Format: Blu-Ray from Marengo-Union Library through interlibrary loan on rockin’ flatscreen.
It’s dangerous to make a sequel for a classic movie. No matter what, your film is going to be compared with the classic. There are rare exceptions where the sequel meets or exceeds the original--The Godfather part II or Aliens, for instance, but more often than not, you’re going to end up with Highlander II: The Quickening or Exorcist II: The Heretic. So it was brave to do Psycho II a good couple of decades after Hitchcock’s film. To make a sequel like this, you’re going to have to dive into some lore, make a few changes to the original story that might rub people the wrong way, and find a way to keep the audience guessing when they are already sure they know how the story is going to go.
With Psycho II, the problems are manifold. All of the problems of making a sequel are there, and there are a number of additional issues as well. How do you make Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) sympathetic again? Since your audience is almost certainly going to know the classic shock ending of the original film, how do you give them new shocks? Since the audience already knows the story about Norman and his mother, how do you make something new that people will accept?
Here's the thing: Psycho II works. This is a really good movie. It’s certainly not going to be as good as Psycho, but few things are, and it’s going to suffer by being compared with the original film at every turn. With a couple of changes, this is a very good stand-alone film. As a sequel to one of the most famous thrillers ever made, it’s surprisingly daring and more effective than you might believe.
At the beginning of the film, Norman Bates is being released from the asylum, having been effectively cured, at least according to his doctor, Bill Raymond (Robert Loggia). This happens despite the protests of Lila Crane (Vera Miles), sister of Marion Crane, and the most famous victim of the original film (where the character was also played by Vera Miles). Norman is returned to the motel, but is given a job at a local diner, essentially to get himself acclimated to the real world again.
It's out in the world where Norman is going to encounter two people who will become important to him. The first is Mary Loomis (Meg Tilly), a server at the diner where Norman now works. When she is kicked out of her apartment by her boyfriend, she ends up staying not at the motel, but at the house (yes, that house) with Norman. He’s also going to meet Warren Toomey (Dennis Franz), who has been running the motel while Norman has been institutionalized. The Bates Motel is now of the “room by the hour” variety, something that Norman strongly disagrees with.
What’s going to happen is very much what you expect in a lot of ways. Norman is going to start seeing things that appear to come from his mother—notes on the back of restaurant orders, people moving in the house. With his sanity recently restored, this isn’t going to do a lot that is positive for Norman, and it’s soon evident that Norman might be slipping back into some old ideas, which puts someone like the young and attractive Mary in a dangerous situation.
And then, just as you expect would happen, we start seeing glimpses as well. Someone is dressing up like “Mother” again, and bodies are starting to pile up.
By all rights, Psycho II shouldn’t work, but it does. It’s a much smarter film than the cash grab it appears to be. It also makes a number of very smart references to the original film. Psycho ends with Marion Crane’s car being dredged up from the swamp behind the motel. When it’s suggested that the swamp be dredged for a few missing bodies, a car is found, and we’re greeted with essentially the same shot, albeit in color.
Sometimes, a chance pays off. Tony Perkins slips back into the role of Norman Bates like putting on an old sweater (or perhaps an old dress). There are moments where he really seems to inhabit the role completely naturally—a twitch of the lip or a particular glance—that hearkens back to the original film, but also indicates that years have passed. And while Perkins is the best part of the film, the rest of the cast holds up well, with Meg Tilly being a real stand out.
I never thought I would say this, but Psycho II is a better sequel than you expect and a far better sequel than most.
Why to watch Psycho II: It’s a lot better than you think it’s going to be.
Why not to watch: Good as it is, it’s never going to be Psycho.
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