Question 1

True or false: The film was shot in just 36 days on a tight budget of less than $1 million.

Accepted Answer

False. Psycho was shot in 30 days, not 36, for $806,947—under $1 million.

Question 2

True or false: The famous shower scene uses chocolate syrup, not red dye, to simulate blood.

Accepted Answer

True. Director Alfred Hitchcock used Bosco chocolate syrup for the blood in the shower scene because it photographed better in black and white.

Question 3

True or false: Anthony Perkins based Norman Bates's nervous mannerisms on his own mother.

Accepted Answer

True. Perkins openly stated he drew from his mother’s voice and mannerisms for Norman, a detail widely documented in film histories and interviews.

Question 4

True or false: Hitchcock banned all critics from advance screenings to protect the twist ending.

Accepted Answer

True. He forbade press screenings and even had theater owners sign agreements to prevent audiences from entering after the film started.

Question 5

True or false: Janet Leigh refused to film the shower scene without a body double.

Accepted Answer

False. Leigh did use a double for the nudity, but she performed the stabbing and screaming herself without hesitation.

Question 6

True or false: For the film Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock used a real human skull as the prop for Norman Bates's mother's corpse to save money.

Accepted Answer

True. A real skull was cheaper than a realistic fake at the time, so the prop department bought one from a medical supplier.

Question 7

True or false: Psycho was the first American film to show a toilet flushing on screen.

Accepted Answer

False. A toilet flushes in Psycho, but the first American film to show one was The Magnificent Ambersons (1942).

Question 8

True or false: Vera Miles turned down the lead role because she was pregnant, so Janet Leigh got it.

Accepted Answer

True. Vera Miles was Hitchcock's first choice for Marion Crane, but she became pregnant and declined the role, leading to Janet Leigh being cast instead.

Psycho Trivia Questions