31 Days of Horror Movies: Psycho II

With today's film, we've got two days in a row of childhood favorites. Yesterday was Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, and today we have....

Psycho II

Filmed in 1982, and released in 1983, some 23 years after the Hitchcock original, Psycho II sees the release of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from the mental hospital he has resided in, receiving treatment for the murders he committed while dressed as his dead mother. Hot on his trail is Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), the sister of Marion Crane, one of the women slain by Bates during the original movie. Helping Norman adjust to life on the outside is Dr. Raymond (Robert Loggia).

Norman gets a job at a diner, and decides that it would be a good idea to live back at his old stomping grounds -- the Bates Motel, and house up on the hill. The ineffectual Dr. Raymond doesn't put up too great of a fuss about this questionable move. Soon, Norman begins receiving threatening letters and phone calls from someone claiming to be his dead mother. It's around this juncture that he thinks it a good idea to let a co-worker from the diner, Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly) stay a few nights at his house.

The plot of Psycho II is (if you couldn't already tell) rather preposterous. But I love every minute of it. Richard Franklin's direction is great, and the haunting score by Jerry Goldsmith works in wonderful in unison with it. The acting is pretty good, for a slasher flick. There is, of course, more blood and gore than in the original Psycho film, but that is to be expected. I watched it dozens of times as a kid, and can recite scenes line-by-line. One of the best!

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