I remember seeing the Alfred Hitchcock guided tour of the Bates Motel at a drive-in when I was a wee lad. I had to be, what, five? That left an impression on me.
I remember waiting for the CBS television premiere of PSYCHO, only to have to wait even longer, as they kept putting it off.
Our local CBS affiliate showed PSYCHO at 11:30pm.
I stayed up alone to watch it.
It promptly became one of my favorite movies, enough so that any time it was playing at a rep house I would drag (usually unsuspecting) friends to see it on the big screen with me.
In the mid-1990s, I was living with a friend who had never seen PSYCHO, or any other Hitchcock film. He tried to watch the videotape with me, but, long before the shower scene he was a nervous wreck. The build-up to the appearance of The Bates Motel, and especially the large-head close-ups of the highway patrolman, the rain and the theft was keeping him on the edge of his seat.
His reaction to the shower scene was priceless; I'm sure it was akin to how original audiences reacted. He was stunned and upset. He refused to believe that Janet Leigh's character had been so mercilessly been taken out of the picture.
Watching PSYCHO with him was one of the best PSYCHO experiences I have ever had.
BUT, nothing compares to seeing PSYCHO on a big screen, with a full audience.
