Psycho (1960)

2 suggested corrections

★★★★★

Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin

Plot hole: When the cop comes back after making the phone call, he's just missed Norman. He heads over to the office and calls out for Bates. He's in there around 45 seconds. Then he leaves and heads towards the big house. How can Norman be at the house ready to kill him in his mothers clothes, when he had no idea the cop was back and he would not have had time to get there from where he was, right at the far end of the cabins?

Jimmy Gletherow

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Suggested correction: Because Norman heard/saw him coming up the road. Norman hesitates before he goes into a cabin or behind one, it's not clear which. He has seen Arbogast's car before and recognizes it. He goes the back way between the two buildings of cabins (just like Vera miles does later when she goes to the house) and up to the house to put the dress/wig on and be ready for Arbogast when he gets to the top of the stairs.

Continuity mistake: When Arbogast reaches the top of the stairs, Mother Bates stabs him in the chest; but when the camera angle changes, the wound is on his face.

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Suggested correction: That's blood splatter, not the wound.

More for Psycho

Mistakes

Revealing mistake: After Marion has been murdered there is a close-up of her face. If you look down to her neck you can see her pulse.

More mistakes in Psycho

Quotes

Norman Bates: She might have fooled me, but she didn't fool my mother.

More quotes from Psycho

Trivia

Trivia: Although it lasts for only 45 seconds on screen, the stabbing scene in the shower took seven days to shoot and used 70 different camera angles.

More trivia for Psycho

Questions

Question: Am I right in thinking that the absence of Norman Bates' mother in his life left himself to replace her, by dressing as her, talking like her and so on? Because the film says that sometime he was half Norman half Normans mother and sometimes all Normans mother. If this is true then who checked Marion Crane into the motel. Later in the film when Norman is in the police cell after questioning his mothers voice says Norman blamed her, so I am confused could anybody clear this up? If possible could somebody give me a full explanation.

Answer: Norman and his mother lived together in the house on the hill above the motel. Norman's mother was such a demanding, controlling, overbearing woman that Norman was eventually driven to kill her. The enourmous guilt of this action, combined with the strain he was already under from her treatment of him, caused him to develop a sort of modified split personality: in addition to the existing Norman, he constantly heard his mother's voice in his mind and even had conversations with it. As time passed, the "Mother" voice in his brain began to have some occasional control over his body. Thus, sometimes Norman was in control, sometimes his mother was in control, and sometimes they could "speak" back and forth within his mind. Norman checked Marion into the hotel, but the sexual attraction caused by her presence made his disapproving Mother personality manifest and kill Marion. Having dealt with the situation, Mother retreated and Norman cleaned up, not remembering. At the end of the film, Mother blames Norman for the crimes because she is once again controlling his life and not wanting to take the blame herself. At the same time, this represents Mother forcing Norman down to some corner of his consciousness or even destroying it altogether, meaning that it is unlikely that Norman will ever manifest control again. This is why we hear Mother's voiceover and not Norman's at the end.

Phoenix

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