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The eighties were indisputably the decade of sequelization, especially where horror/slasher films were concerned. Jason, Michael, Freddy, The Tall Man, Ash, Leatherface, Angela Baker et al graced our screens time and time again in numerous follow-up's which not only realized the marketability of horror franchises but also marked the return of the cinematic "serial" experience.
How interesting that among these new villains and heroes would come the return of a much-studied character in a twenty-plus-years-later sequel to a revered horror classic which had been directed by Alfred Hitchcock, widely deemed the "master of suspense." Richard Franklin's 1983 feature Psycho II had some enormous shoes to fill. And did he fill them here?
To say "yes" would be the equivalent of movie blasphemy. The groundbreaking nature of Hitchcock's 1959 Psycho marks it as an innovator of form, not an exploiter of the same. Franklin surely had no illusions going into the project that he would match Hitchcock's original, and that's exactly the point with this sort of sequel: It neither tries nor wants to be a superior film, just a competent one. And for that reason, to call Psycho II a bad film would be to ignore the admirable talent that went into the writing and performances in this high-class eighties horror shocker.
Although Robert Bloch, who had written the novel upon which Hitchcock's original film was based, had previously penned a Psycho II novel of his own, Franklin ignored his storyline of a Norman Bates copycat who plagued the set of a film based upon Bates' crimes. Instead, he opted for Tom Holland's eerie screenplay of a rehabilitated Norman Bates being released from the asylum and allowed to return home. Snagging Anthony Perkins to reprise the role was a good thing for both the film and Perkins' career; it kept dramatic continuity and opened the franchisability doors for Perkins himself when the next two sequels eventually loomed large. Landing Vera Miles to reprise her role (as Lila Loomis, the inquisitive sister of Janet Leigh's shower-murder character from the original) makes it even better. Lila hotly protests Norman's release, and she's ready to go to bat to get him re-committed.
Norman's case-worker, Dr. Raymond (Robert Loggia), helps him settle back into the Bates house, which still rests behind the ever-popular Bates Motel. Now essentially a stop-for-a-quick-lay dump, the motel is managed by sleazebag Warren Toomy (Dennis Franz), who had been appointed by the State to look after Norman's affairs--and whom Norman promptly fires upon first meeting this dirtball. This doesn't go over well with Toomy.
Meanwhile, Norman has been offered a part-time job as a short-order cook at a local diner, where he meets Mary (Meg Tilly), a waitress with boyfriend problems and who currently needs a place to stay. Ever the good-samaritan (and perhaps taking a shine to the lovely lass), Norman invites Mary to stay as a guest in his home--"FOC....Free Of Charge, of course!"
From this point, things go awry. Norman receives strange phone calls. Ominous notes are left for him on the food-order wheel at the diner. The alcoholic Toomy, incensed at having been fired, harrasses him at work during his shift, then again at the Bates property in the dead of night. And Mary is acting awfully peculiar, keeping her door barred and a pistol near her bed. Just what is going on here? Could Norman's mother, the legendary Mrs. Bates, actually be alive?
Something murderous is certainly going on, as a crop of vicious butcher-knife murders crop up in the ensuing days. Toomy is dispatched by an unseen assailant. A pair of dope-smoking teens are attacked while fooling around in the Bates house fruit cellar, and one escapes, while her high-tokin' boyfriend gets butcher-knifed to death. Another character plots a devious ploy but receives a particularly nasty--and fatal--knife wound through the mouth and out the back of the head. While not a bloodfest, Psycho II has a couple of scenes which will doubtless satisfy the hardcore gore fan. Not surprisingly, mainstream critics initially hated this film, with TV Guide's Judith Crist deeming it "vulgar and witless" and proclaiming that "by turning down the volume, one can here the Master revolving in his grave." Choke on it, ma'am.
Holland's script manages to keep it a who-done-it throughout, even amidst the mid-way revelation that one character is not what he/she seems. Eventually, Norman's sanity seems to snap (or does it ?!?), a random killing spree occurs at the Bates house, and then authorities come and clean it all up.....while some last-minute revelations about Norman's past come to light during the coda. While the original Psycho's ending shot of a car being dragged out of a swamp was chilling, this one will leave you haunted by visions of little old ladies and shovels.
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