I SAW IT ON TAPE - Psycho

How often do you get to go into a movie without knowing anything about it? I feel like that formula is even tougher to come by nowadays since magazines and television have cross-pollinated into an ever-present handheld device. But it was especially hard for someone like me growing up and being "into movies" and trying to learn as much about the medium while dodging as many spoilers as possible. And yet, somehow, I managed to get out of the way of a decades-old plot twist until it was finally revealed to me on videocassette. 

I was 11 years old when my parents said, "You know what you need to see...?" Obviously it wasn't going to be entirely fresh; no one lives that long without hearing the name "Norman Bates" or seeing isolated clips of The Shower Scene or hearing constant appropriations of the Bernard Herrmann strings. Heck, High Anxiety was a favorite of mine long before I sat down to watch Psycho, but even then the parody wasn't lost on me because everybody knows that scene. But it was exciting for me to finally put it all into its larger (though still very simple) context.

At this point I don't think anyone has a unique take on The Shower Scene, but I can still remember seeing it with virgin eyes, and I can recall my reaction almost physically. It was during those brief final frames of the culprit leaving the bathroom that made me exclaim out loud, "Ohh! It was the mother!" Can you imagine the immense (but restrained) joy and excitement my parents must've felt in that moment when I said that? So rarely do we get to show a new movie to someone and watch them be so genuinely and utterly engrossed, and also deceived! I doubt even Hitchcock was that delighted when he showed it to audiences (though it's hard to picture Hitch "delighted" in general). Needless to say the film's climax was a legitimate surprise to me (though it provided some previously absent validity to Robin's "Norman Bates" joke in Mrs. Doubtfire), and while I've been somewhat explicit in this story, I tried my best to not fully disclose every detail of the movie, because it's never too late to still be surprised by something.

- Paul

Bennett Media's ORGY OF THE FREAKS

SEE! The hideous creature chained to the wall, yet bound by no moral law!

SEE! The slimy worm as long as a locomotive, burrowing beneath your bed!

SEE! Civilization crumble and perish under the death rays of invaders from another world!

SEE! An obedient housewife grow fangs and feast on the blood of her unsuspecting bridge club!

SEE! Bennett Media's ORGY OF THE FREAKS, an absolutely ghoulish season of mad doctors, monsters, mummies, and many more traditional frights from a classic period of Horror! Cobwebs and cats! Vampires and bats! You're sure to shriek with TERROR at this spine-tingling Web Event that only the Social Media Age could produce! So GHASTLY that you may want to keep scrolling, and hope that this algorithm doesn't show up at your front door!

Join us for a cautiously joyous bash to bring us all the way into Halloween...

if you dare...

 

 

NAME THAT MOVIE!

You can probably count this as our last post of the Summer - mostly because the culture has predictably commenced countdown on Halloween. So check back soon, and watch as we fold under the pressure and kick off our Fall theme - it should be a spooky good time.

But first, this business. Making it so that everyone can answer all at once seems to be the way to go. Sean and Dan came up to bat with big swings while ORC and Sara casually caught the foul balls with ease. And then Tony drove in another run with an inside-the-park home run. (Not sure why we've plunged into baseball analogies.) We'll try not to make you wait until after the holiday for the next one - maybe we'll post a scary movie round (even though those usually sink like a stone). If not, guess you'll just be stuck reading meandering paragraphs about blood, breasts, and beasts till November. In the meantime, take what you can, give nothing back. 

EASY

FAIR

DIFFICULT

GROOVE APPROVED