HDC Looks Back...

[Elvis_Christ]

Originally Posted by fortunato

Man, another awesome box. Which version is that?

It's the uncut "Romero" version. Think it was one of the few uncut PAL releases before the DVDs came out.

[_____V_____]

Moving on...

Do you remember your first induction into the world of

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?

3 - How was the viewing experience?

4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?

[hammerfan]

LOL, you're going back too far for me to remember. I know I loved it the first time I saw it. That's about all I remember. :p

[TheWickerFan]

I first saw it as a teenager, but that would have been about 25 years after it was released so there were no surprises. I still enjoyed it a great deal.

My father saw it in the theater (I guess he would have been 19 or 20 at the time), and said he was gripping the arm of the theater seat so hard he got bursitis in his shoulder.

[The Villain]

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?
Honestly i can't remember

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?
I already knew the ending before i watched it.

3 - How was the viewing experience?
Despite knowing everything about it, the feel of the movie and the sudden way the music would play still got me.

4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?
2 or 3

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?
Everyone talks about the shower scene but for me the scariest part is when the guy is looking around in the house and all of a sudden the music plays and Mrs. Bates runs up and kills him.

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

1. It was a looong time ago, VHS obviously.

2. I was really young, so no one would have told me much about it.

3. I don't really remember specifically the first time watching it, but I do remember being freaked out by the ending.

4. A lot, not sure exactly.

5. I got to see the 2009 restoration on the big screen, which was just amazing.

[Straker]

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?
First time I remember watching it was in my late teens/ early twenties, on TV... Its possible I saw it at a much younger age, but I dont have clear memories of it.

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?
I knew about the movie and had a decent understanding of Hitchcock and what he had done, but wouldnt call myself a fan, at that time.

3 - How was the viewing experience?
Loved it... The mid-plot twist is beautiful and its the first time I had seen anything like that happen in a movie. Since then I've always loved movies that try to break the rules and/or play with the audiance in some way.

4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?
Not many, maybe 3.

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?
My favourite scene is where Norman is being quizzed by the detective about Marions whereabouts. Quality piece of acting from Anthony Perkins.

[Zero]

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?

Film class as an undergrad. Definitely VHS but in an auditorium classroom.

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?
We'd been told it was "the most influential american film of all time" and of course I'd heard of the shower scene and knew the ending.


3 - How was the viewing experience?
Awesome. We were riveted. And that wasn't the case for most of the 'really important' older films (I remember someone in front of me snoring loudly through citizen kane. But Psycho had everyone on the edge of their seat because other than the shower scene and the end none of us knew what else was going to happen.


4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?
at least 100

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?
Not really. I've introduced some of my friends to it and find that if they watch through the first 10 minutes or so they get hooked. but if they keep getting up for beer or whatever during the first part then I know it just isn't going to gel with them

[ZombieDrone]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Moving on...

Do you remember your first induction into the world of

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?

3 - How was the viewing experience?

4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?

1 - Do you remember when you first watched it? Theater, VHS, DVD?
Okay...well I got it on DVD when I was about 17 and hadn't seen it before. What I'd expected was basically a horror film from the start and what turned out to be at first a pretty mediocre and colour-by-number thriller (by Hitchcock standards) and never actually made it to Norman and all that. (I was a lot less patient with my films back then). I knew stuff was in there, just couldn't be bothered to wait and was completely thrown off by the different tact the film took at the begining.

I now realise that Hitchcock intended the opposite since he was considered a director of thrillers rather than horror and he wanted people to be shocked when he killed off the "star" some fourty minutes into the film.


I saw the whole thing start-to-finish just a little over a year ago. I was studying music at university and one of the classes was Music In Film where we studied some of the works of Bernard Hermann. There's a facility at the university called The Void which is a lecture hall/screening room (imagine an average screening room for an inependent cinema with fold-out desks) and one of the films we watched was Psycho and I liked it when it was pulled together. Anthony Perkins (especially in the film's epilogue) provides one of my all-time favourite acting performances.

2 - Did you get any feedback (from friends or media) prior to watching it?
Well everyone knows the shower scene and I knew about things like Norman Bates and the Ed Gein connection, but it was sort of like loose pieces from a jogsaw puzzle if you see what I mean. I just didn't quite know how they were put together.


3 - How was the viewing experience?
I mentioned above. Boring when I tried to watch it the first few times (tbh, I'm still not that thrilled about it now) but it's all worth it once Anthony Perkins turns up. Controversially though, I still prefer The Birds which I consider Hitchcock's only "true" horror film (Psycho and his often overlooked penultimate film Frenzy both have elements of horror but I sort of still consider them both thillers...although the line is blurred with Psycho.)

4 - How many times have you rewatched it since?
I've seen the whole thing 3 times.

5 - Any memories associated with it, that you wish to share?
I think I've said all I needed to.

[Fearonsarms]

Originally Posted by hammerfan

LOL, you're going back too far for me to remember. I know I loved it the first time I saw it. That's about all I remember. :p

Same here no idea how young I was but I must have been very young. I only have a vague memory of talking about it in the school playground the next day.