keith7821

"Psycho III" is a good sequel, but it's loaded with blood and disgusting moments that just make it a regular slasher film from the 80's with no sense of suspense or terror that made the first two films so good. Anthony Perkins again puts on a terrific performance as the nervous, stuttering Norman trying to cover up the murders his "mother" commits.

The plot picks up about one month after "Psycho II" left off. Norman is still "rehabilitated", reopened the motel, and is hiring some help. He meets up with a drifter named Duke (Jeff Fahey) who he hires as an assistant manager and with a young woman known as Maureen Coyle (Diana Scarwid), who bears a striking resemblance to one of his former victims (who we all know of!). A snoopy reporter named Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell) is also around, trying to prove that Norman had something to do with the disappearance of Mrs. Spool, from "Psycho II".

There are so many scenes in this film that remind me of the original "Psycho" that it's not hard to figure out that Perkins was owing tribute to the master of suspense. Examples: reuse of the lines, "we all go a little mad sometimes" and "mother, oh god mother, blood! blood!", scenes of Janet Leigh getting hacked up in the shower, a woman who looks like Marion Crane, whom Norman falls in love with, scene with Norman looking through the peephole, a take on the shower scene but this time in a phone booth, the shouting matches with Mother, a take on the falling down the stairs death, and plenty of other ones I can't think of right now. There is way too much blood in this though, though "Psycho II" had it's share of violent moments, this entry goes overboard with the blood, and senseless killings. The cast is so so. Roberta Maxwell is annoying, Diana Scarwid is ok, and Jeff Fahey was downright nasty and awful. The only cast member who does a terrific job, as usual, is Anthony Perkins. This is followed by "Psycho IV: The Beginning", which was a made-for-tv prequel, but I don't consider it a real part of the series. It wasn't well made and it contradicts a lot of which the previous movies said happened. Just have the first three as a trilogy and you could get the real story of Norman.

"Psycho II" doesn't rehash the plot of "Psycho", but rather expands on it, creating a new plot with a new twist while using the same styles and techniques that Hitchcock used so many years before.

Twenty-two years after the original murders, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is judged sane and is released from the mental institution even though Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), sister of Marion Crane who was murdered in the shower, strongly protests it. He returns home to run the motel and takes in a girlfriend named Mary (Meg Tilly), while his "mother" is contacting him. All of this is too much and he starts going mad again.

There are some genuinely chilling moments in this sequel, with a great musical score by Jerry Goldsmith. Anthony Perkins again plays the "not-so-normal" Norman, who seems to be going off his rocker towards the end! Vera Miles is outrageous as Lila Loomis. She isn't the concerned, kind-hearted young woman we saw in the original, but rather a nut hellbent on revenge for what Norman did to her sister all those years before. She screams and yells and practically gets in the way to have Bates recommitted. Meg Tilly and Dennis Franz co-star and there is also a nice cameo appearance by Janet Leigh in the beginning as we see her getting murdered in the famous shower scene. The ending will practically make your eyes bulge out of your sockets! Nice plot twist! All in all, a worthy sequel to "Psycho". Followed by two more sequels and a TV series.