Psycho IV: The Quest for Peace

The big attraction of this movie is Joseph Stefano, screenwriter of the original film, returning. Stefano didn't care for what the previous sequels did, so he ignores them, which is bad-ass. There's nothing to outright make the sequels obsolete, you can still fit them in if you choose, but this movie wanted to be and CAN be viewed as a direct follow-up to the original. There's only brief inconsistencies, including with the original, but no worse than the ones II and III created. These inconsistencies are really just a mark of what happens when sequels spiral out of control and you make sequels so far after the original.

Psycho IV is simple, but effective: Norman -- seen living in a nice house and shown to be married -- calls into a radio show, whose topic is matricide, to recount his story. Before I go further, I have to say that if you're watching these movies one after the other and take II and III into consideration, it's unintentionally hilarious just how many chances Norman's been given, despite proving he shouldn't be on the streets. But if Stefano intended for this to be like a Psycho II instead, a direct follow-up to the original, that's not an issue.

Norman calling into this radio show is a bit of a lazy way to frame the flashback scenes, and that's basically what the entirety of this movie is. I'm of the opinion that it's probably best to never depict Norman's past on screen, to leave it a mystery, to leave that ambiguity about the character. (So I have no idea how A&E's Bates Motel show has milked this exact set-up for four seasons now.)

I think probably the strongest part of the movie is the early hint that Norman's wife is pregnant and his confession to the radio host that he has no choice but to kill again, meaning his wife. So it becomes a bit of a tense stand-off, this radio host trying to keep him on the line and trying to prevent him from going through with it. I think this would have made a really good short story, and it's a more interesting part of the movie than the mystery-shattering origin story which is filmed in a corny way, as per the Mick Garris norm. Because this also brings back the sympathy for Norman that was obliterated in II and not even a part of III -- Norman fears he'll pass along his mental problems to his kid. His wife went against his wishes to not have kids and stopped trying to prevent it, so he's upset with her, and feels there's no way out but to kill her. After phoning it in for the last movie, Perkins' performance during this part is effective; there's pain and fear there.

I don't know if this is just something that happens in retrospect or if it was known and intended, but there's a sense of sorrow and finality hanging over the movie. I don't know if this movie was intended to be the end because of diminishing returns or if it might have had to do with Perkins' health, but there's certainly a sense that this is the final Norman Bates story, not only by having him relive his life, but ending with him burning down the Bates residence to be rid of his past. This adds another layer to Perkins' performance, and makes Norman's fear for his offspring, Norman's reluctance to kill again and Norman's all around skittishness and terror more haunting. The other sequels had these moments of "Fuck, yeah! Norman's back" when he gets up to old tricks again, but here in this movie he's terrified. He doesn't like what he was, and could still be. He doesn't feel like he can truly be cured, but he doesn't want to be a killer. II and III are outlandish, but here Norman feels like a person again.

The movie's not exactly scary or suspenseful, but I feel like story is more of its goal than being scary or suspenseful. It's certainly not suspenseful in the sense that most of the movie is devoted to the past, so there's no real stakes or danger -- you know Norman's going to kill, you know he'll get away. And the scenes set in the past are done in a bit of a hokey way -- while this movie makes the wise choice of bringing back Bernard Hermann's classic music from the original, it uses it in predictable, eye-rolling ways. (Norman's first kill? Accompanied by the classic music that screeches when Janet Leigh's Marion is killed. A lightweight mistake.)

I've said before that I'm not really a fan of director Mick Garris. His movies have a plainness to them, and his scare scenes play lighthearted to me, like a Tales From the Crypt episode or something. This movie succeeds on the script and most of its performances, from Perkins to Olivia Hussey, and CCH Pounder to Warren Frost.

