Editorials
More Than Norman Bates: The Musical Career of Anthony Perkins
Inscribed on Anthony Perkins’ urn in the Hollywood Hills are the words: “Don’t Fence Me In.”
It’s a poignant choice for someone trapped by the blessing (and curse) of being Norman Bates. His performance in Psycho is ranked at #2 in AFI’s list of greatest villains of all time, behind Hannibal Lecter and ahead of Darth Vader. His celebrated work as a genre actor overshadowed his sophisticated comedic and dramatic roles, including George Cukor’s The Actress, The Matchmaker (alongside Shirley MacLaine), Tall Story (Jane Fonda’s first film) and Fear Strikes Out. He even declined Jack Lemmon’s role in Some Like it Hot and was considered for Lawrence of Arabia.
While the versatility of his filmography often goes underappreciated, there’s another side of his talents that flies even more under the radar: his career as a singer under “Tony Perkins.”
L: With Fred Astaire, his co-star in ‘On the Beach.’ R: Recording in 1957.
Perkins’ voice sparked attention in 1956, when he sang “A Little Love Can Go A Long Long Way” in a TV program, Joey, and “Thee I Love” for the film, Friendly Persuasion. Since Paramount was grooming Perkins’ image as a teen idol (one article knighted him as “The Last of the [James] Deans”), he signed a contract with Epic to record doo-wops like “The Prettiest Girl In School” and “When School Starts Again.” He released a jazz album, the self-titled Tony Perkins, and went on to release two more under RCA (From My Heart…, On A Rainy Afternoon). His biggest hit was “Moonlight Swim,” which reached #24 on the pop charts in 1957.
When record producer Ben Bagley summoned him to act as moral support for Montgomery Clift’s first time cutting vocals, he wound up collaborating with Perkins multiple times, the first being for George Gershwin Revisited with “Changing My Tune” (with Barbara Cook) and “Under A One-Man Top.” In the late 60’s and 70’s they recorded many songs under Bagley’s label, Painted Smiles. Perkins was also fluent in French, which resulted in multiple French-language singles.
Despite a fruitful collection of songs, he harbored insecurities: “My voice is terrible.” In 1960, he confessed:
“I made some records a few years ago of a very low soft singing that I was ultimately, if not immediately, dissatisfied with. I wanted to prove — to myself at any rate — that I could sing better than I sounded on those things you can pick up for $3.49 at the corner store.”
His untrained vocals don’t have the glossy controlled manner à la Sinatra and Martin, and perhaps his disappointment was connected to the inability to compete with the popular baritones of the time. Indeed, at times you hear him uncomfortable with the range, but a sincere tenderness came with the imperfections. In “C’est Choutte, Paris” you can’t help but hear him smiling, and his version of “How About You” is a delightful valley of ups and downs with lyrics like: “I’m mad about good books, can’t get my fill / Sophia Loren’s looks give me a thrill!”
Occasionally his singing blended with acting. He sang the theme song to Audrey Hepburn in Green Mansions, a shortened rendition of “Cuddle Up a Little Closer” in Tall Story, and in Crimes of Passion, sang a manic-style “Get Happy.” He was cast in Broadway musicals such as Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose and Frank Loesser’s Greenwillow. Both were hidden gems, with Primrose receiving a release on DVD in 2010, along with the Greenwillow soundtrack in 1995.
Perkins in ‘Greenwillow’
His sons Osgood “Oz” and Elvis Perkins continue the family name’s legacy through their respective endeavors. Film director Osgood dedicated his second horror film, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House to his father, which included a clip from Friendly Persuasion (for which Anthony was nominated for an Oscar) and his track “You Keep Coming Back Like a Song.” In an interview with RogerEbert.com, Oz explained the movie’s intent:
“I wanted to sort of give that film to my father as a continued exploration of our relationship. Just because someone isn’t alive anymore doesn’t mean your exploration of the relationship you have with that person doesn’t continue.”
The themes of grief and hope continue in the melodies of his younger brother, folk rock musician Elvis. The song “123 Goodbye” begins with “1, 2, 3 goodbye / I loved you more in death than I ever could in life.” His 2007 album’s title, Ash Wednesday, refers to:
“Being left on Wednesday with nothing but ash, because [my mother, Berry Berenson] died on a Tuesday – being left with ash on September 12. That was also the day my father died, September 12. It first occurred to me on Ash Wednesday itself – my consciousness was largely ruled by having lost my mother six months previously.”
