Interview with Robert Galluzzo

Robert Galluzzo is the director/writer/co-producer of the upcoming “The Psycho Legacy” documentary. Robert has been able to take his love for horror movies, specifically “Psycho” and tell the world about it. “The Psycho Legacy” features dozen of new interviews with cast and crew for all of the “Psycho” films as well as critics, fans and horror veterans. The documentary also includes rare photos and footage. The film itself is 90 minutes but the DVD features 3 hours of exclusive bonus features and much more rare footage. Movie Mikes had the chance to talk with Robert about his movie, “The Psycho Legacy” and his passion for film.

Click here to purchase “The Psycho Legacy”

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us why a documentary on “Psycho” series?
Robert Galluzzo: I grew up not only a huge horror fan, but a huge movie fanatic and I just felt the “Psycho” series was the one film franchise that over the last decade fell by the wayside. There had been retrospective documentaries and special edition DVD’s for all the other famous horror franchises, so I just felt that Norman Bates deserved his due and that if I didn’t do it, no one was ever going to. The interesting thing in particular about the “Psycho” sequels is how much amazing talent came out of them. “Psycho II” writer Tom Holland went on to do “Child’s Play” and “FRIGHT NIGHT”. Mick Garris directed “Psycho IV”, went on to create the “Masters of Horror” series and direct several Stephen King adaptations. You’ve got amazing actors like Jeff Fahey who appeared on “Lost”. Dennis Franz, Robert Loggia, Meg Tilly, Diana Scarwid. So many fascinating people came out of “Psycho” movies, so I wanted to dig and get the stories about the making of them, while having modern filmmakers explain why all the films are still influential to them.

Mike Gencarelli: What was the hardest part of making the documentary?
Robert Galluzzo: Every part of making this documentary over the course of the last 3 years has been difficult! Honestly, because it was a self financed, completely independent production, finding the time and people to help me do it was tough, but it was always a passion project from the very beginning; a labor of love, and that’s been contagious for everyone involved since we started this thing. The editing process, while fun has been the toughest part because we have so much footage and there were so many problems and obstacles along the way. The way some interviews were lit, sound issues on others. This is my first doc so it was a lot of trial and error and learning along the way. I credit my editor Jon Maus for sticking with me through the entire process and making it all work. I’m very proud of the final result and can’t wait to share it with fellow “Psycho” fans because I’m one of them too!

Mike Gencarelli: How did you go about getting all the interviews together? Tell us about some of the people you got?
Robert Galluzzo: Well, it was a lot of luck. “Psycho II” director Richard Franklin really set me off on the path and sadly he’s no longer with us. We had communicated via email a few times and he was happy at the prospect of this project because he was very, very proud of “Psycho II”. He put me in touch with the writer Tom Holland. Tom put me in touch with Mick Garris. Mick put me in touch with Katt Shea who acted in “Psycho III” and it all just kind of snowballed from there. A lot of these people saw my genuine enthusiasm and wanted to help. The toughest part has been dealing with agents and managers, whom for some reason really don’t want you to get to their clients unless they get their 10 percent. And as I said, this was a labor of love done out of my own pocket. Literally everyone I’ve gotten for the doc has been great. If you’re a fan of “Psycho III”, you’ll love the interviews with star Diana Scarwid and writer Charles Edward Pogue. If you love “Psycho IV”, we’ve got both Henry Thomas and Olivia Hussey. And if you’re not familiar with the sequels, then hopefully this’ll make you want to see them, because when compared to other horror franchises, all the “Psycho” movies are predominately good!

MG: How did you obtain all the rare photos and footage?
RG: After most of the interviews, I tried to keep in touch with all of the “Psycho” alumni and they all wanted to help. Tom Holland has not only become a great friend but dug out a tremendous amount of personal Polaroid photos that he took from the set of “Psycho II”. I also met a fellow fan named Guy Thorpe through a mutual friend and Guy provided me with some Anthony Perkins footage from his one and only convention appearance in 1988 and it’s just an amazing find. Snippets of it are in the doc itself, but the entire panel which covers Perkins entire career will be unedited as a bonus feature. “The Psycho Legacy” disc will be worth it alone just for the Perkins stuff!

MG: With hours of interviews did you find it hard to trim the documentary down to 90 minutes?
RG: It’s been very difficult because there’s been so many great stories pertaining to the making of the sequels that have never been told, but thankfully we live in the day and age of 2-disc special edition DVD’s, so we’ve cut together a healthy portion of extended interview clips just for the DVD. On top of the 90 minute doc, there’s hours of additional interview footage. “Psycho” fans will be busy the first weekend this disc comes out!

MG: When can fans see and purchase “The Psycho Legacy”?
RG: Shout! Factory will release “The Psycho Legacy” on October 19th, the same day that Universal puts out their Blu-Ray edition of the original “Psycho”. It’ll be a great day for “Psycho” fans. Right now, this is only for a US DVD release, but we’re actively working out details for a release in all parts of the world.

MG: What is next to come for you, any upcoming plans?
RG: I’m in the early stages of putting together a few other similar documentary projects, one is “Zombie: Documentary of the Living Dead” that I’m directing and co-writing with a very talented screenwriter and fellow movie buff Jackson Stewart. We’re going to cover the entire 80 year history of the “zombie” sub-genre in a fun and unique way that hasn’t been done quite like this before. I’m also producing a web-series called “Twisted Tales” that Tom Holland is writing and directing. It grew out of our friendship from “The Psycho Legacy”. We’re about 3 episodes in and we’ve got amazing genre actors like William Forsythe, Danielle Harris and AJ Bowen in the first few. We’re going to do a few more episodes and then debut it exclusively on mobile devices. And I’m also in the very early stages of helping set up a passion project called “South Texas Blues”. It’s from a phenomenal Long Island based filmmaker named Christopher Garetano and it’s a drama based on the events of the making of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. It’s one of the best scripts I’ve ever read and Chris is an amazing talent to look out for, so I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we make that movie! I’m looking forward to tackling all those projects, and also for those who might be familiar with me from my writing on either Icons Of Fright, Fangoria, FearNet or Shock Till You Drop, myself and my Icons co-creator Mike C are planning a complete redesign and relaunch of the Icons Of Fright website later this summer which is going to be awesome. Thank you so much for your time and interest in all of the above and I hope you dig “The Psycho Legacy”. We’re working very hard to make it worthwhile to “Psycho” fans everywhere…

Click here to purchase “The Psycho Legacy”