. I'm confused!

[@fernandomaron87]

I'm so glad i saw this in theaters, quite an experience

[@reginaldstyles3129]

Alfred Is The Greatest Director Of All Times 🙏💙😇

[@plasticweapon]

truly the director of all time.

[@johnchambers2996]

Did they also move that convenient quicksand pit behind the motel? It was amazing how that sucker swallowed-up bodies and cars.

[@danielsweet858]

And Hitch pulling a switch with Vera Miles screaming in the shower! He was the Master.

[@mikevaughn1651]

wait how could it "Psycho" inspire"Peeping Tom" when they came out at the same year? In different countries? also it was released in 1960 not 62...

[@Geese-farting-in-the-wind]

He said Psycho was directly inspired BY Peeping Tom. Not the other way around. 2.05

[@phantomfire8228]

2:02

[@monkeySkeptic]

I remember this trailer playing on the Z Channel. I miss the Z Channel.

[@alexalex13131]

Someone pointed out that Janet Leigh took a pass on this trailer (I suppose she had it with showers) so Hitch recruited his second leading lady, Vera Miles, for the job.

[@boborrahood]

It wasn't because Janet Leigh took a pass on the trailer. Hitch simply used Vera Miles in that last shower shot to mix things up a bit, confuse the public.. He also used three different voices for the mother, and sometimes blended them so it was more of a challenge to detect the voice.

[@madahad9]

I envy anyone who had the opportunity to see Psycho on its initial release. Seeing this trailer must have been an experience in itself,especially how Hitch teases the audience with descriptions of these gruesome murders, and then ending with Janet Leigh's piercing scream. Watching it nowadays it is very slow going. I'm ashamed to admit that I saw the remake with Vince Vaughn horribly miscast as Norman Bates. Morbid curiosity got the better of me in this case. It was dreadful. I bought a dvd copy which has as one of its special features the shower scene without the music (as Hitch initially wanted) and I have to admit that with the music removed it is more shocking,especially when we can hear Marion's dying moans. The music "softens" the intensity of the sequence and I cannot imagine that it would have been approved by the censors without the music accompanying the sequence. I'd like to see the film with the restored scenes that were trimmed for America but was seen in Europe.

[@emilsuda4101]

John Landis asked of how audiences took this trailer in the theatre back then?? I saw it at the Mohawk Theatre in Amsterdam, NY and it was creepy for sure.

[@tskmaster3837]

Psycho. Is it weird that I like its trailer more than the movie? I had an old VHS of Bride of Frankenstein that had this trailer as its opening short. I'd just end up watching the trailer and stopping the tape.

[@madahad9]

My favourite variation of the Norman Bates character played by Anthony Perkins was in the demented Ken Russell film Crimes of Passion. As the crazed street preacher Peter Shaye as he tries to save China Blue he just steals every scene he is in. It gets boring at times but those scenes between him and Kathleen Turner all worth the price of admission.

[@andrewbrendan1579]

In the early 60's just showing a toilet or part of a toilet was unusual. I saw "Psycho" in the early 80's at Whittenberger Auditorium. The screaming was somethin else---and that was from the audience! People were shouting "Run! Run!" and yelling at Vera Miles not to go into the basement. Well, she did go down there and there was a lot more screaming and it wasn't just Vera!

[@ehcmier]

I had an aunt who made a strong point about the forbidden showing of the toilet in Psycho. Interesting it was shown as much as it was in the trailer.

[@RickTBL]

He'd been wanting to be the FIRST to show a toilet for years, and finally made it happen with Psycho. Hitch always maintained a straight face, and was almost always putting you on.

[@flmlvr]

Maybe someone said it already further down in the comments, but Landis or anybody else has said anything about the final shot. The woman screaming in the shower? It's NOT Janet Leigh. Take a closer look - it's Vera Miles. That was another little trick of Hitch's to throw the audience off. The thing is that I don't know anybody who ever saw this trailer BEFORE the movie came out. I sure hope it was used for it's re-releases. I think it's a great trailer - but it DOES give too much away.

[@plasticweapon]

landis don't care.

[@tomsenick2033p]

Robert Bloch doesn't get enough credit for the book this picture was adapted from.

[@DANIELMABUSE]

It made his career.

[@fuckTrump-v7j]

God, this is such an excellent movie. While I'm the first to admit there are things in it that haven't aged particularly well, chiefly that awful exposition dump from that jackoff psychiatrist at the end, it's still a ridiculously solid psychological thriller, elevated immeasurably by incredible tension and atmosphere, world class direction from Hitch and SPECTACULAR performances from Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. And since so many people today seem so oblivious to it, I can't even begin to emphasize how pivotal this movie is in terms of legacy. Audiences today cant seem to grasp how groundbreaking and influential it was. The boundaries that it pushed in terms of violent content allowed in movies is immeasurable. The slasher movie genre as we know it wouldn't even exist if Hitchcock hadn't put his career on the line to make this movie. Think about that, how many films can you name that single handedly changed movies forever? The idea that this black and white, made dirt cheap thriller, adapted from a bottom of the barrel, dime store novel is one of them, is astounding.

