In
1960, director Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho took America, and indeed, the
world, by storm. A carefully structured
horror film that featured scenes of graphic violence and a kicker of a
revelation about the “villain,” Psycho also made famous not only
its motel, but the creepy mansion beside that motel.
The
mansion loomed over the motel, and the road, and could only be approached by a
winding stone staircase. Basically, you
had to “look up” to see the house, a factor in its ominous, fear-inducing
appearance.
Psycho influenced the horror genre in
ways too numerous to count, from the trick of killing off of a film’s “star” early
in the proceedings to the nature of the boogeyman, a psychologically-disturbed
person boasting two personalities.
But
the Psycho
house itself also went on to fame…as a frequent guest-star in cult-TV
programming
The
house appeared frequently on Boris Karloff’s Thriller (1960-1962), a
genre anthology series that in some ways was competition for the popular Alfred
Hitchcock Presents (1955-1963).
The Bates home made numerous appearances on the series, in episodes
including “The Purple Room,”,“Masquerade,”
and “An Attractive Family.”
Later,
the house appeared -- in color this time – in an episode of the western series,
Laredo,
in “Small Chance Ghost.” It also showed up in an episode of the fire/rescue
drama, Emergency!
Rod
Serling’s Night Gallery (1969-1973) also featured an appearance by the
famous house. In “A Question of Fear,” a
character played by Leslie Nielson stands to inherit money if he can spend the
night in the Psycho House, which is reputed to be haunted. Again, the house is seen in color, and this
time, bats are super-imposed for some shots of the exterior.
The
house had an even more substantial role in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
on ABC in 1976. In “The House on Possessed Hill,” Joe Hardy (Shaun Cassidy) encounters a young woman on the run, Stacey
Blain (Melanie Griffith), near the town of Circle Hills. She is being pursued by angry townspeople who
consider her a witch, and responsible, somehow, for an accident that has
injured a child.
Joe
and Stacey take sanctuary in a creepy house on a hill, one that Stacey is
certain is haunted by a creepy old ghost.
“The house…it runs itself,” she says creepily. That house, of course, is the Psycho
house, and this episode’s dialogue even makes a joke about how the house would
make for a perfect setting in an Alfred Hitchcock film.
Before
the eighties were through, the Psycho house re-appeared on series as diverse as
Diff’rent
Strokes and Knight Rider (“Halloween Knight.”)
As
recently as the 2000s, the Psycho House has been a regular player in TV
programming. In 2005, it featured in an episode of the reality/game show Fear
Factor. To this day, it can be seen in the series Bates Motel (2013 –
present).
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