Join Film Lady for a quiet night at the Bates Motel, where there are twelve cabins, twelve vacancies, and one devoted son who simply adores his mother. From Robert Bloch's pulpy 1959 novel to Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, Film Lady takes a long, hot shower in the story that made the whole world afraid of bathrooms. A boy's best friend is his mother, after all.

Content warning: murder, blood, human remains, mental illness (stigmatizing portrayal), voyeurism, parental abuse, matricide, alcoholism (novel), dated attitudes toward gender identity.

Spoiler warning: detailed discussion and analysis of the book & movie!

Mentioned: Ace of Base – The Sign Lyrics

Cold Open: p. 129 from Robert Bloch’s novel, Psycho

Psycho on Goodreads: Psycho #1 - Robert Bloch

Madwoman in the attic book

What Went Wrong podcast, search an episode on Psycho: What Went Wrong Podcast

Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities by Flora Rheta Schreiber | Goodreads

Associations:

Mother and Son (TV Series 1984–1994) - IMDb

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Les Diaboliques (1955)

The Haunting of Hill House TV show (2018)

Music - Free Music Archive - CC BY License:

• Water Sark - Half Crazy

• Gagmesharkoff - Wild and Crazy Kids

• Damiano Baldoni - I'm CrAZy

• Squire Tuck - Jumping Madly (Going Crazy Too)

Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram.

Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com

All eps & more on website: kinoroyale.net

Don’t forget to vote for November theme - on socials or under the previous ep on Spotify (ep 22)

Question to listeners: Offered $2m, who would you rather spend a night in a motel room: Patrick Bateman, Winnifred Notty or Norman Bates? And why?

Equipment:

JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming

Audacity - recording & editing by FL

Acknowledgement of Country

I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.