As one absorbs the work of the Perkins brothers, it rings true to the old adage of crafting pain into poetry. Their art emerges as cathartic, haunting, and beautiful in its own right.
Today we honor the late Anthony Perkins’ 88th birthday by remembering his contributions to the horror community and his musical catalogue. If you don’t know where to begin, below is a curated playlist.
In 1972 he called his discography “a second rate art.” What we can take from his harsh self-criticism is a bit of inspiration. He didn’t see himself as a talented vocalist, but he didn’t stop just because he thought he wasn’t good enough. Perkins was a true devotee to self-expression — despite his insecurities — and that is worth celebrating.
Photo Credits: Getty Images, Discogs, ABC
Found footage movies rely on immersion and a particular kind of suspension of disbelief in order to scare viewers, so it stands to reason that playing along with the “kayfabe” of it all is necessary for these movies to be effective. However, despite being something of a purist when it comes to in-universe recordings, I’ve come to accept that traditional productions can benefit from the occasional injection of found footage thrills.
For instance, Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation makes genius use of the analog gimmick in order to trap us in the titular rooms alongside our main characters before effortlessly switching back to a more cinematic language. In honor of these dynamic films that manage to combine the best of both worlds, today I’d like to share six other hybrid horror movies that successfully incorporate found footage into their scares!
For the purposes of this list, “hybrid” horror movies are defined as any flick that shifts between diegetic recordings and traditional filming techniques for a significant amount of time (or at least for pivotal scenes).
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own hybrid favorites if you think a particularly freaky one was missed.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. The Last Broadcast (1998)
Internet critics may have overstated the influence that Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler’s The Last Broadcast had on The Blair Witch Project, but the found footage subgenre still owes a huge debt to this underrated piece of avant-garde filmmaking. However, while the movie sets itself up as a documentary about the disappearance of a group of cryptid-hunters attempting to track down the Jersey Devil, things take a darker and much more grounded turn towards the final act.
I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that the jarring shift in perspective actually helps to sell the idea that everything we’ve seen before the finale was an attempt at using filmmaking to manipulate the public perception of a “real” incident.
Not bad for a movie with a $900 budget!
4. Cam (2018)
When you consider just how much the internet affects our daily lives, it’s strange that we don’t see Screenlife elements pop up in more movies these days. For instance, Isa Mazzei & Daniel Goldhaber’s highly underrated Cam only works as a freaky parable about online sex-work because it masterfully balances Madeline Brewer’s intimate moments with highly immersive segments within cyberspace.
While one might argue that the entire film could have been produced as a Screenlife experience, the hybrid approach allows the filmmakers to explore our main character’s life beyond the screens – with the duality of modern human existence actually becoming a recurring theme in the story.
3. Banshee Chapter (2013)
Most of H.P. Lovecraft’s popular stories were told in the epistolary format (where the text is presented as an in-universe compilation of letters or personal notes), so it makes sense that a spiritually faithful adaptation of his work would incorporate elements from the modern-day equivalent to epistolary fiction – found footage!
That’s why Blair Erickson’s Banshee Chapter is such an effective scare-fest, as this hybrid adaptation of From Beyond -retold through a conspiratorial lens as it references MK-Ultra and even secretive numbers stations- immerses viewers in a mind-bending tapestry of Cosmic Horror that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
2. The Deep House (2019)
The underwater setting does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s The Deep House, with the film being especially uncomfortable if you’re already scared of tight spaces and being deprived of oxygen. However, even the universally unsettling elements of the flick only work because the POV often shifts into claustrophobic footage courtesy of our main characters’ GoPro cameras.
Telling the story of a couple of YouTubers who encounter a haunted house at the bottom of an artificial lake while vacationing in France, The Deep House’s first-person exploration sequences contain some of the film’s scariest moments. In fact, I’d argue that the movie didn’t even need ghosts, as becoming trapped in the titular House already sounds like a fate worse than death.
1. Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
My personal favorite instance of filmmakers successfully managing to combine traditional cinematography with POV filmmaking, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, is proof that the two formats can co-exist if the right story comes along.
After all, what better way to conclude a mockumentary all about reality getting increasingly more cinematic than by ditching the found footage gimmick altogether during the finale? Not only does this shift in presentation work on a conceptual level, but it also elevates Behind The Mask into a proper Slasher, which is probably why we’re so excited for that long-overdue sequel!
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