Entertainment

'Scream Queens' Pays Homage To 'Psycho'

by Caitlin Flynn

In a season with abundant references to horror movies, we've all been eagerly waiting for the Scream Queens reenactment of the Psycho shower scene, and it didn't disappoint. In the Nov. 10 episode "Mommie Dearest," both Red Devils attempted to attack Dean Munsch in the shower. But don't worry, Wallace University's fearless leader escaped unharmed because, as she told them, she's "seen that movie 50 times." Plus, seeing the Red Devil horns through the shower curtain was a major giveaway — and a hilarious one. Munsch commented that it was a little unfair for it to be two against one, but then it turned into three against one when another attacker showed up — and this one was wearing Antonin Scalia mask. (We later learned it was Gigi and she purchased the mask because it was in a sale bin.)

Norman Bates murdering Marion Crane in the shower is arguably one of the most iconic film scenes of all time, and it was groundbreaking when the Hitchcock film was released in 1960. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Jamie Lee Curtis has been asked to reenact this scene before — after all, Marion Crane was played by her mother Janet Leigh, and Curtis is no stranger to the horror genre. She's declined in the past, but Curtis felt this was the right time and she wanted to make sure the scene was done just right. Creator Brad Falchuk described her response to EW:

So then I wrote it and then got a text from her very quickly after she read the script. Her text was, ‘We need to do this shot-for-shot.’ Then, typical Jamie Lee, she started sending me all the websites and Tumblrs that have each shot laid out and storyboarded.

In case you haven't scene Psycho in a while, here's the original scene:

Needless to say, Munsch fared much better than the ill-fated Marion Crane. She barely broke a sweat as she fought the Red Devils, and she even confronted the Scalia character about his stances on gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act in between blows. (Say what you want about the Dean, but she can really handle herself well during a crisis.)

The resemblance is pretty uncanny:

Curtis' instinct that Scream Queens was the right place for her to reenact the scene was definitely correct, because it was both perfect for horror buffs and hilarious. The next time the Red Devils target Dean Munsch, they should keep in mind that she's probably watched many horror movies more than once — and she can easily take on two devils and a Supreme Court Justice.

Image: Patti Perret/FOX