January 12, 2016

As die-hard horror fans, we’re always searching for every little detail we can find regarding all of our favorite franchises. It’s part of the reason fan-made documentaries paying tribute to specific movie series have been so popular this last decade.

Everything from HALLOWEEN: 25 YEARS OF TERROR to NEVER SLEEP AGAIN to CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES and beyond! I myself set upon this overwhelming task when it came to the PSYCHO franchise by putting together a comprehensive doc titled THE PSYCHO LEGACY to honor the 4 films with Anthony Perkins at the forefront as the “Hamlet of Horror,” Norman Bates.

Not all of the tid-bits uncovered could be squeezed into the doc’s 90 minute running time and hence, a lot of stuff ended up being included as deleted or extended scenes on the second disc of the package. One of the most interesting perspectives about the original film and Perkins himself came from “Master Of Horror” director Stuart Gordon, whom we of course all know and love for his films RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, THE PIT & THE PENDULUM, FORTRESS, ROBOT JOX and many, many more. But did you know he once flirted with the idea of adding a PSYCHO sequel to his directing filmography?

Back in 1990, Gordon was directing a TV movie titled DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS starring Mia Sara (LEGEND, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF) as well as Anthony Perkins in the lead. As a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, as well as the famed actor, Gordon was admittedly nervous about working with Perkins, the star of one of his all-time favorite movies, PSYCHO, but the pair became fast friends. “We hit it off immediately and we really got to be friends,” Gordon explained in the deleted clip. “He was a big fan of RE-ANIMATOR. All we did was talk about horror movies the whole time. And I got a chance to talk to him a lot about PSYCHO because I was such a big fan.”

One of the most interesting conversations to stem from this friendship came later in the production of DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS when Perkins brought up what would be his next project, something he very much wanted Stuart to be a part of. “When I was working with Tony, I think he was about to get started on PSYCHO IV,” explains Gordon. “And he asked me about it, if I’d be interested in directing it. He let me read the script, which was actually written by Joseph Stefano. (Who penned the original for Hitchcock) It was a fascinating script, but I ended up saying no, because how do you follow Hitchcock? It’s impossible. I felt when Tony was directing himself, he had been touched by the master. I felt there was too much distance for me to do it.”

PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING did end up getting made as a Showtime original production under the helm of Mick Garris, who would go on to create the series, MASTERS OF HORROR, and direct several Stephen King adaptations. The prequel story once again starred Anthony Perkins with Henry Thomas taking on the role of young Norman Bates and Olivia Hussey portraying “Mother.” It’s a story that modern audiences are seeing unfold every week now on A & E’s hit series BATES MOTEL.

Despite never working with Perkins again after that one film, Gordon has nothing but tremendously fond memories of his relationship with the actor. “He had a wonderful sense of humor. And when we were working on DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS, I played him the Talking Heads song “Psycho Killer” and I said “I think this song was written about you!” And he had never heard it before. And absolutely loved it. One day on set, remember, this was a tv movie and the schedule was really short, I had several more set-ups and the producer was saying “You know, we’re closing this down at Midnight, no matter where you are. It’s stopping.” And Tony could sense that I was really nervous. And he asked me about it and I explained it to him and he said, “Here’s what you do. When Midnight rolls around, you just keep singing Psycho Killer. And you don’t stop singing and you don’t stop working and let’s see what happens.” And so, Midnight rolls around and I’m singing Psycho Killer and the producers come over and say, “Ok we’re shutting it down. Everyone go home.” And I say “Ok and the camera goes over here and we’re starting this next set-up.” And I continued singing and I look over at Tony and he’s just sort of nodding along to the music. And the whole crew continues working. The producers are yelling “You’re done! You’re done!” And they just kept on working, we got all the shots. We finished them all thanks to Tony and Psycho Killer.”

If you’d like to hear more stories like the ones above, be sure to check out the 2 disc DVD set THE PSYCHO LEGACY from Shout Factory available on Amazon! In honor of the wonderful story above, we shall leave you with The Talking Heads single “Psycho Killer!”