Olivia Hussey's work here is overlooked. I think she does a great job in this movie, but it's become cool to trash her in favor of Vera Farmiga from A&E's TV series. I'm going to risk pissing off a lot of people, but "Mother" has always been kind of cheesily depicted to me. She always has that bad Aunt May wig, the overly large floral dress. Virginia Gregg's voice-over performance is a little too cartoonish. (I know I'm always going on about how I like the subtlety of the original, but I'm always surprised a sequel never had Norman actually wear Mother's corpse. That would have been grisly and over-the-top, perhaps, but creepy. Probably not something you could get away with in 1960. The sequels adhered too close to the original, right down to keeping the EXACT Mother look, which didn't age well and doesn't play in color. Try not to laugh when Henry Thomas is dressed like Mother, dubbed in a woman's voice saying stuff like "Drive, whore!" I don't think you're meant to laugh. There's a reason Hitchcock kept "her" in the shadows, and you only saw Norman dressed as her briefly at the very end.)

So here with this movie, and Hussey's performance, Norma feels like a full character, an unstable character who can be threatening in her fits of rage, but also at turns charming. So you can see, in a more believable way, that Norman inherited her illness as well as being effected by her abuse.

Norman's wife, Connie, was a nurse at the institution Norman was at. She knew all about him, and thought he was husband material? What's wrong with this woman? Also: super professional of you! But the actress is good and likable, so you worry about her at the end there, when Norman takes her to the Bates house, where he plans to kill her. She convinces him not to, to give their kid a chance, and he listens, before going back to the house and burning it down. Throughout the scene, he starts seeing phantoms throughout the house -- Norma, her boyfriend, the first girl he killed -- this was an interesting idea, one that probably read better than it plays. And *if* they knew it would be the last Psycho movie, wouldn't it have been neat to throw in something of Norman's most famous kill, and have a Janet Leigh look-alike?

I think a strong end to this movie would be for Norman to have listened to Connie and sent her away as he burned down the house, but he just stays at the house and lets himself die. Maybe they were hopeful Perkins would have been able to do more? Before the credits roll, they play a sound effect of a baby crying, so they were probably planning to at least pick up and do a "Son of Psycho" thing, which...thankfully they didn't end up doing.

The movie could have used a stronger director, but it's all in all not as weak as I remembered it. I'd probably rank the series like this:

1) Psycho
2) Psycho IV
3) Psycho 2
4) Psycho 3

Psycho III: Back to the Minors

This is the movie I must remember when I think of Psycho's awful sequels. II tried, and IV is OK for what it is, but this thing's a lazy, slapped together mess and no one's trying in it. (The tell-tale sign of an actor who's bored with a role: when they start directing.) If Psycho II made things a little too Halloween-y at times, this movie's aim is far, far lower, and it ends up coming across as a sleazy, low-tier movie like Sleepaway Camp...II. It's lacking in scares, subtlety, characterization, suspense and quality -- this sucker slips into unintentional parody.

I always thought I remembered this movie having style, which made it stand out compared to II's reverence for Hitch making it rigid and IV's TV-movieness, but the style's really only in just the opener, which tries to evoke a Hitchcock eeriness. Taking place in a church, it focuses on main character Maureen, a troubled nun attempting to commit suicide by jumping; when another nun intervenes, she is accidentally pushed to her death by Maureen, who's given the old pink slip by the church. Like the plummeting nun, it's all downwards from here...

The script basically plays out like a '70s porno. Maureen hitchhikes, is picked up by a sleazy aspiring musician played by The Lawnmower Man. When The Lawnmower Man tries to make the moves on the ex-nun, she flips out and runs away into a storm. Lawnmower Man, meanwhile, winds up at the Bates Motel and takes on a job there. Ex-nun eventually makes her way to the Bates Motel and is too exhausted to run away once she sees pervy Lawnmower Man working there, so she takes a room (and he swindles her out of five more dollars than the room costs, which was nice of him).

