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Psycho Goes Smallville


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A&E
Shower me with your love


If Hitchcock got you in the mood for more Psycho, and the origin movie that already exists isn’t sufficient, A&E has you covered. It’s bringing out an entire series about young Norman Bates, set in the present day and starring Charlie Bucket, Bat Manuel and…Vera Farmiga, who I can’t jokingly stereotype into any one role (except maybe after this show airs). New video after the jump…


The first thing I can tell from watching this is that no Southerners were involved at the upper levels of production. Because “the story of a sweet boy” means something quite different in Appalachia. (Let’s just say it’s a derogatory slang term that Anthony Perkins would not have appreciated.) The nit-picker in me notes that Norman calls his parental-unit “Mom,” when we all know damn well that he says, “Mother.” And the entirety of the clip suggests a major character dies right off the bat.

This is technically a reboot, so it could go in any direction. But do we want a Smallville-style Psycho? How far can it possibly go, narratively? The movie franchise was seriously pushing it after the first two films (aside from the theoretical blasphemy of sequelizing Hitchcock, part II is not bad), and with a Hannibal Lecter TV series coming , I fear a trend that doesn’t sound like much fun overall.

If Clive Barker ever does Pinhead as a kid, though, I’m soooo watching that.