PSYCHO 2 (1983)
What’s one of the most typical things that happen to a beloved and successful film? Why a sequel, prequel or remake of course! One that should never have been thought up to do that to was Psycho; Hitchcock’s masterpiece was well a masterpiece! You don’t dare touch that (unless you feel whacked out like Gus Van Sant and unnecessarily remake it), but the film spawned three sequels. And you know what? Psycho 2 is perhaps one of the best horror sequels I have seen, how is that possible?
The film begins 22 years after the events of the first film, and Norman Bates (played once again by Anthony Perkins) is getting released from a psychiatric facility due to over crowding. Protesting this move is Lila Loomis (Vera Miles, the sister to shower murder victim from the original) convinced he should never be allowed out in public. He moves back into his house, and gets placed to work a job as a kitchen hand at a local diner. Something seems a little off around the place, and Norman starts receiving strange calls and notes from his dead mother. All the while he strikes up an unlikely friendship with waitress Mary (Meg Tilly), and in need of a place to go she moves into the house. The strange events continue, but is Norman really succumbing to his own paranoia and descending into madness or is there something else at play?
Richard Franklin the director was a protégé of Hitchcock and you can see the influences within his work. At the time this was made, he really was the perfect choice to carry on this legacy. He understood the story and the character, and ways to make it a sequel but also something that was able to function on its own. Tom Holland’s script is very sharp and each scenario felt well thought out, the twists made sense once they happened. As it is the way with mysteries, the events to turn the audience off from what’s really going on were not illogical when all was said and done, it followed well and stayed right away from plot holes. The central premise of one man’s apparently descent back into madness is a sad one, Norman seems very much rehabilitated and a sympathetic one. It is actually painful to watch certain scenes because I didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him.
Performances here are fantastic, Anthony Perkins owns the role of Norman and he stepped right back into those shoes. The scenes where he first re-enters the house are almost chilling in how real they felt; the portrayal was just extremely honest. His struggles with what had happened were natural and played out perfectly. It must not have been easy to come back to the role, and this time around being so complex. I have to commend him for having the courage to revisit it and pull off such an extraordinary job. Meg Tilly as Mary was also fantastic, her innocent but not quite look about her worked. The chemistry between the two characters was searing hot, it is especially strange to think about considering Tilly and Perkins had on-set issues. Vera Miles who also reprised her role didn’t skip a beat here, she played it dead on and I was impressed. Robert Loggia was great as Norman’s doctor, he had that suspicious but confident way about him.
This is the way horror/suspense/mystery should be done, as well as sequels. It hit all the right notes, and there is very little to fault here. When you come across a sequel that works on so many levels when it really shouldn’t you know you have something special. Richard Franklin was an amazing talent, as was Anthony Perkins, in a way it felt like a right fit for these two to work together. Don’t dismiss this film; it is intelligent and very well handled. It is not a run of the mill slasher, there is so much going on, you wont be disappointed.
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