The movie devotes a lot of time to the Lawnmower Man, for reasons unknown, and the way he swindles people and hits on any woman who comes on screen, dead or alive. (At one point, he steals Mother's corpse -- conveniently at a time the police were searching Norman's house -- and taunts Norman by giving it a kiss. The dude is really more demented than Norman.) Lawnmower Man's part is what makes the movie so sleazy, as we focus on him and his motel conquests. (One bizarre scene has him in his room with a woman he's picked up at a bar; he sits in a chair naked, with two lamps over his junk, moving them like spotlights on the woman, who's on the bed and making out with one of Lawnmower Man's many nude pin-ups he has on the wall. This is exactly the kind of big things Hitchcock must have predicted for Psycho.) What I find strange, other than devoting so much time to this pointless character, is in his final confrontation with Norman, the TV in the background is playing a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, so it gives his struggle with Norman cartoon sound effects, and when Woody does his trademark laugh, Norman thinks it's his mother and yells at her. It had to be somewhat intentional, but why make such a mockery out of things? Why didn't anybody put a stop to this ridiculous shit?

Anyway, there's also a side-story involving a very obnoxious writer who's initially interested in Norman to write a paper about the logic behind a supposedly reformed murderer reentering society, but just ends up with her trying to find the whereabouts Mrs. Pool, aka Old Lady Retcon from the previous movie. Lawnmower Man tries to pick up Obnoxious Writer from a bar and she's not interested until he gives her a book of matches with the Bates Motel's name on it. (Where does Norman get the money to print stuff like this? We know business is slow, as he tells Lawnmower Man when he's hiring him. And remember in the last movie, when Norman fires Dennis Franz for turning the place into a sleazy a-a-a-a-a-a-adult motel? Lawnmower Man makes Sipowicz's place seem like Legoland.) Suddenly, Lawnmower Man is Obnoxious Writer's spy for any funny goings-on at the Bates Motel.

Meanwhile, Norman is being his old twitchy, suspicious self. He flips out at the sight of Maureen, thinking she looks like Marion Crane. She even has the same initials. (Let it go, man!) The only thing they share in common is a short blonde haircut, but Maureen actually looks more like Anne Heche than Janet Leigh. I guess Norman saw into the dark, horrible future of the remake there, and that's what has him spooked. Maureen ends up deciding to slit her wrists at the Bates Motel, and ends up being saved by NormanMother, who's in her room to kill her. As her life is fading out, Maureen sees NormanMother as a vision of the Virgin Mary, and his/her knife as a crucifix, which...could have played better than it comes across. It doesn't work and seems laughable.

Norman ends up saving her and they try to make a romance between Norman and Maureen, which I think could have been interesting, if it had been the centerpiece of the movie and written by someone better. Maureen obviously has some problems (she sounds like she wouldn't mind finding Lemarchand's puzzle box), so it would have been interesting to see this star-crossed love between two mentally ill people pulled off in a more serious movie that knew what it was doing. Because why bother with Norman when we can focus on Lawnmower Man picking up chicks in bars and a bunch of rowdy people renting rooms at the Bates Motel, giving Norman a body count! Because Norman killing women pissing on toilets is what Psycho's all about. (He kills a random partygoer who's on the toilet! And this character, upon seeing NormanMother, even says "You almost scared the piss out of me." I would not have been surprised in the slightest if NormanMother had replied "Good thing you're on the terlet, then," before killing her. That's the level this movie is on.)

The love story goes nowhere, with Norman accidentally killing Maureen, and the final showdown being between NormanMother and Obnoxious Writer, who awkwardly unloads a heap of exposition about Mrs. Pool not actually being his mother, she's his aunt who just pretended to be his mother because she was jealous of her sister, Norman's real mother, and kidnapped him and...whatever. Does anybody care at this point? Norman "kills" the Mrs. Pool corpse, which could have been a strong image in a better movie, and is hauled away for the other murders. He remarks that, even if he's institutionalized for the rest of his life, he's finally free. It kind of would have been a nice arc if he came to this conclusion through the love of Maureen or something. Maybe by allowing himself to be with her and defying "mother" purges him of any "Psycho" inclinations, and maybe Jeff Fahey's nutty character kills Maureen and THAT breaks him. That might not be medically realistic, but it's not like these movies care, especially at this point. I don't know, but I guess they figured there's nothing like an irritating character doing a hyper info dump about the latest retcon to wrap up your movie. And then, ha-ha, Norman pulls out Spool's dead, severed hand as he's riding off to the nuthouse, trying and failing to recreate his creepy smile to the camera from the original film's ending. I guess he's just full of shit and thinking he'll get another sequel, no matter how bad this one's been.

