Psycho 2

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Meg Tilly, Vera Miles
Written by: Tom Holland, Robert Bloch

Director: Richard Franklin
Year: 1983

Rating: * * *     Stars       +       (Fan Bonus 1/2   )  Total: * * * 1/2 

After 22 years, Norman Bates is released and moves back home. The vacancy light is once again turned on. The question is, is Norman Bates truly stable?

Norman Bates is released and moves back home. The town is apprehensive with him, and treat him with a mild form of neglect. The sheriff does his best to quiet any fears, trusting in the state's review board, and let's Norman know he's on his side, and willing to keep the past in the past. still, this does little to quell peoples anxieties. But none are more anxious than Norman himself. He truly wants to be normal, but fears things in the house will trigger his memories and cause him to slip back into his other persona, that of his dead Mother. 

Norman gets a job as a fry cook at a diner, and makes friends with a young waitress, Mary Loomis (Meg Tilly). As time goes on and their friendship grows, Norman starts to notice strange occurrences.  Notes addressed to him from his dead mother appear, and people go missing. Norman fears he's losing his grip on reality, but the truth is even worse. He is being manipulated into thinking he's losing his mind, as Mary's Mother, who's sister was killed in the original film, is orchestrating an elaborate machination to send Norman back to the asylum.

In an interesting twist, the monster of the first film becomes the victim of the second. But when Norm is pushed to the edge, will he come back, or plummet into insanity. And will that make him a monster again?  The writer and director of Psycho 2 know they cannot improve upon Hitchcock's masterpiece, but they still do it justice with putting in as many twists and intrigues that the Master of Suspense would have done himself. Anthony Perkins returns to reprise his role as Norman Bates, portraying him both as a sympathetic character and one to be feared. The rest of the cast seem to phone in their scenes, but Anthony Perkins and the story itself, more than carry the load.

A great follow-up to a timeless classic. Avoid the sequels if at all possible.

SEE THE TRAILER: Psycho II

After 22 years, Norman Bates is released and moves bqck home. The vacancy light is once again turned on. The question is, is Norman Bates truly stable?