Norman's Fine, But His Mother's Off Her Rocker (Psycho II (DVD))

Member Name: spencer_hawken

Product:	Psycho II (DVD)
Date:	15/09/08 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An interesting spin on a "classic"

Disadvantages: One dimensional characters

It's not very often that a movie sequel succeeds; it's even rarer that a movie sequel succeeds when there have been several years between them. Realistically movies with more than five years gap between the predecessor and it are usually destined to fail, but imagine a movie that has a sequel crop up so many years later, that to some the original is a forgotten product. While many hail Psycho as a true classic, it's very much a case of true fact that its high acclaim is owed to its sequels, without these the power of Psycho would be lost. Psycho II is a true classic movie, for not only is it a true success story in the occasional world of sequels, it's one of the only movies to have such a long gap between chapters, in this case 23 years. It was only after the release of Psycho II, that the original reached the eyes of a new generation.

For those of you deprived of seeing the original Psycho, the story follows Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) a naive and sheltered young man by cowering in fear from his possessive mother. But this was far from a normal mother and son relationship, especially when his mother has been dead for some time. After years of abuse and bullying, Norman had become mentally ill and at the end of the original movie Norman was sent to an asylum having been found guilty (my means of insanity) of murdering seven people.

It's now 1983, and after 22 years in prison (although 23 years between movies) Dr Bill Raymond (Robert Loggia) has proposed that Norman be released having served good time for his crimes. Lila Loomis (Vera Miles reprising her role from the original) sees things a little differently, her sister Marion was murdered by Norman, and she thinks the idea of releasing Norman is terrible. Norman has learned from his crimes, and so desperately wants to get on with his life managing the motel he used to run with his mother; but nobody is keen to allow this none more so than Lila. Luckily for Norman, he strikes up a friendship with Mary but is this all it appears to be on the surface. After an argument with his motel manager, and a savage murder in the basement it seems Norman's mother is coming back, but is all as it seems?

Psycho II takes a very clear nod from the 1964 Joan Crawford movie Straight Jacket, but allowing its similar story the decency of a fair conclusion and without the addition of Crawford's abysmal acting. But there is a magic far beyond Psycho's thriller exterior, here you have Norman Bates bought to life deliciously by Anthony Perkins, and as the movie begins you know full well that this man is a serial killer, yet with this in mind you love him. Norman Bates is not the sort of killer you want to see get his comeuppance, if he is even really a killer at all. In the original Psycho movie Norman was a young man, now in his 40's he has shaken off none of the things that a young man would, being effectively deprived of his formative adult years, he still behaves like a teenager. It takes a certain sort of actor to pull off a task like this, and Perkins is one of the few men in movie history to do this well. This young man trapped in an older man's body is not just a movie villain; he is one of the first movie heroes in history to be bad.

Psycho II keeps a relatively low body count to keep it on a par with the original, yet it does try to keep the bloodthirsty audiences of the 1980's happy by delivering some pretty good special effects when it comes to murder. One of the movies victims has their face slashed, while another gets a knife straight through the head. Sadly these effects have weakened with age, and while not being funny as such, they do seem rather corny by modern standards.

Oscar winning composer Jerry Goldsmith delivered a solid sounding score for the movie, hauntingly beautiful this unusual hybrid of music captured the power of love, with a very (at the time) modern horror. Few scores have the power to portray the beauty of love and the terror of horror in the same piece.

The story flows along quite nicely, moving from one predicament to another for Norman, who rather innocently looks on as the world around him, a fresh new one seems to fall apart. The movie really allows you to see into the soul of Norman. Sadly if the movie has weakness then it's the fact that while Norman becomes three dimensional, all the other characters stay very much one dimensional, even second lead Meg Tilly seems rather vague in the role of Mary. The usually reliable Robert Loggia is kept in the shadows, while Dennis Franz as Warren Toomey is just not given any chance to either love him or hate him. Finally the pivotal role of the movie Mrs. Spool (Claudia Bryar) is so overlooked when her moment comes its soon lost.

Even with the last paragraphs statement taken into account I personally believe Psycho II to be far superior to the original movie, I feel that Hitchcock's work as a whole is quite overrated and as I said in my opening paragraph, I do believe looking at sales figures that Psycho's popularity was really down to the fact that a sequel introduced a new audience to the character. After Psycho II audiences were literally clambering for more from Norman Bates, three years later Norman Bates returned, and then at the end of the 1980's work began on Psycho IV, a movie made for television that follows Perkins as he reflects back on the early life of Norman Bates. People had not had enough of Norman Bates, but the character never appeared again, and any plans for Perkins to reprise his role came a sudden end when in 1992 the actor died of AIDS, rather surprisingly it had been an open secret that the actor despite being married to Berry Berenson since the early 70's was very active in the gay community. Berenson, sadly lived her adult life without true love, and died herself when on September the 11th 2001 her American Airlines plane crashed into the World Trade Centre as part of a massive terrorist attack.

Psycho II is available as part of a 3 or 4 movie box set, or individually for around £5, sadly in no format are there any special features to accompany this excellent movie.


Spencer Hawken 09/08

Summary: After 22 years in an asylum, Norman Bates returns home