Psycho IV: The Beginning

After an onslaught of mass murder in PSYCHO III, Norman Bates is back....in a nice suburban home, with a lovely wife, and a new problem. He has to kill again.

Norman Bates, once again played excellently by the late, great and highly-talented Anthony Perkins, calls in to a radio talk-back show, where the topic of the night is matricide. Norman relives his past, and through these flashbacks we finally meet "Mother" -- played wonderfully by Olivia Hussey (man, she is SCARY!).

This film is a delightful surprise....there's not much bad to say about it. Henry Thomas captures "young Norman Bates" nicely, though I remember Norman Bates as being a bit more polite and friendly than portrayed here....but he still pulls off a good job as a mentally-abused and opressed psychopath in the makings.

Be aware, that this is not appropriate for anyone under the age of 15. No, it isn't "shocking," but there are strong incestual undertones. They are necassary, however, because they give more valid reasons for Norman's descent into sick obsession, rather than "He had a domineering mother," which we've all known for years.

PSYCHO IV has alot of character as a film, and is hard to forget. Perhaps the best sequel of the three.

Highly Recommended.

Psycho IV: The Beginning was an enjoyable movie in my opinion. I really loved the character Fran Ambrose and CCH Pounder's performance. This film is quite disturbing at times, but I think it's a nice touch. I just don't understand why this film was made only for cable. It was decent, and far above average for a made for TV/straight to video film. As with all sequels, this film does seem to have some plot holes and continuity errors, but it is, in general a decent sequel to Hitchcock's masterpiece. I think that Psycho II was the best sequel in the series, but I like Psycho III and IV the same. They are all great films. Also this film is nowhere near as violent or bloody as Psycho III.

A great TV movie. With a few minor changes, you wouldn't know that this was made for TV!!

Highly recommended!

My father first rented this film in the summer of 1991. I was about ten years old when I watched it. I didn't understand most of it, but I liked it. I just re-watched it within the last few months as result of a sparked interest in both the movies and the books.

I liked how this film dove into Norman Bates's troubled past (that of course is an understatement). That was probably the best aspect of the film, not much else. I liked how Anthony Perkins once again reprised his signature role as Norman Bates after suffering that horrid humiliation from Psycho III. Olivia Hussey was wicked in this movie as Norman's mother. She must have taken lessons from Faye Dunaway in her role as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. The way she yelled at him and stripped poor Norman of his manhood was just awful. But yet, she managed to stay human in certain scenes of the movie and not be such a demon. Henry Thomas did somewhat a good job playing Norman Bates as a teenager, but his performance lacked the geeky, child-like charm that Anthony Perkins had in the original film.

As for the rest of the actors, well, most of them aren't worth mentioning. Except for Thomas Schuster, who played Chet Rudolph, Norma Bates's midnight cowboy. His character was very cocky and rude, the kind of guy you love to hate. The kind of man mom would bring home and expect you to call dad, which in Norman's case was true. But that never came to pass, if you know the story line.

Director Mick Garris is no Alfred Hitchcock. He is no Richard Franklin either. But he does manage to deliver a good addition to the Psycho series. Not as good as Psycho or Psycho II, but good enough.

PSYCHO IV has a now-married (!) Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) calling in to a radio program, and telling the increasingly concerned host (CCH Pounder) about his tragically twisted early life with his mother (Olivia Hussey). Her behavior helps us to understand how / why her son turned out the way he did. Henry Thomas plays young Norman as a tormented ball of sexual confusion.

P4 is an informative, sometimes shocking backstory, as well as a satisfying conclusion to the saga. It also offers a rather expected opportunity for Norman to be up to his old tricks once more...

Inspired by a local call-in radio show topic, the psychotic killer calls in and begins recalling his time as a youth, and as he goes through his life story and all of the mental torture inflicted on him he's able to uncover the horrible secrets that puts everyone around him in danger.

As the concluding chapter to one of the greater series around, it really could've been great. The main aspect that works here is the fact that the film gives away its plotline through flashbacks, but it does it while not being utterly confusing. That is a major feat in itself, since this is able to clearly keep the flashbacks and the modern time in a rather easy manner, a technique which rarely works since that mostly leaves the film a big, huge mess. The backstage antics both at the radio-station once they figure out the their caller and trying to keep him under control and the different stories that are told over the course of the interview, ranging from the first set of killings in the motel to the way the actual incidents he always described which give this some really fun moments that have always been apart of the franchises' legacy from the start, helped along nicely by the glorious psychological ranting that's included along the way. The other rather enjoyable aspect here is the final part of the film is a very creepy and suspenseful part, and it really hits the right mark on just about every angle being filled with chases, the strategic hiding places, and the Gothic-style thunder and lightning striking all throughout to make it a very creepy scene and end it on a high note. These are it's best moments as it's a rather flawed film, and it shows at times. The one biggest flaw is that it doesn't gel with the rest of the series all that much. These are big spoilers but the film mostly just makes up several events and ideas and places them together with new ideas and elements, which not always gel at all with most of what's been said about the series and the past. It might be a problem for the most hardcore fans as it's such a rapid departure, but there is a pretty noticeable shift that does occur. The other is that the first half of the film is really slow, as it concentrates on the life of Norman and his mother. It doesn't invoke any scares at all and mainly just seems to be there only for the building up of the story and not on making scares, which is rather crucial here. None of these issues make for all that creepy a series of scenes and it just causes the film to drag on with its simple one-note setup. Other than these two problems, it's not that bad a film.

Rated R: Violence, Language and Nudity.