Ok, so let’s think about some things for a moment:
- (Un)Crazy guy is released after years of psychiatric care, so let’s send him back to his old house, where he kept his dead mother. That certainly won’t have any ill repercussions.
- And let’s have a douchebag running the motel, cos it certainly won’t bother a meticulous personality like Norman’s.
- Love interest? Yeah, that’ll go well.
- Surprise dickbag harassing Norman? Sure, why not?
- And just for fun, let’s play count the “Mothers”
Corey says:
Hooray, Norman’s out of the nuthouse! And, he’s a... cook... at a greasy spoon. Hooray!
One of the fun things about Psycho II is how Norman is pushed mentally. It's kind of like a psychological version of Sam Raimi's penchant for throwing Bruce Campbell into bookshelves in the Evil Dead series. You almost get the idea that the director and scriptwriter we're going back and forth:
"Ok, now Norman's a line cook. How can we fuck him up?"
"I know! We'll make one of the kitchen tickets a vaguely worded threat that will dredge up mommy memories!"
"Awesome! Surely that will help show how deep and dark Norman really is!"
On the bright side, Anthony Perkins is still rockin’ as Norman, even though some weird twists and turns really try to make this a bad film. There are some great nods to the original film (Norman’s penchant for sandwiches and milk, for example), and the first ⅔ of the movie do a pretty solid job of pushing Norman close to the edge yet again. Also, there’s an awesome kill involving a knife and a mouth. Then, the ending happens.
Now mind you, then ending of the film isn’t bad. It’s just, well, not good. And after a neat little romp, it was really a letdown. Don’t let that stop you from seeing the film though. Just turn it off 20 minutes before it’s over and invent your own ending. Just make sure that your ending involves an old lady getting whacked with a shovel. I assure you, it will be better than what actually goes on.
Salty says:
Either Psycho II is a horror movie that was made for the elderly or it’s supposed to scare people that are geriaphobic (this is a word that I have just made up that means “afraid of old people”). This wouldn’t be the first: I am convinced that Let’s Scare Jessica To Death is specifically designed to make you distrust anyone over 60, especially if they have band-aids on their necks (nothing to do with vampires). However the movie was intended, Psycho II pulls off some good stuff, but it does it slowly... old woman with a walker slowly. Lots of throwbacks to the original, lots of exposition, and the series of elaborate tricks designed by Marion Crane’s aging sister to ease Norman back into insanity takes more time than it takes my grandma to describe her weekly drug regiment. Also, the cast is full of old people (seriously the average cast member age is like 55), which is right unusual for a horror picture.
A plus of the film’s cautious pace is that you get to spend a lot of time in the creepy, dusty mansion, and who doesn't want to hang out in Norman Bates’ totally cool mansion? Also, you get more time with Norman, who is always fun in an inordinate way. However, I feel that the level of abuse he takes at the hands of the evil mother of his new girlfriend, Meg Tilly, is kind of hard to watch and I really just want him to be either left alone or to snap and start slaying people, but instead he mostly tragically struggles with his sanity. So, the movie really boils down to a lot of me sitting around thinking, "That's a pretty sweet house. Oh, Norman’s really losing it, is he going to kill anyone now? … Nope … Okay … Man, that old lady sucks! I wonder if Meg Tilly is like partially from Eastern Europe or Iceland. Yeah, I could see Icelandic blood in her … This movie is depressing."
Then after a lot of build up Norman finally freaks out, Dennis Franz disappears somehow (I don’t even remember if he gets wacked or what. Oh yeah, Dennis Franz is in this movie) and there is a lackluster crescendo. But! Then something unexpected happens: a new old lady shows up and claims to be Norman’s true mother, which isn’t a great twist conceptually, but watching that old woman get cracked full force on the back of the head with a shovel brings a huge smile to my face just thinking about it. So, if nickel-scented breath sends a shiver up your spine and you would like to spend your excess spare time with dusty houses, Meg Tilly, old people being dicks and Dennis Franz, Psycho II is the film you have been waiting for.
| Maire | Corey | Salty |
|---|---|---|
| ☆ | ☆☆ | ☆☆ |
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