Psycho II (1983) Movie Review

***Reader-Submitted Review***

By: Rae Smith
(Chesapeake)

Directed by: Richard Franklin
Written by:
Tom Holland
Robert Bloch (characters created by)
Starring:
Anthony Perkins - Norman Bates
Vera Miles - Lila Loomis
Meg Tilly - Mary Loomis
Robert Loggia - Dr. Bill Raymond
Dennis Franz - Warren Toomey
Hugh Gillin - Sheriff John Hunt
Claudia Bryar - Mrs. Emma Spool
Robert Alan Browne - Ralph Statler
Ben Hartigan - Judge
Lee Garlington - Myrna
Tim Maier - Josh
Jill Carroll - Kim
Chris Hendrie - Deputy Pool
Tom Holland - Deputy Norris
Michael Lomazow - D.A.





Well, there I was feeling sick and useless when I finally decided to get up and review a movie, instead of doing nothing.

Psycho II was a movie that I had in my arsenal and I decided to give it a try. For some reason, I've been increasingly interested in movies. Like what makes them bad, what makes them good, what makes them interesting, and what makes them boring. I've also developed a newly found appreciation for older movies, so Psycho II, made in 1983, was perfect.

Psycho II is about a murderer, Norman, who is released from an insane asylum after twenty-two years. He returns home and is soon haunted by the ghost of his mother again. Psycho II took a while to get used to. A lot of technical and logical questions kept popping up. It seemed like Norman, the murderer, was trying to be the good guy this time around. He also confessed to Mary, his new found friend, to killing his mother when he was twelve, but not to the other killings.

Note: The old motel manager was stupid, I mean who yells at a convicted psycho just because their mad?

Surprisingly, Mary decides to spend the night at his house anyway and forces him to enter his mother's room even though he doesn't want to. She also presses him for details after they entered on something that he obvious was sensitive about! Honestly, this made me want to smack her. Once for being dumb enough to stay after he confessed to killing his mother, twice for going anywhere alone with him after she knew that he had been locked up, third for pushing him into his mother's room anyway!

It just doesn't seem smart to aggravate a killer, recently released or not. At least, she was smart enough to put a chair at the door to keep him out while she slept. The motel manager wasn't as smart. He kept trying to bate Norman into killing him. Made me wonder who the true psycho was? I mean who does that? But he wasn't the only dumb one. It seems the town didn't get the memo that a psycho moved in as half of them didn't seem to care or appear concerned by him. Now, this would have made more sense in a city like New York, but in a small town where Norman lives it seems unlikely. The only excuse to anyone else's lack of interest in Norman might be the fact the he was locked up twenty-two years ago and released with good behavior. Maybe they thought he was cured and completely harmless. Still, it makes no sense...

Jeez, even the sheriff didn't seem too concerned about Norman! But, it turns out that Lila Loomis, the lady who wants Norman back in jail is Mary's mother. Interesting. They both were playing tricks on Norman to make him lose his sanity. Lila wanted him recommitted whether he was guilty of anything or not. Mary, at least, was getting partly sympathetic towards him.

But the blood that came up through the toilet and the bathroom was disgusting. Whether I was Mary or Norman, I would have left the house and never came back. Freak staying calm. The fact that Mary cleaned up the blood, out of pity or sympathy...needs to be noted. Mary was just too sure of herself in some cases. A normal girl wouldn't have done or put herself in such a situation and stayed there.

Norman said the doctors took all his memories away, except for some, like the nice memory of his mother making grilled cheese sandwiches when he was sick in bed. That can explain a lot of the differences in this Norman and the Norman in Psycho I. It leaves the question if taking away someone unpleasant memories can actually 'cure' them. That seemed to be what the doctors' thought.

The people who died and how they died is unbelievable! Like Mary, who seemed like one of Norman's biggest supporters, ended up hurting Norman the most. The twist ending was insane, but awesome. It's funny how perception can alter the truth how the world sees it. Norman was kind of like a lost puppy during the middle and near the end of the movie. I felt bad for him. I don't condone what he did in Psycho I though.

The ending, the truth about Norman's mom, the aftermath, once again unbelievable. I'm glad this movie kept me guessing until the end. Made me think that some madness just might be hereditary.