Psycho II - Norman Bates remains my fav

Can you believe I've gone this long in my life without watching the Psycho sequels?! But no longer because today I watched the second one. And it was amazing.

Okay, it wasn't AMAZING, but I had a lot of fun watching it and I'm a huge Psycho fan so I wasn't overly critical while watching this, also I had a lot of cold medicine in my system soooooo....

Let's jump right in!

PSYCHO II (1983)

Oh Norman, you're mad, don't you know that? You're mad as a hatter.

We open upon flashbacks to the original watching Marion in the shower and Norman watching. And cut to 22 long years later, Norman is being released from the mental institution after being deemed "restored to sanity". Lila Loomis, the sister of Marion Crane, is there to protest stating that Norman should stay behind bars. But Norman is released and is returned to his motel and his house, being monitored by Dr. Bill Raymond.

While Norman was gone, the state took care of his motel and put Warren Toomey in charge - a druggie, slimey manager who's letting the motel run into disrepair. Norman is given a job as a dishwasher at a nearby diner run by an older woman named Emma Spool and meets a waitress named Mary. The two hit it off and after Mary runs into some trouble, Norman invites her to stay at his house.

While Norman seems to be doing well, things start happening and Mother starts leaving notes and calling the house. When people around Norman start turning up dead, he fears that's going insane again.

Overall:

This a fun sequel. It is really nothing like the original but it's still fun to revisit old characters and old sets and watch all the different characters connect. There's lots of little twists and turns and reveals that I certainly didn't see coming. Anthony Perkins slips back into Bates like a comfortable old suit and that helps a lot with this film. He remains charming and handsome and you still root for him even though you know about his past. His slow break back into insanity is fascinating to watch and he pulls it off perfectly.

Mary's character is really interesting - watching her go from trying to take down Norman to trying to help him as she realizes how awful her actions are. Their relationship is so sweet and tender but also so unnerving at first because you have no idea what Norman is capable of. There's also a really great scene when Mary first arrives at the motel and Norman goes to grab the room #1 key but forces himself to take another room so as not to allow any temptation. It's so subtle but powerful.

Lila and Mary's relationship is slightly confusing once the reveal happens because in reality what child would really go along with this nutso scheme? And it does get a little murky keeping track of who's murdering who and why. Which helps with the storyline but perhaps could be slightly clearer. 

The back and forth from Norman about his real mother is slightly confusing as well, and even with the final reveal, while satisfying, you still feel a little lost.

Universal decided to make this sequel due to Robert Bloch releasing his own sequel, Psycho 2. They chose director Richard Franklin who was a student of Hitchcock's and Tom Holland wrote the screenplay. The assistant director of the original Psycho, Hilton A. Green, was also contacted but he was nervous. It wasn't until he spoke to Patricia Hitchcock, the daughter of the famed director, who gave her blessing after reading the script, that Green signed on. Anthony Perkins was of course contacted but was hesitant at first so they had Christopher Walken as a backup. But after Perkins read the script he signed on because he felt like it was really Norman's story.

Psycho II is like a love letter to the first film and I am here for it!

Highlights

• The murders in this film were quite brutal and run that thin line between comical and shocking;
• Norman Bates always and forever;
• Mary's character was a fun journey to watch;
• Revisiting the motel, the swamp, the house, the basement etc;
• The twist ending.

I'm going to give Psycho II a solid 8/10...maybe even a 9/10???.....

8.5/10

Stay spooky!

For a more detailed look at Psycho II, check out my article over at Addicted to Horror Movies

DAY THIRTY - Psycho (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY THIRTY - PSYCHO (1960)

In 1960 a movie came out that changed the way the public viewed horror - that film was Psycho. No longer were your beautiful lead actresses safe, no more were directors listening to the censors. Rules were broken and a director had cemented his place at the top of Hollywood. Psycho set new levels of acceptability for violence and sexuality, and is widely considered to be the first slasher film.

Psycho, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Janet Leigh. It tells the story of a secretary who steals money from one of her clients and escapes to a lonely motel off of a main highway. Bates Motel is run by a disturbed young man, Norman Bates, and once the secretary goes missing her sister and boyfriend come looking. But of course, they get more than they bargained more.

Anthony Perkins was typecast after this film but he never regretted playing Norman Bates. Janet Leigh, after starring in this film, received strange, threatening phone calls and letters explaining what they would do to her character. 

Psycho was filmed on a very small budget, Hitchock had a TV show at the time and borrowed the film crew from that show to film Psycho. At first the film received mixed reviews but after outstanding box office returns the film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Support Actress and became critically acclaimed. After Hitchock's death in 1980 the studio began producing three sequels, a remake and a TV series. All of them failed.

 

There are so many great things about Psycho and it has a rich, fascinating history which is too much to get into here. Watch Psycho to round out your horror history and enjoy Norman Bates because damn if he isn't the most handsome serial killer - 10/10.

 

Stay Spooky!

Horror Movie Challenge Day 10 to 12

Horror Movie Challenge DAY 10-12 

(Where I am challenged to watch a horror movie 31 days in a row)

DAY TEN

The Purge

This was a re-watch. I rented it awhile ago on my ipad and couldn't figure out how to get it on my laptop and so watched the whole thing on an ipad screen. But I loved it. And re-watching it on my laptop screen where everything was bigger and more stabby, I loved it even more. Seriously this concept is super cool and I hope it never happens in real life because I cannot afford a super expensive home protection system. 

This film is set in 2022 when America has made all crime illegal except for one night a year where everyone goes balls to the wall and can do whatever they want with no repercussions. The film centers around a family who are very wealthy and the husband actually sells the home protection systems. During the annual Purge their son who is old enough now to question everything (why don't you guys...like...kill people?) lets in a man in distress and in turn invites a whole shit load of rich white kids to attack their house. They just wanted to murder the homeless guy, bud, it's the Purge, chill out. 

Just kidding.

This whole concept is super terrifying to me but the movie is really great. Not many scares, bit of gore, and mostly just a "trapped in a house being terrorized by strangers" movie BUT enjoyable and a cool concept.

9/10

DAY ELEVEN

House on Haunted Hill remake (1999)

This movie scared the crap out of me as a young innocent pre-teen and although it didn't do the same job as an adult, I could still appreciate it for it was; a 90's over the top gory horror film.  They take the original concept and make it more insane, as in, literally putting it in an insane asylum and upping the money to a million dollars. It's gory, it's jumpy, there's creepy dead nurses and doctors, and the ending is so over the top cheesy you can't help but smile.

6/10

DAY TWELVE

Psycho remake (1998)

Oh my god whyyyyyy is this a thing. If there was ever a time for 'don't fuck with the original'...this is it. And for a movie that claims it goes frame by frame of the original, it should expect some fucking ciritcism. What was with those artsy shots of naked chicks and storm clouds between each stab? What was with Vince Vaughn being cast? What was with this movie ever being made?

I don't know.

But all I got from this movie was some minor enjoyment as I watched it and remembered fondly the original, and when it ended, an overwhelming urge to just simply watch the original.

So....lesson learned here? Go watch the original. Forget this ever happened.

 2/10