That's another problem with this movie. While I didn't like Psycho II trying so hard to recreate shots and moments from the first one, they did it out of fear and respect for the first one. Here, it just feels cheap and lazy. They'll quote lines and repeat moments, but it comes across in a dumb, predictable and jokey way like a Family Guy parody, and not an homage or an unsettling case of history repeating itself.

There's a scene with Maureen and Norman at the hospital, shortly after her second suicide attempt, that sums up this movie. It goes something like this...

Maureen: I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you. I guess I've gone a little mad!

And your response is "Don't say it, Norman. Don't do it, movie. Just don't. Don't say it. It's going to be cheesy. Don't do it."

Norman: We all go a little mad sometimes.

Motherfuckers! They went there. How lame. How clumsy. If this movie can be perfectly described in one word, it would be clumsy. A clumsy spoof of Psycho.

Psycho II: The Wrath of Ma

A sequel to what's considered one of the best movies of all time sounds like insanity, and while I'm not really fond of Psycho II, it could have turned out worse. The movie has some clever ideas -- maybe tries to be a little too clever -- and a lot of my problems are in the execution and in some of the casting choices. (Namely: Meg Tilly, who I think is miscast as Mary.) It's not entirely plausible, in my opinion, and not subtle, forgoing the thriller and atmospheric horror of the original in favor of a mystery-suspense plot that takes brief excursions into slasher movie territory. (I'm assuming Psycho II came about as a way to ride the popular Halloween slasher cash wave. Which is funny when you think of how Halloween wouldn't exist without the original Psycho.)

I think when Hollywood tries to make a sequel so long after the fact it should be approached with suspicion or even apprehension -- maybe the style of filmmaking has changed too much, maybe the actors have gotten lazier, maybe there's too much corporate greed driving it -- but Psycho II has an interesting premise which necessitates a lengthy passage of time. (Though, again, I'm not sure of its plausibility.)

After two decades of psychiatric care, Norman Bates is deemed well enough to release. While 22 years is a long time, and you might find it striking to see how aged Bates/Perkins looks, Norman's problems were so severe, you're wondering right off the bat how he could come close to approaching being healed. But, there he is, despite protests and petitions, being cut loose. Strike two for plausibility? That Norman's psychiatrist thinks it's suitable to take him back to the Bates house and motel on the Universal lot to live. There's exposure therapy, sure, but letting Norman out and taking him immediately to such a traumatic place for him? Bad news waiting to happen. Norman's even apprehensive and twitchy about being there, but the Doc is all "Hey, c'mon! It's home. You'll be comfortable here. Forget all of those bad memories, Norman! Hey, too bad the state has cut back on our budget so we can't have someone tend to you full time, as planned, but that would get in the way of your murderin' for our sequel!"

Strike three of plausibility is the idea of someone immediately scooping Norman up for work. While Norman was never convicted of murder (by reason of insanity), I know of the real life programs that give jobs to ex-cons, and while the character employing him says they're doing it out of Christian duty (but her real motivations come up later), I still don't really buy it. The very same day he's released, he gets a job. And it's a small town, so you know everyone has heard Norman's story. They've had 22 years to tell it, to gossip, to have it grow and mutate. And everybody's pretty much OK with him! A dude who kept his mom's corpse, dressed up like her, killed several people and buried 'em in a swamp...I don't think a lot of people are going to be eager to have their lunches cooked by him.