[@kengruz669]

I find the end explanatory exposition by the psychiatrist extremely entertaining.

[@fuckTrump-v7j]

@@kengruz669 Yup, for all the wrong reasons.

[@plasticweapon]

@@fuckTrump-v7j we needed the exposition and there was nothing wrong with it. get over yourself.

[@batman.darthmaul]

Landis obviously had very little to bring here. They should've used a different host.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

Did miles wear a wig in the actual film?

[@bandicoot5412]

How come he never got an Os car. he the best.

[@AlexandreDiLolli]

Not a word about Bernard Herrmann?! As good as Psycho was, Herrmann music made that movie (same thing can be said about Vertigo). Without his music these two films would be meaningless.

[@TheSMLIFfilms]

I really enjoy his North by Northwest theme as well

[@AlexandreDiLolli]

+TheSMLIFfilms Hitchcock made 3 masterpieces (Vertigo 1958, North by Northwest 1959, Psycho 1960) and a bunch of GREAT movies (Suspicious, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, To Catch a Thief, Marnie). All os his masterpiece are collaborations with Bernard Herrmann, without his music Vertigo and Psycho as drama piece would collapse and North by Northwest would be very weakened.

[@TheSMLIFfilms]

+Alexandre Di Lolli I agree. I don't think the omission of Herrmans score in North By North West would completely ruin the movie, but the theme really exemplifies the energy and liveliness of the film. One of Hitchcocks best because it's one of his most unique.

[@AlexandreDiLolli]

+TheSMLIFfilms Without Bernie's music North By North West would the least affected of the 3 masterpieces, it would still be an entertaining caper, but it would be more in the great film category like To Catch a Thief than a masterpiece that it is with Herrmann's music.

[@TheSMLIFfilms]

+Alexandre Di Lolli Of course it wouldn't be the same. Herrmans music has as much energy as Cary Grant has charisma. It's actually funny to look at Hitchcocks career spanning from the silent film era to the 1970's, and yet you can really see him hit his stride in the late 50's and 60's, and it's hard to believe he came out with North By Northwest and Psycho within 2 years of eachother.

[@shinola]

NOT inspired by “Peeping Tom.” “Peeping Tom” was released after “Psycho.” It was released in December 1960 in Europe and not released until December 61 in the US. “Psycho” was released in September 1960. It was inspired by “Diabolique.” Landis loves to bullshit with authority.

[@kennytagami4696]

psycho is a good movie

[@xtraflo]

Wow, great insight..

[@danielstanwyck2812]

Now, now. Let's not be...whatever.

[@plasticweapon]

@@xtraflo it's a GOOD movie, not a great one.

[@Alcibiades1999]

​@@plasticweapon Lol, very funny

[@DANIELMABUSE]

Enjoyable, but I have never heard before that Hitchcock was influenced by Peeping Tom. Psycho was released six months later, so its possible, but it does seem a bit of a stretch. The films are not that similar, but perhaps Hitchcock was willing to up the ante on the violence because of Peeping Tom. Perhaps ... but I am skeptical.

[@dkelly26666]

Indeed. Plus, "Psycho" was based on a novel written well before "Peeping Tom" was released. I've only ever heard that the writer of the book, Robert Bloch, drew inspiration from the Ed Gein case.

[@aurahyel4700]

Bernard Herrmann's strings-only music score saved 'Psycho'.

[@plasticweapon]

the psycho/peeping tom thing doesn't make any sense, chronologically or otherwise.

[@spankyharland9845]

base loosely on the Ed Gein murder case back in the late 50's. that was a terrible case.

[@benemlaw6428]

Drank an entire bottle of wine every day at lunch? Must have been an incredibly sad man.

[@ValkyrieZiege]

; 'Peeping Tom' was a better motion-picture.

[@PatrickSilent]

It was great, I really enjoyed it. But I prefer Psycho.

[@brando9508]

I love Hitchcock but I never was a fan of Psycho. Other than the great cutting job for the shower scene so the censors of the day would approve the release I find the movie boring. I'm glad it saved Hitchcock's career but he made soooooooo many better movies for both the screen and TV.

[@ValkyrieZiege]

; The trailer is better then the motion-picture.

[@josephconder9074]

Not.

[@fuckTrump-v7j]

@@ValkyrieZiege I read that stupid book in a film class, what a sack of dime store garbage. Hitch turned a turd into gold when he made this movie.