Shamley
Entertainment
Script Coverage
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Title: Psycho
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Setting: Heavily
wooded Island in Pacific Northwest
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Author: Joseph
Stefano (SP) Robert Block (novel)
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Period: Current
at the time (1960)
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Producer: Alfred
Hitchcock
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Elements
Attatched
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Submitted By:
Zachary James
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Submitted To:
Zachary James
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Read (watched)
By: Zachary James
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Genre: Horror,
Suspense
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Coverage Date: 3/13/14
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Submission Date:
3/13/14
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Excellent
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Very
Good
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Good
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So-So
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Not Good
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Plot
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X
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Characters
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X
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Dialogue
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X
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Structure
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X
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Commercial Appeal
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X
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Recommend: X
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Consider:
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Pass:
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Log Line: A young woman on the run for a
crime disappears after staying at the Bates Motel and her family starts an
investigation to find her.
Summary: A young woman named Marion Crane
in Phoenix, Arizona is on her lunch break from work. She’s talking with her
boyfriend Sam about marriage and her inability to afford it. She returns to her
job where a drunken client offers her boss 40,000 cash for a house. Marion is
entrusted with taking it to the bank. She steals it instead and leaves town.
On Marion’s drive she pulls over and
falls asleep. A police officer awakens her the next morning and can sense
something is wrong but lets her go. She switches out her car for another in a
nearby town. That night as Crane drives a big storm rolls in and she is forced
to pull into the Bates Motel. She meets the young but nervous Norman Bates, who
explains the hotel doesn’t get much business anymore after the highway route
was diverted. He gets her a room and invites her to dinner at the parlor.
During the meal Norman explains that his mother who built the place is
mentally-ill. Marion suggests she should be put in an institution of some kind
and Norman dislikes this idea very much. After the talk, Marion decides she
should return to Phoenix and make right what she’s done.
After Marion and Norman separate,
Marion goes to shower. Norman watches her through a peep-hole from the parlor,
and then runs up to the house behind the motel. As Marion showers, a shadowy
figure that has the look of a woman runs in and brutally stabs her to death.
Moments later Norman enters and discovers her body. He wraps her in the shower
curtain and dumps her car and the body in the swamps.
Back in Phoenix, Marion’s sister
Lila and her boyfriend Sam are worried about Marion’s recent disappearance. A
detective named Arbogast informs them she has stolen 40,000 dollars from her
boss and probably split town, but that he also intends to find her. He eventually
finds the Bates Motel. Upon questioning Norman, he becomes suspicious of
Norman’s extremely nervous behavior. Arbogast eventually gets him to admit he
saw Marion. Amongst his stammers Norman says that Marion met his mother and
when the detective asks to see her Norman becomes irate. He asks him to leave.
Arbogast drives to a telephone to
inform Sam and Lila that he has suspicions about the Bates Motel, but was
unable to obtain all the evidence because he couldn’t talk to Norman’s mother.
He tells the two he will be back soon. Arbogast returns to the motel and when
he cannot find Norman he wanders up to the house. He enters and goes upstairs.
When he reaches the top stair a woman runs out of a room and slashes his face.
Arbogast falls dramatically down to the bottom, and then the woman stabs him to
death.
Lila and Sam become increasingly
worried that Arbogast has not returned. They consult the local sheriff and tell
him what Arbogast has told them. He is confused because Norman’s mother died
years ago in a murder-suicide. We return to Norman who is heard of screen
talking to his mother, telling her she needs to go to the basement to stay
safe. He is seen carrying a woman down the stairs.
After their consultation with the
sheriff raises more questions, Lila and Sam go to the Bates Motel themselves.
They rent a room and begin to investigate. Lila finds a scrap of paper in the
toilet and deciphers 40,000 written on it. Sam also notices the lack of shower
curtains. The two formulate a plan to have Sam distract Norman and for Lila to
search the house. She can’t find Mrs. Bates, and Sam can only distract Norman
for so long. He figures out what is going on and hits Sam, knocking him out.
Lila sees Norman approaching and hides in the basement. She sees Mrs. Bates in
a rocking chair, only to discover she is a decrepit dead body. Norman runs in
with a large knife, dressed in a woman’s clothing. He almost kills Lila until
Sam enters and saves her.
Norman is arrested and back at the
police station a psychiatrist interviews Norman. He explains that Norman’s
childhood was ruled over by his mother, who had a very dominant personality.
When she found love in another man, he lost it and killed them both but
preserves his mother’s body. He developed a split personality thinking he was
he mother some of the time and Norman for others, and sometimes he was both.
After the events of the tonight, Norman has become locked into his mother’s
personality forever. The camera goes to Norman, who hears his mother’s voice in
his head explaining how she is innocent and he did all the crimes. As the
credits roll, Marion’s car is recovered from the swamp.
Comments:
By today’s standards, Psycho is a
very unique movie. Its storyline follows several different characters and it’s
almost as if there is no main character. Marion has lots of back story, but
gets killed quickly. While the story revolves around finding Marion, other
characters get the spotlight. Norman is obviously very important and bits of
his story are revealed as the story goes, as one would expect. But then, just
when the audience thinks Arbogast is the hero, he is also killed. It eventually
falls on Sam, who we met very briefly in the beginning and Lila, someone who we
know very little about. While this kind of lack of backstory might be
criticized today, I think its genius. It keeps the audience guessing. This also
distracts the viewer from guessing who the real murderer is.
Other than its unique character
entrance and use, the plot of Psycho is fantastic. It moves very well to each new character and
keeps you guessing right up until the very end. The way Mrs. Bates is shown, or
not shown is very genius. The audience can hear her voice and see her once so
it rules out the option she is actually dead. In today’s modern film industry
the horror movie plot of someone having multiple personalities and not knowing
they were a killer is a common tactic, but in 1960 that plot twist I’m sure it
worked well. In the end I see why this movie has such an influence on modern
horror.
The overall acting was not the best
I’ve seen, however for its time I would call it superb. Marion shows her
conflicted feelings about stealing the money very well, through her often
nervous behavior. Also, who could forget her classic scream when she is stabbed
in the shower? Norman is perhaps my favorite of the actors. He is always
nervous, but in the tense scene with Arbogast, one really has to appreciate the
way he stumbles and stammers around. It’s a really accurate representation of
what some people do when they are caught in a lie. Arbogast plays a good
detective, kind of the stereotypical manly man but he fills the spot well. Sam
and Lila both do a fine job, but nothing spectacular. This acting is also
attributed to a well written script with realistic reactions and lines.
My highly trained film eye did catch
a few sloppy edits, however considering this movie is from 1960 and I’m sure
Final Cut wasn’t accessible without computers.
Even though this movie was made 24
years before I was born, I have a real appreciation for its impact and would
recommend it to any fan of the horror genre, or even a fan of well written
movies. If this were a script, I would recommend it be made into a movie
immediately.