The main idea of this movie is interesting. On the surface, Norman seems better. He seems he wants to stay better. But someone is cruelly trying to manipulate him and push him over the edge. It's damned cruel, but it works with the whole way Hitchcock and Perkins were trying to make you pity Norman in the original. And the people trying to push him over the edge...Lila Crane, Marion's sister from the original, and her daughter Mary, who works at the diner and befriends Norman. (Though she's not Lila Crane anymore, but Lila Loomis. This movie marries her to Sam, which I think is a big mistake, just making Sam and Lila both look coldhearted. Like "Hey! Good thing Marion got killed, or else I couldn't have shacked up with you! Fuck Marion, who needed her, anyway?" If the original's screenwriter, Joseph Stefano, thought a romance between Sam and Lila was a plot turn best avoided, I think it should have remained avoided.)

Vera Miles returns as Lila, who's out for revenge, her and Mary playing tricks on Norman -- passing through his house dressed as his mother, leaving him notes, pestering him on the phone -- with the goal to get him to snap, so he'd be recommitted, with the key thrown away. Vicious, but you can imagine Lila doing something like it. (Another lapse of plausibility, though? I don't think she'd endanger her daughter by making her do these things. Knowing damn well what Norman's capable of, and after losing her husband, I don't think she'd just throw her daughter into the center of danger.) The joke's on Lila, though, because Mary ends up feeling sorry for Norman and rejects her mother's plan and tries to protect him.

Meanwhile, Norman slips more and more, insisting he's been talking to his mother. (The movie gets pretty repetitive, with all of the Norma mind-games going on and denials and mother this and mother that -- you have yourself one motherfuck of a drinking game here.) While Mary's certain it's Lila resuming her plan, she starts to suspect there's a third player when the little mind-games that have been played on Norman begin to escalate...with MURDER! It's an interesting twist, and the film makes it clear it's not just Norman picking up old habits, but it results in a sloppy retcon of a climax...

The seemingly kindly old woman who hired Norman at her diner ends up being Norma Bates' sister, who claims Norman is actually her son, and she had him out of wedlock when she was young and was a nut who was institutionalized so Norma raised Norman and...yeah. Retcon, and pretty much goes against any of the background info you heard about Norman in the original. And it's a retcon that doesn't even stick, it ends up getting retconned itself, so it becomes a nice mess. After Norman's been cleared of this movie's crimes, Mrs. Spool confesses to him that she was responsible. Norman's just listening casually and kills her, taking her corpse to Norma's room. I think it's meant to be a "fuck yeah, the Psycho is back!" moment, but it doesn't work for me...

And I know the point of the reveal is that Norman's snapped again, and it doesn't even matter who Norma Bates was, who his mother really was -- it's always been Norman and his mind's representation of his mother. There is no Mother, only Norman, and it doesn't matter what dead body is sitting in the Bates house as long as he believes it's his mother. But...it doesn't work for me. Part of it's the retcon, because I think the point could have been made without the "twist" that Mrs. Pool was his actual mother, but it's also the way it removes any ambiguity. If you're meant to pity Norman, and never be sure if his killing is his mental condition or not, this removes any doubt as he casually and deliberately kills Mrs. Pool for the sake of continuing his crimes. It just seems like there hasn't been any progression made, and that the movie just went in a circle and ended the character where he started.

And for as harsh as Lila's plan was, I think the movie goes overboard in how they handle her and Mary's demises. Lila, a character and actress from the original, is given a nasty, Friday the 13th-styled death, where she's stabbed through the mouth with a butcher's knife to the point where the blade pops out through the back of her skull. Grisly overkill, and the type of death that Game of Thrones uses to dispose of their nastiest characters.

I assume Mary's death is meant to be tragic and a Hitchcockian twist, in which she tries to convince Norman there's no Mother by again dressing like her. Once she discovers Lila is dead, she flips out and tries to defend herself with a knife, stabbing Norman, who is further cut by grabbing onto the blade. The police show up, with knowledge of Lila and Mary's plan and seeing Norman with what looks like defensive wounds on his hands, and mistakenly gun down Mary. This is going just one twist too far, and the way it's handled makes the police characters look incompetent.

The movie goes on about 25 minutes too long, takes one turn too many and yet somehow feels like it's just chasing its tail.